Miri Aloni and the Nahal Band - A Song for Peace

When I saw the moving footage of the young festivalgoers singing and dancing along to "A Song for Peace" at last week's InDnegev festival, I thought of the Promised Podcast episode I heard a while ago about the song. In the episode, host Noah Efron lays out the song's history, from Yaakov Rotblit writing the lyrics in London in 1969, its controversy when it was first performed by the Nahal Band, its huge popularity when it was showcased in the 1978 musical The Troupe, and its significance as the song that was sung at the peace rally on November 04, 1995, right before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish Israeli right-wing extremist. This is the association that comes to mind for me, and many others, when I hear the song. I will never forget the image of the blood-stained lyric sheet and, to tell the truth, it's one of the images that always comes to my mind when I hear people talk about peace.

Since 2018, the song has been played on loop on one of the stages at the InDnegev festival, said to have started because of a technical issue. This year was the first time the festival returned in full form after a limited edition last year, and I've heard how difficult it was to make the drive there on Route 232, just a short drive from Re'im, where the Nova music festival was held. It's also a short drive from Gaza, and when I used to attend the festival about 15 years ago, we might have thought about it on the way there, but not really once we were at the festival. InDnegev was a place to escape reality and often felt like an alternative universe. But things are different now. I remember seeing, not too long ago, two young soldiers pointing at the memorial stickers of fallen soldiers at the train station, sharing with each other who they knew and from where - it took a while. There were memorial stickers also at the InDnegev festival. The younger generation are the ones who paid and are still paying the heaviest price here, and I think this is why it was so emotional to see them reclaiming "A Song for Peace" as the protest song it first was, even if it's just a small group. Each time I see this video I'm filled with joy and hope, as I watch the group starting the circle, the group of girls making a heart shape and pausing for a selfie, and the young boy on his father's shoulders, taking it all in. My vote on Tuesday will be for him and other kids in the region, they deserve to grow up in a reality without fear.

Let the sun rise

Let the morning shine,

The purest of prayers

Will not bring us back.

He whose candle has gone out

And was buried in the dust,

Bitter weeping won't wake him up

And won't bring him back here.

No one will bring us back

From the lowest, darkest pit,

Here, neither the joy of victory 

Nor songs of praise 

Will be of any help.

So, just sing a song for peace

Don't whisper a prayer

Better to sing a song for peace

At the top of your lungs!

Let the sun pierce

Through the flowers.

Don't look back,

Let the departed go.

Lift your eyes in hope

Not through gunsights

Sing a song for love

And not for wars.

Don't say a day will come

Bring about that day!

For it is no dream

And in all the town squares

Cheer only for peace!

So, just sing a song for peace...