Naomi Shemer: The Third Prophetic Song

A while ago I wrote about Naomi Shemer's first prophetic song, and then I followed up with a post about her second prophetic song. Tomorrow I hope to write about the fourth prophetic song, but for that I ought first to tell about the third.

In 1967 Shemer foresaw the liberation of Jerusalem. In 1973 she wrote what became the anthem of the Yom Kippur War. In 1980 she did it again, perhaps this time slightly consciously, with Al Kol Ele, For All These Things, another elegaic shir about life and how it can slip away.

There was no way she could have foreseen the events of 1967, or 1973. The events of early 1982, however, were planned in advance: Israel was to uproot thousands of settlers in the Yamit area to the west of Gaza, and a few hundred near the southern tip of Sinai, so that those areas would revert to Egyptian control as part of the peace treaty signed in 1978, and re-affirmed in the elections of 1981. Al Kol Ele never mentions the approaching disbanding - yea, destruction - of the settlements, but she may have had them in mind when she wrote
Save the houses that we live in
The small fences and the wall
From the sudden war-like thunder
May you save them all.

For those of us who dreaded the moment of destruction but felt it had to happen, there was of course a profound irony in the refrain she chose: Don't uproot what has been planted, al na ta'akor natua, since it's a direct allusion to Ecclesiastes chapter 2, which of course says the opposite:
¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Still, in the run-up to the destruction of Yamit, Noami Shemer's shir was the rallying cry of those who didn't want it to happen, and a reminder to those of us who did, that peace would come at a real price, especially to those who would be uprooted - a sentiment that's hard to imagine today: can anyone conceive of our present day left empathizing with settlers as they leave their settlements? On that level, Shemer's shir has long lost its prophetic power.

Hebrew words

English translation

Every bee that brings the honey
Needs a sting to be complete
And we all must learn to taste the bitter with the sweet.

Keep, oh Lord, the fire burning
Through the night and through the day
For the man who is returning
from so far away. Chorus:
Don't uproot what has been planted
So our bounty may increase
Let our dearest wish be granted:
Bring us peace, oh bring us peace.

For the sake of all these things, Lord,
Let your mercy be complete
Bless the sting and bless the honey
Bless the bitter and the sweet.


Save the houses that we live in
The small fences and the wall
From the sudden war-like thunder
May you save them all.

Guard what little I’ve been given
Guard the hill my child might climb
Let the fruit that’s yet to ripen
Not be plucked before its time.


Chorus:

As the wind makes rustling night sounds
And a star falls in its arc
All my dreams and my desires
Form crystal shapes out of the dark.

Guard for me, oh Lord, these treasures
All my friends keep safe and strong,
Guard the stillness, guard the weeping,
And above all, guard this song. Chorus:
For the sake of all these things, Lord,
Let your mercy be complete
Bless the sting and bless the honey
Bless the bitter and the sweet. Bless the sting and bless the honey
Bless the bitter and the sweet.

The song has been recorded at least 16 times since 1980. Here's the first,and most famous recording, by Yossie Bannai (1932-2006)