Another song with an obscure Jewish reference
This is a song by Ehud Banai. I saw him live once in Phoenix, he’s really great although because he’s a bit of a singer-songwriter and a story-teller, the concert would have been better if I had understood hebrew better. But the songs were amazing. He seems to me to be a little bit of an Israeli Simon and Garfunkel.
Anyway, he does a Hebrew version of an old Irish song called The Star of County Down. Its had multiple renditions over the years by many different english language bands. Ehud Banai rewrote the song and didn’t just translate it into Hebrew – he changed it to culturally fit Israel. And the interesting thing to me are the geographical references he chose in the chorus.
The chorus of the song basically says that he’s never seen a girl so pretty, from east to west, from north to south; where instead of north, south, east and west he lists well-known geophraphic locations. Sort of like in “This Land Is My Land” they list “from California to the New York Island, from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters….” In the original Irish song it says, “From Bantry Bay down to Derry Quay.” Ehud Banai changed the geophraphic markers to, “The Yarkon River to the Sambatyon.” Now that’s funny to me because first of all the Yarkon is a pretty small creek-like river in north Tel Aviv. But the interesting part is the Sambatyon river. First of all, it’s not even a real river (as far as we know 😉) Its the legendary river discussed in the Talmud across which are to be found the ten lost tribes of Israel! And the legend goes on to say that the river is so fierce and strong, throwing up rocks and such, that no one can cross it. Except on shabbat, when of course, the river is quiet. But of course you can’t cross it on shabbat since you can’t travel on shabbat, hence the ten lost tribes are still stuck there across the Sambatyon river. So when he says he’s never seen a girl so pretty, from the Yarkon river to the Sambatyon river – well, that’s a pretty wide area!
The star of gush dan – Ehud Banai – click here to hear the song
wikipedia article about the Sambatyon river – click here
ברחוב קטן, במחוז גוש דן בקיץ שעבר
נערה יפה בדרכי חלפה ושלחה לי חיוך קצר
מכפות רגליים יחפות עד שיער חום אגוז זוהר
חיזיון מתוק, רק צריך לבדוק אם הייתי ישן או ער
מנהר ירקון עד הסמבטיון
מגליל עד לראש שטן
לא תמצא תמה, כמו אותה עלמה
היא הכוכב של מחוז גוש דן
האם אני מביט, בכוכב שביט? נשארתי עומד המום
אז שאלתי זר, שברחוב עבר, מי זו היא, הפיה בחום
הוא חייך אלי ואמר לי, זוהי פרח ארגמן
היא אבן הספיר, היא שושנת העיר, היא הכוכב של מחוז גוש דן
מנהר ירקון עד הסמבטיון
מגליל עד לראש שטן
לא תמצא תמה, כמו אותה עלמה
היא הכוכב של מחוז גוש דן
אחפש בין הסימטאות, בסתר המדרגות
אחרי כוכב חום אגוז זוהר שיאיר לי בלילות
מקטרתי כבויה, נשמתי שבויה, עד שהיא תחזור לכאן
עד ששוב יאיר, מעל העיר, הכוכב של מחוז גוש דן
מנהר ירקון עד הסמבטיון
מגליל עד לראש שטן
לא תמצא תמה, כמו אותה עלמה
היא הכוכב של מחוז גוש דן
Down a bóithrín green came a sweet cailín
And she smiled as she passed me by.
She looked so neat in her two bare feet
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair
Such a coaxing elf, I’d to shake myself
To make sure I was standing there.
From Galway to Dublin town
No maid I’ve seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.
And I gazed with a feeling queer
And I said, says I, to a passerby
“Who’s your one with the nut-brown hair?”
He smiled at me, and with pride says he,
“She’s the gem of old Ireland’s crown.
Young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann
And the star of the County Down.”
From Galway to Dublin town
No maid I’ve seen like the fair cailín
That I met in the County Down.
And finally, to keep up with my tradition noting the time of year in the Jewish calendar based on what’s in the supermarket, here are two pics to see if you can guess which holidays are coming up:
And:
can you see what’s in those boxes? you guessed it – hamentaschen! only here they’re apparently called אוזני המן, which literally means “ears of Haman” or “Haman’s ears.” Who knew?!