Lahav HaZemer - The Flame of the Song

The Flag Song

by Ze'ev Jabotinsky

Do not say that it is no longer

The blood of our father, the Maccabi,

Because three drops of his blood

have been pored into my soul, into me

This one as the color of the Sea of Kinneret

this as snow and this as gold

On the flag, on the banner

On the head and in the soul.

As the time the enemy is expelled

Then we shall rise and salute

Long live the youth, long live the sword

long live the blood of the Maccabi

The Betar Song

by Ze'ev Jabotinsky

Betar

from the depths of rotting and dust,

with blood and with sweat

shall arise for us a breed

of brilliance, graciousness, and fierceness;

The captured Betar,

Yodefet, Masada,

Shall rise up with strength and Hadar (beauty, glory)

Hadar (the glory),

A Hebrew, even in poverty, is the son of a prince

whether a slave or a serf,

you have been created a son of kings

with the crown of David you are crowned!

In light or in secret,

Remember the crown,

the crown of glory and challenge.

Tagar (the Challenge)

Over every obstacle and hardship

Whether you rise up or go down

in the flame of the revolt

Carry a fire to ignite - Does not matter!

Because silence is despicable

we shall abandon blood and soul

for the sake of the hidden glory

To die or to conquer the mountain

Yodefet, Masada, Betar.(Conquered cities in Israel)

songs translated into English by Moshe Katz

Left Bank of the Jordan River

by Ze'ev Jabotinsky

As a pillar in the middle of a bridge

and as a spine to the back of a man

For my country the line that is central

Is the Jordan River, the holy Jordan River.

There are two banks to the Jordan River,

This is ours, and this is ours as well.

If my country is poor and tiny

she is mine from the head to the end.

Spreading from the sea to the Wilderness

and the Jordan, the Jordan River, in the middle

There are two banks to the Jordan River,

This is ours, and this is ours as well.

There shall be satiated from abundance and happiness

the son of Arabia, the son of Nazareth and my son

Because my flag is a flag of purity and honesty

it shall purify both banks of my Jordan River,

There are two banks to the Jordan River,

This is ours, and this is ours as well.

Both my hands I have dedicated to you my homeland

both my hands to the sickle and the shield

May my treacherous right hand be forgotten

If I forget the left bank of the Jordan River.

There are two banks to the Jordan River,

This is ours, and this is ours as well.

Uri Tzvi Greenberg

Your Rabbis have taught: Land is purchased and acquired by financial transactions. You purchase the land and stick a shovel in it.

And I say: Land is not purchased or acquired with money, and a shovel is also used to bury the dead.

And I say: A Land is conquered by blood. And only land that is conquered with blood is sanctified to its people, with the sanctity of blood.

And only he who walks behind the cannon in the field, will merit so to walk after his plow, in the ground, on this field which has been conquered.

Uri Tzvi Greenberg was born in 1896 in Poland to a famous Hassidic family. He was descended from great rabbis. In 1918 he witnessed a terrible pogrom against the Jewish people in his town of Lvov, Poland. This left a terrible impression on him that effected his entire life. In 1923 he moved to Israel.

During the Holocaust his entire family perished. He became a great poet, expressing strongly nationalistic views. He passed on in 1981 in Israel.

(all translations by Moshe Katz)

SBI!