A woman's Song of the Sea/ Tzippora Rosenberg
I, like Miriam,
Wish to cross a sea,
to sound a tambourine
to sing,
to praise,
to break out in dance
at the miracles I saw.
And I,
Like the Prophetess Devora,
I, Tzippora,
Wish to awaken
To find the foe is gone.
To bless those who came,
Who offered to help ,
Who opened our hearts
To chant in song
Of courage untold
That smites the walls of tunnels,
And blasts the warrens of evil.
To the wondrous women
Yael of the Kenites
Rachel of Ofakim
Whose bright countenances
Whose food and warm milk
Overcame Yavin’s commander
And the cruel Hamas terrorists.
As the mother in Israel once discerned
The spiritual state of a people,
Heroes risking lives, blood shed
All worthy of eternal praise
And that stars leave their orbits.
So may all our enemies fall
May the sun come out from the shadows
The land find respite from blood
For its beloved righteous sons.
Selected Sources: Exodus 15:20, Judges 5, https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/382455
Tzippora Rosenberg is a veteran teacher of Tanakh whose Hebrew poems, filled with allusions to biblical phrases and commentaries, have appeared in the Hebrew Makor Rishon newspaper.
The following poems are taken from a new volume of the Hineni series, a collection of poems of the spirit and writings of IDF soldiers, edited by Eliaz Cohen, well-known Israeli poet and editor of "Mashiv Haruach" magazine and books of poetry, who lives in Gush Etzion.
Something Will Arise / Eliaz Cohen
Something will arise out of all this blood
I know it
No longer will the Nile crocodile hiss
When a bird in the heavens sings again.
Something will arise out of all this blood
And he who became drunk on blood – will melt mountains
With his own blood.
Something will arise from all this blood
Perhaps poems, I see pierced words
O earth, cover not their blood.
(it’s the troth of blood that has entered me now)
Something will arise from all this blood -
I see
The purple garment of the Messiah coming.
Something will arise from all this blood
Suddenly, in the early morning, a nation
Will arise and begin to walk forward.
Something will arise from all this blood
And the prophet said – ‘in your blood, shall you live.’
in the meantime
The fear of the firstborn envelopes me each night
At midnight.
Selected Sources:Crocodiles ; Job 6,18; Genesis 15, 9; Hebrew song; Ezekiel 16, 16. Exodus 11.
Before reading the following poem, take a minute to read the popular 1973 post Yom Kippur War poem (translated into English) on which its meter is based and note the contrast:
We are the soldiers of Fall 2023/ Zohar Dor
Yes, we are the soldiers of Fall 2023
Our muscles taut with shock
Our efforts to suppress pain and stay stoic etched on our faces
You conceived us as children of peace after the Yom Kippur war,
The Six Day War, Operation Cast Lead.
But the cries from Be’eri to Re’im rent the peace that was never there
We are not its children
Although we wished so much to be.
Don’t look at us, as you might reveal the guilt
We stand proud and steadfast
Fighters filled with dedication and love (and fear)
If we stop we will feel the loss that has no place at all now.
We are the soldiers of the 2023 war
Your children
Perhaps asking for forgiveness
Falling in battle for our nation.
Zohar Dor serves in the 8200 IDF Cyber Corps. She was at the Re'im Base that was attacked on October 7th.
Translations: Rochel Sylvetsky