Forty years passed before the first song was written in Israel about the Holocaust. For a long generation, Holocaust survivors, and their kids, were mostly quiet about the events that, more than any other, shaped their lives. Then that all changed.
Songs
- Halikha le-Keysaria, Tzila Dagan
- Partisan’s Song, Paul Robeson
- Shir ha-Partizanim, Shimon Yisraeli
- Hofshi zeh legamrei levad, Benzin
- Yom Shishi, Benzin
- Einayim Sheli, Yehudah Poliker
- Wait for Me, Saloniki, Jacko and Serena Poliker
- Wait for Me, Saloniki, Yehudah Poliker
- Flowers in the Wind, Yehudah Poliker
- The Little Station Treblinka, Yehudah Poliker
- Efer ve-Avak, Yehuda Poliker
- Romania, Shlomo Artzi
Re: Ash, Dust
Noah: Brilliantly done. It’s perfect. Thank you for this.
Sorry to take so long to reply, David. And thank you SO much for your kindness – taking the time to say something encouraging. I am really grateful and moved.
As always The Promised Podcast is an emotional and informative addition to my Thursday or Friday morning, busy in pre Shabat preparations. I am on my feet cooking, baking and cleaning, listening to the banter and delightful stories of our life here in Israel. Well, todays podcast, caused me to sit down and listen, with not just my ears, but with my heart and with all my being. Thank you so very much, as always, but especially today, for speaking “truth to beauty”, the beauty of this land and these people,
Simcha, what a lovely, lovely thing for you to write. I am touched and grateful. And, of course, I agree about the beauty of this place and these people — the great love of my life (alongside Susan and our girl and our boy, though in truth, even they are somehow inseparable from this place.)
Your podcast moved me greatly, what an interesting way to weave the Holocaust throughout history and music.
It was so kind of you to take the time to write an encouraging word, Susana. Thank you, thank you!
Loved this so much. Wonderful storytelling.
I was listening to this, and suddenly I thought, “HE {Noah} is the one to write that book!” I mean of course, could someone else come up with witty, engaging material week-by-bloody week with- and without – striking a chord? I mean maybe Hashem blew his chance by not placing me in Tel Aviv (I kid!), but then who is there? I have come too late; I`ll be delighted to read the book, until next week ~
Nathan from Florida
An amazing, amazing, awesome program. I was mesmerised by it from beginning until the very end. I forwarded it to all my contacts. It is a must-listen kind of program, in terms of content (the story) and process (the quality of presentation.) Above and beyond the usual fare. At one point, I became so emotionally overwhelmed that I cried (while walking my 3-mile morning walk in safe, beautiful, genteel Palmetto Bay ( a village outside Miami, FL.)
It is definitely an episode to remember and even come back to. It totally reflected accurately my experience as a child born to German Jews (Yekkes?) in 1942 and being taught in the Israeli education system until 1959. How these refugees of the Holocaust were treated by us, the new generation of the New Sparta and our teachers was exactly the way you described it. When I look back at it I cringe with shame of our, no! MY חוצפה to come to my father and tell him, as a 14 year old sassy, Sabra, that his family “went like sheep to the slaughter!” In these precise, ugly, awful, awful words. This is a hard thing to live with, now that he has been gone for 30 years.
I am glad that things have changed. On the other hand, I worry that as pendulums go, it might become the only reason for American Jews to support Israel, especially after the scare we experieced under the Trump regime and the rise of anti-Semitism.
כל הכבוד, נח!!! Continue your good work. Thursdays are just not the same without you and The Promised. Podcast.
Very moving comment. Program was superb. I’m saving it to listen again. Taught me more about Israel than anything else since arriving nearly 50 years ago.
Thanks so much. I cried my way through most of this. I read Segev – Seventh Million last year and must say that you have done a remarkable job in capturing the essence of what he tried to say and did so in such a short amount of time
Also, your tribute to Poliker changed how I will listen to him forever
Keep up your amazing work. It reminds us how much we miss Tel Aviv and Israel. ( cancelling third reservation and patiently waiting )
This wonderful episode reminds me of something I always ask my American Jewish High School students:
What is the difference between how Israelis initially approach the Holocaust and how American Jews initially approached it?
-The Israelis ask, “How could you not fight back?”
-The Americans ask, “How could the world do this to us?”
Thank you Noah, for continuing to be a voice that helps me push aside the flotsam of current commentary and think more deeply about the long-term and how — lo and behold, so hard for so many to accept — things are actually on the right path (despite the painful episodes along the way).
Shanah tovah,
Neil! So good to hear from you, always. You’re right that Israeli and American Jews have different notions of Jewish “agency.” The Israeli notion can be self-aggrandizing and cruel, leading kids to ask their grandparents, How could you have done *nothing* when the Nazis led you to cattle cars?, and leading some people in the 1950s to conclude that Kasztner deserved to die. But there is also something beautiful about it – a change in what it means to be Jewish that early Zionists set out to cause, and did.
Of course, I find myself wishing that we Israelis could be a bit more like the Americans, and that we Americans could be more like the Israelis, but maybe that’s just because I myself have lived a life poised between the two.
Anyway, Shannah tovah to you and all of yours!
I actually love your podcasts. I eagerly wait for Friday mornings, Melbourne Australia, to listen and savour. But this episode touched my heart. =I lived in Israel from the age of 5 to 12 from 1949 – 1957, so my memory is steeped in the topic you covered. thank you so very much how poignantly you presented itshoshanna
This gave me a lot to think about regarding my grandparents, Israeli holocaust survivors who rarely if ever spoke of what they endured. I always assumed it was because the memories were too painful, or they wanted to protect their children from hearing about the horrors of what happened. But another element may have been the negative attitudes towards Holocaust survivors that existed in Israel as you point out. I recently found my grandfather’s Yad Vashem video testimony – when he made aliyah after the war, he talks about getting questioned frequently by Israeli sabras why they were so helpless/did not fight back. But he said it did not bother him to be asked, because they did not understand the dire situation they were in, in Poland. The connection to Israeli music related to the shoa is also fascinating. I knew of Poliker’s music but not all the background to the creation of the music that you provided. Thank you!!
Can this be obtained in written form, to be read and studied rather than only heard?
Hi Andrew, at the moment, we unfortunately cannot provide transcripts of our shows.