Lee Diamond

Lee Diamond – Our Hebrew school principal announced

Israel

 

Lee Diamond – Our Hebrew school principal announced

 

It was

Kametz Alef Aw—Saf and Taf

And suddenly

Just Taf

No more Saf

No more ”

״ aw”

 

Our Hebrew school principal announced:

Israel was established today

May 14 1948 ה׳ באייר תש״ח

 

“We will learn Hebrew as new Jews

As the state learns Hebrew

as new Jews–

Speaking Modern Hebrew.

 

From today on

Forget the aw

And the Saf”

 

We learned the Hatikva and

We were told was the Jewish National Anthem

—-Not the Israeli national anthem—-

 

Our own Jewish National anthem

 

“WE never lost the Hope of

2000 years

To be a free people in our land

In the Land of Tzion and in Jerusalem”

 

What a transforming moment!

Only 8 years old

An American Jewish child

And transformed forever

Into a Jew

Not just Jewish

But a Jew

 

We were assigned an essay:

 

“What does the establishment

Of The State of Israel

Mean to me?”

 

I took it seriously

My Essay–“ISRAEL IS REAL”

I remember these words

Because they were REAL for me!

 

Israel’s heroes became my heroes

Ben Gurion –

David with a tiny sling

Protecting my tiny nation

Wild while hair

A high pitched voice

A philosopher

A statesman

A biblically  versed, modern

Hebrew speaking Jew

With the vision of the prophets

 

My friends and I sat on the bus

But Separate on that day

And shouted to each other

Hebrew words

Across the bus

On that fateful day

“Baruch Ata”

“Melech HaOlam”

 

Silly kids

Inappropriate words

But proud kids

Proud to be Jews

Shouting it out loud

For all to see!

And hear

Jewish pride!

 

Now we had direction

Now we had security

Now we were the Davids with the sling shot

We were alive and had smooth stones

For the sling shot

And we no longer pronounced Hebrew

With a Saf or an aw!

 

And there were new heroes

There was Golda

And Dayan

And Abba Eban

And Rabin

And more

And our chests swelled with new pride

 

Menachem Begin too was a Jew

A proud and dedicated Jew

First Israeli PM to travel and demand Kashrut

And to make peace!

 

No more Safs

No more Aws

 

Don’t kid yourselves

 

Peace is still our vision

Pride defines us

Strength –our youth and defenders

Intelligence our very nature

 

Governments come and go

Politicians rise and fall

Corruption is our failure

And not our rule

 

Beautiful ,Handsome

Boys and girls

Building a great Jewish

Nation

Climbing Jacob’s  ladder

Angels passing us by

As we climb

Slipping yet climbing

And reaching higher

 

We are proud to be Jews

For We’ve achieved

Israel

No longer

Jacob

We are Israel

 

No more Safs

And no more “Aws”

 

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Categories

Archives

DH Gate

doing online business, think of dhgate.com

Verified & Secured

Copyright © 2023 IsraelSeen.com

To Top
Verified by MonsterInsights