Israel in Translation

Hayyim Nahman Bialik was one of the pioneers of Hebrew poetry. Hear the National Poet of Israel sung by Arik Einstein, who created the"Soundtrack of Israel." Find out about the fascinating Bialik house, and his songs and activities for children.

Music:

Nad-Ned [See-saw], performed by Shula Chen

Take me Under your Wing, performed by Arik Einstein

Take Me Under Your Wing Take me under your wing,be my mother, my sister.Take my head to your breast,my banished prayers to your nest. One merciful twilight hour,hear my pain, bend your head.They say there is youth in the world.Where has my youth fled? Listen! another secret:I have been seared by a flame.They say there is love in the world.How do we know love’s name? I was deceived by the stars.There was a dream; it passed.I have nothing at all in the world,nothing but a vast waste. Take me under your wing,be my mother, my sister.Take my head to your breast,my banished prayers to your nest.

1. The mother of Hebrew Poetry, and one of the first women poet's in theHebrew language since the Biblical Deborah. She switched from paining artand playing music to painting with the soil and playing with the hoe.

Book: Flowers of Perhaps. A Bilingual edition of selected poems translatedby Robert Friend. Toby Press, 2008.Music: "And Maybe," performed by Arik Einstein"Sing, you must," performed by Idan Raichal and Din Din Aviv "To MyCountry," performed by Netanela,

It's great to be living in a city whose streets are named for so many poets and writers, but who are these people and what exactly did they write? In this segment we'll learn about the main north-south street of Tel Aviv, Ibn Gavirol, and the brilliant Golden-Age poet described as "the spectacular fly in the ointment of the refined eleventh century Andalusian-Jewish elite."

Book: "The Dream of the Poem. Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492. Translated by Peter Cole. Princeton University Press.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8349.html

Song: Sha'ar Petach Dodi, written by Ibn Gavirol, performed by Berry Sakharof