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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