Yom Hashoah in Jerusalem, Continued

I had one of the most emotional experiences this morning between 10:00 and 10:02 Jerusalem Summer Time this morning. I was walking on Moshe Ben Maimon St. toward King George V St. next to the Prime Minister's House when I heard it. At ten in the morning all of air-raid sirens in the country went off for a period of two minutes. At the point that it began all cars stopped and motorists exited the cars as they joined the pedestrians, the construction worker that was operating the buzz-saw, the police officer directing traffic, in observing two minutes of silence in memory of the six million. It was so very emotional for me, and I broke into tears. Here I was, about five minutes away from the holiest site in the world, as a free person (who was going to have his visa extended) and I thought about the hundreds of cousins who I would never have the possibilty of meeting because forces of evil took them away from me. There was so much more flooding through my head as the tears flooded out and I cannot begin to describe what I was feeling. As quickly as it started, it ended and people began to move from their place and cars started up again as normal as if nothing had happened, but I didn't pass a dry eye for a couple of minutes. To quote a paytan of selichot: kol lvav davai, vchol rosh lachali. A week from now the sirens will come back for remembering those who gave their lives for the state of Israel and I will tell the story of another side of my family. (stay tuned)

I have been listening to the radio in my primitive world of no TV (and finally found Reshet Bet and Kol Yisrael (as in on the hour "BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP, al kol yisrael, haboker hazeh")) and the entire radio, excepting, I'm assuming because I don't speak Arabic, the Arab stations, is converted to songs of mourning, songs of the holocaust, and talk with survivors. I heard a hebrew version of Zog Nit Keinmol, the partisans song, which I will post here in transliterated Yiddish and in Hebrew and in English


Zog niht keynmol az du gayst dem letzten veg,
Ven himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg :
Vayl kumen vet noch undzer oysgebenkte shuh,
Es vet a poyk tun undzer trot : mir zaynen do !

Es vet di morgenzun bagilden undz dem haynt,
Un der nechten vet farshvinden mitn faynt :
Nor oyb farzamen vet di zun in dem kayor,
Vi a parol zol geyn dos leed fun door tzu door.

Geshriben iz dos leed mit blut und nit mit bly,
S'iz nit keyn leedl fun a foygel oyf der fry :
Dos hut a folk tzvishen falendike vent,
Dos leed gezungen mit naganes in di hent.

Fun grinem palmenland biz land fun vaysen shney,
Mir kumen un mit undzer payn, mit undzer vey :
Un voo gefalen iz a shpritz fun undzer blut,
Shpritzen vet dort undzer gvure, undzer mut.

Zog niht keynmol az du gayst dem letzten veg,
Ven himlen blayene farshteln bloye teg :
Kumen vet noch undzer oysgebenkte shuh,
Es vet a poyk tun undzer trot : mir zaynen do

שיר הפרטיזנים

ביצוע : שמעון ישראלי
מילים : הירש גליק
לחן : לא ידוע
גירסה עברית : אברהם שלונסקי

אל נא תאמר הנה דרכי האחרונה
את אור היום הסתירו שמי העננה
זה יום נכספנו לו עוד יעל ויבוא
ומצעדינו עוד ירעים אנחנו פה

מארץ התמר עד ירכתי כפורים
אנחנו פה במכאובות ויסורים
ובאשר טיפת דמנו שם נגרה
הלאינוב עוד עוז רוחנו בגבורה

עמוד השחר על יומנו אור יהל
עם הצורר יחלוף תמולנו כמו צל
אך אם חלילה יאחר לבוא האור
כמו סיסמא יהא השיר מדור לדור

בכתב הדם והעופרת הוא נכתב
הוא לא שירת ציפור הדרור והמרחב
כי בין קירות נופלים שרוהו כל העם
יחדיו שרוהו ונגאנים בידם

Never say that you are going on your last way
Though leaden clouds may be concealing skies of blue -
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
And our marching steps will thunder: We are here!
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
And our marching steps will thunder: We are here!

From lands of palm-trees to the far-off lands of snow
We shall be coming with our torment and our woes,
And everywhere our blood has sunk into earth
Blossom shall our bravery, and hope from it!
And everywhere our blood has sunk into earth
Blossom shall our bravery, and hope from it!

We'll have the morning sun to set our day a glow,
And all our yesterdays shall vanish with the foes,
And if the time is long before the sun appears,
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.
And if the time is long before the sun appears,
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.

This song was written with our blood and not with lead;
It's not a song of the little birds out in the free,
It was our people, among toppling barricades,
That sang this song and fought courageous till the end.
It was our people, among toppling barricades,
That sang this song and fought courageous till the end.

So, never say that you are going on your last way
Though leaden clouds may be concealing skies of blue -
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
And our marching steps will thunder: We are here!
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
And our marching steps will thunder: We are here!

real yiddish can be found at this website along with samples of the song

I also want to present another powerful song by an unlikely source, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, (well, actually by Remedy who is an extension of the Wu-Tang Clan) called Never Again, which we played for our campers a few years ago. It too is very powerful and you need to hear it to see how powerful it is.


Intro: Announcer] new Hebrew: This is in the background of Remedy saying his Intro part:
"Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, boraih poree hagoffin..."
(which is Hebrew for: "This is a Blessing over the fruit of the vine, said before every meal; it's giving god thanks for giving us fruits to make wines with. Also the 'Chamotzi' the blessing for the grains of the earth, giving thanks for grains to make bread.")
[Intro: Remedy]
Feel this
To all those races, colors, and creeds, every man bleeds for the
Countless victims and all their families of
The murdered, tortured and slaved, raped, robbed and
Persecuted
ÖNever Again!
To the men, women, and children. Who
Died and struggled to live, never to be forgotten.

"Vroo binev en acem yub" (which is Hebrew for: "forever in pain")

new [Song in Middle: 'Hatikvah' (which is "Israel's National Anthem")

[Verse 1: Remedy]
Yo my own blood
Dragged through the mud
Perished in my heart still cherished and loved
Stripped of our pride, everything we lived for
Families cried
Thereís no where to run to, no where to hide
Tossed to the side
Access denied
6 million died for what?
Yo a man shot dead in his back
Helpless women and children on the constant attack
For no reason
Till the next season
And we still bleeding
Yo itís freezing
And men burn in hell, some for squeezing
No hope for a remedy, nothing to believe
Moving targets who walk with the star in their sleeve
Forever marked wit a number, tattooed to your body
Late night, eyes closed, clutched to my shotty
Having visions, flashes of death camps and prisons no provisions
Deceived by the devils decisions
Forced into a slave
Death before dishonor for those men who were brave
Shot and sent to their grave
Can't I awaken, itís too late
Everythingís been taken
Iím shaken, family, history, the making

[Chorus: Remedy]
Never again shall we march like sheep to the slaughter
Never again shall we sit and take orders
Stripped of our culture
Robbed of our name (never again)
Raped of our freedom and thrown into the flames (never again)
Forced from our families, taken from our homes
Moved from our God then burned of our bones
Never again, never again
Shall we march like sheep to the slaughter (never again)
Leave our sons and daughters
Stripped of our culture
Robbed of our name (never again)
Raped of our freedom and thrown into the flames (never again)
Forced from our families, taken from our homes
Moved from our God and everything we own
(never again)

[Verse 2: Remedy]
Some fled through the rumors of wars
But most left were dead, few escaped to the shores
With just 1 loaf of bread
Banished, hold in for questioning
And vanished
Never to be seen again
I canít express the pain
That was felt in the train
To Auschwitz, tears poured down like rain
Naked face to face
With the master race
Hatred blood of David
My heart belongs to God and stay sacred
Rabbiís and priests
Disabled individuals
The poor, the scholars all labeled common criminals
Mass extermination
Total annihilation
Shipped into the ghetto and prepared for liquidation
Tortured and starved
Innocent experiments
Stripped down and carved up or gassed to death
The last hour, I smelled the flowers
Flashbacks of family then sent to the showers
Powerless undressed
Women with babies clumped tight to their chest
Crying
Who wouldíve guessed dying
Another life lost
Count the cost
Another body gas burned and tossed in the holocaust (never again)

[Chorus: Remedy]
Never again shall we march like sheep to the slaughter
Never again leave our sons and daughter
Stripped of our culture
Robbed of our name (never again)
Raped of our freedom and thrown into the flames (never again)
Forced from our families, taken from our homes(never again)
Moved from own God and everything we owned
Never again, never again
Shall we march like sheep to the slaughter (never again)
Shall we sit and take orders
Stripped of our culture
Robbed of our name (never again)
Raped of our freedom and thrown into the flames (never again)
Forced from our families, taken from our homes (never again)
Moved from our God and burned of our bones
(never again) (never again)

[Outro: Remedy]
NEVER AGAIN
NEVER AGAIN
The final solution
Is now retribition
Remedy, Wu-Tang

[Announcer] new Hebrew: (This is a prayer called: 'Sh'me', and is the base prayer for the Jewish Religion):
"Sh'me yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad"
(which is Hebrew for: "Hear o Israel, the lord is our god, the lord is one")
Hebrew: "Baruch shame kevote ma-chluto leolum va'ed"
(which is Hebrew for: "Blessed is gods glorious kingdom, forever and ever")

Then

[Gun Shot]
(lyrics from here)

May their memories be for a blessing and may they have comfort on/under the wings of the Shechinah.

Along with my previous blog, if you have any stories of family members in the Shoah which you wish to share, I would appreciate hearing them. We need to remember by speaking about them, lest we forget.