Little by little Eretz Yisrael,
the Older and Better Eretz Yisrael, is being finished off, but there are
moments in which I suddenly feel that the change is happening with one sharp swoop of
a sword. Such a moment came tonight when we were told about the death of Arik
Einstein.
A deja vu of sorts – once again
Ichilov, once again Beni Barbash, the Hospital Director in a choked up voice in
front of the cameras. Once again shock and real and all-encompassing sadness
from all parts of the public, and once again memorial candles outside of the
hospital. And once again, Shalom Chaver, just like Arik sang for Yitzhak.
For me, Arik Einstein was an
entire culture that combines music with a vast love of the Israel that once was.
An Israel of modesty, an Israel of simplicity where we make our way slowly and
we think about the poor soldiers who are lying in the mud right now, an Israel
that sometimes makes our hearts ache from its direction and we feel that the
country has gone to hell, and yet sometimes we are convinced that despite it
all there is this love inside of us and it will win.
For me Arik Einstein is also
songs that have accompanied my life here in this land: He accompanied me in
Hashomer Hatzair with “Hashrika Shel Hatnua”, the youth movement whistling
melody that reminds me of a bonfire, in the beautiful age of the activities and
the ken - because how dedicated we really were, how innocent we really were, he
accompanied me as a soldier in the early 1980’s while I sat in muddy
stakeouts, he accompanied me as a fan of
Hapoel humming over and over after another painful Hapoel loss about those poor
fans who are eating their hearts out -
so Sa Le’at, Sa Le’at, Go Slow, they won’t start without us, and he accompanies
me every time I leave the country and return to it with the tune of Kama Tov
SheChazarti Habayta, How Good it is That I Have Come Home.
Arik Einstein is the Red Israel,
the Simple Israel, an Israel with a good sense of humor, a beloved Israel that
once upon a time existed and has become unrecognizable. But more than anything
else I take from Arik Einstein the ability to fix things. The personal
responsibility that is mine and yours to make things so that it will be better
here. Here on the dirt of the Land of
Israel, and in our reality.
For me this is the song of Arik (one
he not only sang, but also wrote the lyrics for and composed the melody) that
accompanies me more than any other: Me and you will change the world, me and
you and then everyone else will come along, they’ve said it before I did, it
makes no difference. . . Me and you will try from the beginning, it will be bad
for us, but no matter, it’s not so terrible, me and you will change the world.
So now we have become the orphans
of another significant piece of the good Israel, the beautiful and much beloved
Israel that was here once upon a time, but we have been left with the
obligation and the responsibility to make sure that it will be a happy and
funny and just place here, to make sure that the Israel we will have in the
future will also be a Good Eretz Yisrael. Me and you, and then everyone else
will come right along.
Shalom, Chaver.
Yaniv Sagee
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