![]() Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published The men of Hamas attacked me Unwavering, unyielding stronghold and trove.Īre covered white with blossom down the grove. Somewhere in the depths of night, someone intent lies, Through grottoes rocky and trenches dusty. I will pass through all the tunnels, caverns and fortresses, Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published TRIBUTE TO THE REFUGE Here’s a very old video of a performance of Shemer’s rendition, performed along the Suez Canal, which is the subject of the song, with the English words first (the video has English and Russian subtitles).Īs you watch the video, take a look at those soldiers, now in their 70’s or 80’s if they’re still around (most of the soldiers stationed there on Yom Kippur in 1973 were slaughtered), pause for a moment to think about today, Hanukkah again, and Israeli at war, again. A new stanza, essentially, had been added to the ancient song, even if with a different melody. Once again, the Jewish people were being attacked. But though the structure has changed, the point hasn’t. Unlike in the original Maoz Tzur, which has a different first line for each stanza, Naomi Shemer uses the same first line over and over, to remind the listener that this is a play on an ancient text, a well-known song. For Shemer, the source of strength and protection was the fortress, not God, a standard Israeli play on an ancient song. Here, though, the secular Shemer uses the word “maoz” to mean “stronghold” to refer to the Bar Lev Line, which Israel had constructed along the Suez Canal (and which would fall like a house of cards in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, leaving the Sinai unprotected). In the original, the word “Maoz”, which means “refuge, is apparently a reference to God, to whom the writer turns. In the late 1960’s, Naomi Shemer, probably Israel’s greatest ever classic song-writer, took the classic Maoz Tzur and rewrote it as a song about the War of Attrition, which was then raging, taking the lives of many Israeli soldiers along the Suez Canal after the 1967 War. Once a song becomes popular and well known (in this case, not an Israeli song, but an ancient liturgical song called a piyyut), it invariable gets changed as history changes. Push back the red one, in the shadow of the Tsalmon, and raise for us the shepherd of seven.įor years now, on Israel from the Inside, we’ve been showing how Israeli songs have histories. Unsheath your holy arm, and bring near the end that is salvation.Ĭlaim the vengeance of your servants' blood from the evil nation.įor the hour has lengthened on us, and there is no end to the days of evil. They broke down the walls of my towers, and defiled all the oils īut from one of the last remaining flasks a miracle was wrought for the liliesĪnd their men of understanding appointed these eight days for song and praises. The Greeks were gathered against me in the days of the Hasmoneans His many sons and belongings you hung on the gallows. You exalted the head of the Benjamite, but the enemy's name you blotted out: The Agagite the son of Hammedatha, sought to cut down the lofty fir treeīut his design became a snare to himself, and his pride was brought to an end. When Babylon's end drew near through Zerubbabel I was saved after seventy years. I had to quaff the wine of bewilderment well nigh had I perished, To his holy house he brought me, yet there also I found no peace,įor the oppressor came and led me captive, because I had served strange gods: While the host of Pharaoh and all his seed sank like a stone into the deep. They embittered my life by hardship during my subjection to the empire of the calfīut God with his great power brought forth the treasured ones My soul was filled with ills, my strength was spent with sorrow I will complete with song and psalm the dedication of the altar. ![]() ![]() When you have prepared a slaughter of the barking foe, Let my house of prayer be restored, and I will there offer thanksgivings Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published O Fortress, Rock of my salvation, it is pleasant to praise you: ![]()
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