Selected Alma Zohar
- Indian Love Song
- Know
- Out of Egypt
| Indian Love Song | שיר אהבה אינדיאני |
Words and music
by Alma Zohar
|
Four in the morning, Mi amor, it’s Miguel, Who? Miguel? Mi amor, it’s Miguel, For a moment it sounds so possible Did I wake you up? Go explain to him that me and you Did I wake you up? Did I wake you up?
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ארבע לפנות בוקר, Mi amor, it’s Miguel, מי? מיגל? Mi amor, it’s Miguel, לרגע זה נשמע לי כל כך אפשרי, Did I wake you up? לך תסביר לו שאני ואתה |
In this love song, a woman grapples with her relationship with two men: Miguel overseas and Moshe in Israel. What if we were to look at the two boyfriends (Miguel and Moshe) as metaphors for our relationship with Israel?
- Why do you think she came back to Israel – why is she with Moshe?
By saying “either you’re with him or you’re with me…” Moshe seems to present her with a choice: you’re either with me, or you’re not. If we take Moshe as a metaphor for Israel, he could be understood to be saying: You’re either in love with Israel or not.
- Is this the way in which you relate to Israel?
The woman lists many of her daily struggles in Israel: no gas or electricity, economic downturn, desert heat. Classic Zionism often says that life in the Diaspora is dream-like and not connected to reality, while life in Israel is the real, raw Jewish existence.
- Is that how you experience your Jewish identity in outside of Israel?
- Do you find yourself, like the woman in the song, reluctantly drawn to the dirt of the “real”, or prefer the comforts of home?
- Might Miguel be likened to the Diaspora, calling Israel?
- Have you ever felt that you “call Israel” to tell Her that you love it and find that your love is not returned?
Click here for printable lyrics’ translation.
Click here for an article about this song and Israelis’ relationship with overseas.
| Know | דע |
Music and Lyrics
by Alma Zohar
| Look at you Lying, hiding Not trusting anyone Prefer to be alone No outgoing, no incoming Not giving, and not seeking love With you everything is mask upon mask With a lie in your soul Hurt people Don’t know how to ask for forgiveness How do you live? Cold and alienated Closed and introverted Look in a mirror and see a stranger Know who you are Look at you Know who you are Know that all is quid pro quo
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תראה אותך משקר, מסתתר לא בוטח באף אחד מעדיף להיות לבד אין יוצא ואין בא לא נותן ולא מבקש אהבה הכל אצלך מסכה ועוד מסכה עושה שקר בנפשך פוגע לא יודע לבקש סליחה איך אתה חי קר ומנוכר סגור ומסוגר מסתכל במראה רואה שם מישהו זר דע מי אתה תראה אותך דע מי אתה דע הכל מידה כנגד מידה |
Click here for printable lyrics’ translation
In this song, Zohar uses a well-known saying from Ethics of the Fathers to “tell off” her boyfriend.
The Ethics of the Fathers, compiled and written some 2000 years ago, form a key part of the ethical framework of the Jewish People. Orthodox Jews read from them every Shabbat.
Akavia the son of Mahalalel would say: Reflect upon three things and you will not come to the hands of transgression. Know from where you came, where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give a judgment and accounting. From where you came–from a putrid drop; where you are going–to a place of dust, maggots and worms; and before whom you are destined to give a judgment and accounting–before the supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
Ethics of the Fathers, 3:1
- Has it ever crossed your mind to quote from the Bible/Mishnah when telling off your boyfriend/girlfriend?
- What does it tell you about a place that does? [Israel]
- In Ethics of the Fathers, Akavia ben Mahalalel urges us to reflect on three existential questions – where did I come from? Where am I going? Who will judge me in the end? – and then proceeds to give his answer.
- What do you understand by Akavia’s three answers, and how they relate to the value of humanity? [i.e. if we’re just the process of a putrid drop turning into maggots, what then is our worth without God?]
- Why do you think Zohar cites from this text? [all answers are probably correct!]
- Do you think she is taking the quotation out of context? [do you think she is also referring to Akavia’s answers, or only his questions?]
- Do you think it’s disrespectful to be using quotations from Ethics of the Fathers to be talking about relationships?
- Why do you think she adds an extra issue, “Know who you are,” which is not mentioned in Ethics of the Fathers.
| Out of Egypt | ממצרים |
Music and Lyrics by
Alma Zohar
| There’s always war in Africa What luck it’s so far away, We don’t have to see or hear it, from here I too walked, once Don’t you know each day and age, I too vainly tried, Don’t you know each day and age… Ruler of the World Don’t you know each day and age… There’s always war in Africa, |
תמיד יש מלחמה באפריקה מזל שהיא רחוקה שלא רואים ולא שומעים אותה מכאן גם אני הלכתי פעם כי בכל דור ודור גם אני חיפשתי כוח כי בכל דור ודור … אז שמור נא על כולנו כי בכל דור ודור … תמיד יש מלחמה באפריקה |
Click here for printable lyrics’ translation.
Some Background:
Since 2003, an estimated 10,000 non-Jewish immigrants from various African countries have crossed into Israel. Some 600 refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan have been granted temporary resident status to be renewed every year, though not official refugee status. Another 2,000 refugees from the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia have been granted temporary resident status on humanitarian grounds.
In 2007, Israel deported 48 refugees back to Egypt. In August 2008 the Israel Defense Forces deported at least another 91 African asylum seekers at the border. The current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called for a patrolled fence to be built on Israel’s border with Egypt to keep out illegal immigrants.
Circles of Empathy:
- As an American, do you ever think about the war and unrest in Africa?
- How much do you care about injustice taking place far from home, to people you do not know or share very much with?
Pesach:
Every year on Pesach we say at the Seder “each day and age, one and all must see himself, as though having escaped Egypt.”
- Why do you think this passage is part of the seder?
- How do you think Alma Zohar might answer this question?
- Do you agree with Zohar’s interpretation?
- Do you think this song would have a place at your seder night?
- Might you choose to sing it at your seder?
Cosmopolitanism:
- Do you think we should be helping African refugees because it is our responsibility as human beings, or because we remember that as Jews, we too were once refugees?
- Does tapping into our Jewish history of slavery and exile make our desire to help those in need stronger? Should it?
- Should the obligation of the State of Israel to refugees be any different from that of the United States?
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