JUNE 1 • 2023 | 5

old visiting for the first time 
reflected, “I had no idea I’
d feel 
this way … so connected … 
this trip is too short.
”
As the days unfolded, there 
was a shift in the way many 
participants spoke about Israel, 
its past, present and future. 
People slipped into a different 
sensibility. Their dominant 
pronoun became “we.
” Their 
bond to the Jewish people for-
ever changed. Israel worked its 
wonders on each of them.
To hold the conviction 
that Israel’s wonders have yet 
to cease doesn’t make one 
blind to reality, rather, it is 
what sustains our hope even 
when times are tough. Yoram 
Taharlev, the prolific Israeli 
songwriter and poet who 
wrote these words, was born 
on Kibbutz Yagur in 1938 and 
lived until 2022. 
The span of his life included 
the founding of the State, the 
War of Independence and 
every subsequent war. He 
would have been a teen when 
Israel was so poor food had to 
be rationed. He lived through 
all the tumult, and he still saw 
wonders without end. That’s 
what he gives us in his poem.
Then, singer and compos-
er Rami Kleinstein turned 
Taharlev’s poem into a song. 
Kleinstein was born decades 
after Taharlev, but he, too, has 
lived through many of Israel’s 
most difficult moments. 
I write these words at a 
moment that is particularly 
fraught for Israel — a time 
of social upheaval, political 

turmoil and, recently, over a 
thousand rockets raining down 
from Gaza. Some would say 
that it’s not the right time to 
think about a song that speaks 
of wonder. But maybe such a 
song helps us hold onto hope 
and perspective. 
David Suissa, inspired 
by a conversation with his 
friend, writer Yossi Klein 
Halevi, wrote poignantly that 
“to maintain an attachment 
to the Zionist project we need 
something that feeds our 
souls” — especially in difficult 
times. 
For Suissa, it’s the image of 
his Moroccan-born grand-
father kissing asphalt upon 
landing in Israel in 1955. “It 
feeds me in a way that makes 
me want to emulate my ances-
tors and never give up on the 
Zionist miracle,
” he wrote.
For me, not giving up on the 
Zionist miracle means believ-
ing that Israel is a place whose 
wonders have yet to cease. 
Even now. Especially now.
That’s why “Od Lo Tamu 
Kol P’layich” is such a special 
song for me, the song that 
binds me to Israel. 

This essay is part of ‘That Song,’ a 

collection of writings about that one 

Israeli song that rocked someone’s 

world. Watch the video at https://youtu.

be/AY4_aUJys4Y. 

 Sally Abrams is director of Judaism 

and Israel Education at the Jewish 

Community Relations Council of 

Minnesota and the Dakotas. She has 

taught thousands about Israel and/or 

Judaism in churches, classrooms, civic 

groups and Jewish communal settings.

Od Lo Tamu Kol P’layich, recorded by Shlomi Shabat, 
Yardena Arazi, Narkis and Liran Danino
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