שיר בוקר
נתן אלתרמן
בהרים כבר השמש מלהטת
ובעמק עוד נוצץ הטל,
אנו אוהבים אותך, מולדת,
בשמחה, בשיר
ובעמל.
ממורדות הלבנון עד ים
המלח
נעבור אותך במחרשות,
אנו עוד ניטע לך ונבנה
לך,
אנו ניפה אותך מאד.
נלבישך שלמת בטון
ומלט
ונפרוש לך מרבדי גנים,
על אדמת שדותיך
הנגאלת
הדגן ירנין פעמונים.
המדבר, אנו דרך בו נחצובה,
הביצות, אנחנו
ניבשן,
מה ניתן לך עוד להוד ושובע,
מה עוד לא נתנו
וניתן.
בהרים, בהרים זרח אורנו,
אנו נעפילה אל
ההר,
האתמול נשאר מאחורינו
אך רבה הדרך
למחר.
אם קשה היא הדרך
ובוגדת,
אם גם לא אחד יפול חלל,
עד עולם נאהב אותך
מולדת,
Morning Song/Nathan Alterman Translated by Nili Schneidman
As the sun blazes in the mountain And
while the valleys’ dew still glistens, We love you, our homeland, In joy, in song, and in labor.
From the slopes of Lebanon to the Dead Sea We will plow through your fields, Plant, farm, and build for you So that you will be beautiful.
We will dress you in a gown of concrete and cement And lay for you a carpeting of gardens, On the soil of your majestic fields The harvest shall chime with bells.
The wilderness, we will cross, The swamps, we shall drain, What we bestow is for your glory and fulfillment, What has not yet been given, we shall give.
In the hills, in the hills shone our
light, We will climb the mountain, Yesterday is left behind. Though the path till tomorrow is still long.
And even if the strenuous road is treacherous, And even if some of us may fall to our demise, Forever will we love you our homeland, We are yours in battle and in labor!
And We Plowed Through the Fields….
Not even David Ben Gurion could have imagined the extensive changes that the land of Israel would undergo in only 60 years.
The development of modern cities, high-rise buildings, super-highways, museums, renowned universities, and the emergence of some of the world’s leading hi-tech companies, are just a few of the features that dot the modern Israeli landscape.
In early Zionist terms, to love Israel had a meaning our generation no longer recognizes -- it was to love the very soil itself. The original vision of Israel as the “Land of Milk and Honey” seems so remote that we often forget that it was actually the agricultural cultivation of the land that enabled Israel to become the flourishing country that it is today.
During the first half of the 20th century, many of Israel’s legendary early poets, such as Yehuda Amichai, Leah Goldberg, and Rachel wrote romantic songs glorifying picturesque portrayals of Jewish pioneers working and plowing the land with fervent admiration and dedication to the principle of redeeming the soil through manual labor. It is the voice of the passionately idealistic Zionists from the first and second Aliyah generations, who through their self-sacrifice labored towards creating the nation’s countless kibbutzim, moshavim, schools, local governments, synagogues and early defense forces.
In the poem Morning Song, Nathan Alterman writes in the voice of the pioneers, promising to revitalize and beautify the land of Israel while vowing absolute commitment to both working and defending the soil. The pioneers venerated the humble nature of the land, which to them was more worthy than gold since it was Eretz Yisrael, the land their ancestors only dreamed of returning.
The poem’s energy, faith, and optimism reflect the spirit of the early Zionist settlers in that it looks toward the bright future of tomorrow, while leaving behind the dark shadow of European persecution of the Jewish people.
The pioneers knew that their simple actions of cultivating the land, digging, growing, building, were historical landmarks in the history of their people. They were driven by idealistic euphoria, the energy and passion unparalleled; this was the utopia in the making.
Un-distorted by politics, before the Jewish state was even founded, these pioneers created the “new Jew”. The new Jews, a secular Jewish breed, were fearless revolutionaries; they purged their past Diaspora culture, renewed the Hebrew language, changed their European last names and built a new culture based on their communal ideals. But all that their job actually entailed for now was the simple yet pious labor of the cultivator, to which they devoted their lives to. The work not typically associated with Jews, the work that re-vitalized the Jewish soul.
However , while Alterman does
identify with the pioneers in the poem, it is the land of Israel to which he dedicates this song. For it was the vision of a Jewish homeland that united and inspired the Jewish Diaspora to survive
the suffering which it continuously endured.
This Yom Ha’atzmaut, as we appreciate Israel’s beautifully diverse landscapes, let us remember the early Israeli farmers, workers, and soldiers, whose contribution of blood, sweat, and tears enabled the the re-settlement and founding of Israel; we love you, our homeland.
print version
Recommend this page!
