Song for Peace – Shir Lashalom
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The powerful protest Song for Peace, a first of its kind in Israel, was sung for the first time in 1968, a year after the “Six Days war” was won, to a nation still drunk on victory. It premiered in my basic training boot camp by Miri Aloni and Lehakat Hanchal להקת הנח"ל [Lyrics: Yankele Rotblit; Melody: Yair Rosenblum; Complete lyrics & translation.
Bold, pacifist, and uncompromising, it touched many of us deeply at the time, and ever since, with its fearless message. It calls for the victorious people, and its army, to let go of the dead, to stop idealizing them, to stop the fighting on their behalf (in an endless cycle of death and wars), to stop whispering a prayer for peace, and instead to actually, yell it out loud and more importantly, bring it on!
50 years later, both the song and its potent message still reverberate in my body whenever I hear it, or sing it along.
Song for Peace
Let the sun rise
the morning give its light
The purest of prayers
will not bring us back
He who's candle was snuffed out
and was buried in the dust
bitter cry wont wake him up
and wont bring him back
Nobody will bring us back
from a dead and darkened pit
here, neither the victory cheer
nor songs of praise will help
שיר לשלום
תנו לשמש לעלות
לבוקר להאיר,
הזכה שבתפילות
אותנו לא תחזיר.
מי אשר כבה נרו
ובעפר נטמן,
בכי מר לא יעירו
לא יחזירו לכאן.
איש אותנו לא ישיב
מבור תחתית אפל,
כאן לא יועילו
לא שמחת הניצחון
ולא שירי הלל.
The silent prayers for us
Like balloons released towards the heavens
The dead who died fighting will not
return, will not roam the earth again
Will not laugh or cry
If you honor us
Instead of singing songs
Use your voices to shout for peace
To stop endless wars that take your loved
ones to dark graves void of light