A soulful performance of Eli, Eli by the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Eli, Eli is one of the unofficial anthems of Israel. Holocaust Remembrance Day and Yom HaShoah (Day of the Holocaust) do not pass without singing of them.

Eli, Eli is based on the poem “A Walk to Caesarea”’ written by Hannah Szenes in 1942.

During World War II, Hannah was a Hungarian resistance fighter and was among the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine in Europe to save Hungarian Jews from being sent to Auschwitz. Unfortunately, for Hanna herself, that mission ended in arrest and execution.

In 1945, Israeli composer David Zehavi wrote music to the lyrics from Hannah’s poem:

My God, my God,

I pray that these things never end,

The sand and the sea,

The rustle of the waters,

Lightning of the Heavens,

The prayer of Man.

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