{"id":10425,"date":"2019-04-04T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T09:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/2019\/04\/04\/miri-aloni-the-idf-nachal-band-a-song-for-peace"},"modified":"2019-04-10T09:51:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T06:51:22","slug":"miri-aloni-the-idf-nachal-band-a-song-for-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/2019\/04\/04\/miri-aloni-the-idf-nachal-band-a-song-for-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Miri Aloni &#038; the IDF Nachal Band: A Song for Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"embed\"><iframe width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Sz8O0OcAA3c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Yaakov Rotblit and composed by Yair Rosenblum, this controversial song was first performed by the IDF Nachal Infantry Ensemble in 1969, during the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt.<a href=\"https:\/\/lyricstranslate.com\/en\/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9D-shir-lashalom-shir-lashalom.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> The lyrics<\/a>, translated on screen and below, express a yearning for peace, mourn fallen soldiers, and criticize the glorification of war and culture of bereavement that are prevalent in Israeli society, calling on people to instead sing for love and act for peace. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The song was particularly threatening to the IDF. As it was intended for a military band, the line &#8220;Sing a song for love, and not for <strong>wars<\/strong>,&#8221; was changed from the original &#8220;Sing a song for love, and not for <strong>victories&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0by the head of the IDF education department, as to not bring down the morale of the troops. Released during a period of hyper-nationalism\u00a0and military enthusiasm following the Six Day War, many criticized the song as defeatist, including the head of both the the IDF&#8217;s Central and Southern Commands, who banned the ensemble from appearing in their zones in 1969.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Many, however,\u00a0appreciated the message of peace, especially those who supported Yitzhak Rabin, Chief\u00a0of Staff during the Six Day War, who spoke publicly about the great loss of both Israeli and enemy troops during the war. Occasionally\u00a0sung in Arabic as well, the song became the unofficial anthem of the Peace Now movement, and the rights were purchased by the left-wing Meretz party for use in the 1996 election campaign.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Most famously, at the end of a peace rally on November 4, 1995, Israeli musicians, together with Shimon Peres and Yizhak Rabin, led the crowd in singing &#8220;A Song for Peace.&#8221; Rabin was assassinated\u00a0immediately following the rally, and the blood-strained lyrics were found in his shirt pocket. The song has since been closely associated with Rabin and the peace movement, sung regularly at memorial ceremonies and peace rallies.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>See the chorus below in Hebrew. For the full Hebrew lyrics, <a href=\"https:\/\/shironet.mako.co.il\/artist?type=lyrics&amp;lang=1&amp;prfid=650&amp;wrkid=3005\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u05dc\u05db\u05df, \u05e8\u05e7 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd<br \/>\n\u05d0\u05dc \u05ea\u05dc\u05d7\u05e9\u05d5 \u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4<br \/>\n\u05de\u05d5\u05d8\u05d1 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8\u05d5 \u05e9\u05d9\u05e8 \u05dc\u05e9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd<br \/>\n\u05d1\u05e6\u05e2\u05e7\u05d4 \u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4.<\/p>\n<h2>A Song for Peace<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Let the sun rise<br \/>\nAnd give the morning light,<br \/>\nThe purest prayer<br \/>\nWill not bring us back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">He whose candle was snuffed out<br \/>\nAnd was buried in the dust,<br \/>\nA bitter cry won&#8217;t wake him<br \/>\nWon&#8217;t bring him back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Nobody will return us<br \/>\nFrom the dead dark pit,<br \/>\nHere &#8211; neither the victory cheer<br \/>\nNor songs of praise will help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><em>Refrain:<\/em><br \/>\nSo &#8211; sing only a song for peace,<br \/>\nDo not whisper a prayer.<br \/>\nBetter sing a song for peace<br \/>\nWith a big shout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Let the sun penetrate<br \/>\nThrough the flowers,<br \/>\nDon&#8217;t look backward<br \/>\nLeave those who departed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Lift your eyes with hope,<br \/>\nNot through the rifle sights.<br \/>\nSing a song for love,<br \/>\nAnd not for wars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Don&#8217;t say the day will come,<br \/>\nBring the day because it is not a dream,<br \/>\nAnd within all the city&#8217;s squares,<br \/>\nCheer only peace.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><em>Refrain:<\/em><br \/>\nSo &#8211; sing only a song for peace,<br \/>\nDo not whisper a prayer.<br \/>\nBetter sing a song for peace,<br \/>\nWith a big shout.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Yaakov Rotblit and composed by Yair Rosenblum, this controversial song was first performed by the IDF Nachal Infantry Ensemble in 1969, during the War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt. The lyrics, translated on screen and below, express a yearning for peace, mourn fallen soldiers, and criticize the glorification of war and culture [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":10426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":[],"categories":[2553,2551,2810],"tags":[2413,2431,334,440,3087,2515],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10425\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=10425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10425\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10426\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=10425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=10425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kol-ami.kulam.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=10425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}