Leon's No News Bulletin 86 Sun 17th Aug 08

Shalom everyone,

With the weather so beautiful now it's a pity not to go out at night and enjoy the cool breeze, known as the sea breeze. Last week Ettie and I rushed to the Israel museum to get good seats for a performance, in the open air, of the Gevatron, the famous Israeli choir.

It was my first experience of a Givatron concert but everyone around me were veterans at it and were raving. When an audience carries on in such a way, jumping, stomping, clapping hands, cheering, whistling and whatnot then I do the same and later I ask myself what this was all about?

The first answer is naturally that they are good singers and the music is beautiful but there must be more to it than that. There must be something else that accounts for the audience's excitement.

The excitement reminds one of the excitement of the early pioneers* who sang these songs while working to rebuild the destroyed homeland. They came at the end of the 19^th century, in their thousands from Russia, Poland, Romania and many other lands of the Jewish exile, by land and sea, full of enthusiasm to revive the ancient homeland.

The flow of the excited pioneers continues to this day and the small, poor, pioneering settlements built with love and enthusiasm by the early pioneers have grown into big cities like Nes Ziona, Rishon Letzion, Rehovot and many others.

The excitement of the Jewish People at returning to its land is still apparent today in the popular appeal of choirs like the Gevatron.

It's all part of a celebration that's been going on since the Jews began settling Israel 3000 years ago and continues to this day.

This enthusiasm has inspired many beautiful songs since Biblical times; I've chosen this one by Yossi Gamzu because it speaks of love of the land and the dream of peace.

It's called "If all the lovers….", in Hebrew אילו כל האוהבים  This is just a rough translation.

אילו כל האוהבים תלו בכוכבים                  If all the lovers gaze at the stars all night
בלילה זה את מבטם,
אילו כל הלגיונות השליכו פגיונות              If all the legions threw down their spears for the sake of their love
למרגלות אהבתם -

איך היו נושרים אלינו חלומות בשלים!       How our dreams would come true
איך היו רוגעים גלינו, ילדתי שלי...            How our waves would be calmed my dear girl.

 אילו כל האוהבים תלו בכוכבים                 If all the lovers gaze at the stars all night
בלילה זה את מבטם -
קמו לעינינו, ממצולות שירינו,                 All our songs would rise out of the depths
כל האגדות כולן...                                   All the legends would be revealed, yes all

אילו כל האמהות המסו בדמעות                If all the mothers would melt the cannons with their tears
את סוללות התותחים,                             
אילו כל החפירות, פצועות ואפורות,           If all the pits were only dug for flowers
לא העלו אלא פרחים -

איך היה חולף הרוח קל במשעולים.           How the gentle wind would waft through the paths
איך היה יומי זרוח, ילדתי שלי...                 How bright my day would be my dear girl

אילו כל האימהות המיסו בדמעות              If all the mothers could melt the cannons with their tears
את סוללת התותחנים
קמו לעינינו...                                          They would rise before us

אילו כל הביעותים נפלו מתמוטטים,          If all the nightmares would fall on the threshold of our hearts memories
על סף ליבנו הזוכר -
אילו זמר שדות הקרב הניח אחריו             If the tune of the battle fields would leave some place for another song.
את מקומו לשיר אחר, -

איך היה חופז האור על כל המכשולים!        How light would glitter on all the obstacles
איך היה ליבי נעור אל ילדתי שלי...            How my heart would come close to my little girl

אילו כל הביעותים נפלו מתמוטטים,           If all the nightmares would fall on the threshold of our hearts memories
על סף ליבנו הזוכר -
קמו לעינינו...                                               They would rise before us

Seeing the many tourists visiting Israel and crowding the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv I realize that love of Israel isn't the exclusive domain of people living here today or of pioneers of the past. People from all over the world come to visit Israel because they also love the land and want to experience its beauty, observing at first hand the constant activity of building up the land and often even participating in it.

Every year people want to see more of the sites of the early pioneers; places like Zichron Yaacov one of the first towns established by the Hovevei Zion organization in the 1880"s, in other words about 20 years before Herzl founded the Zionist Movement. This town and many others prove that it wasn't the Zionist Organization that led to settlement of the Land of Israel but rather the settler movements, like the BILU, Hoveve Zion and others led to the establishment of the Zionist Movement.

This interest has lead to new museums of the early settlers springing up all over Israel. One of the most interesting and beautiful is these is in Herzliya. There are others in Gedera, Mazkeret Batya and Zichron Yaacov.

Wishing you a great no news day

Yours truly

Leon Gork

·        As described in books by Abraham Yaari, e.g. Memories of the Land of Israel (Hebrew) and The Goodly Heritage (Engilsh) published by the Youth and Hechalutz Dept of the Zionist Organisation. 1954

·        Gedera Museum   

·        Zichron Yaacov Photo Gallery