A Walk to Caesarea
by Hannah Senesh
Original title הליכה לקיסריה
Written1942
LanguageHebrew

"A Walk to Caesarea" (Hebrew: הליכה לקיסריה, Halikha LeKeisarya), also commonly known by the opening words "Eli, Eli" (Hebrew: אֵלִי, אֵלִי, "My God, My God") in the song version, is a poem in Hebrew written in 1942 by Hungarian Jewish WWII resistance fighter Hannah Szenes,[1] which Israeli composer David Zehavi set to music in 1945.[2] Szenes wrote the poem while residing in kibbutz Sdot Yam which is located a short distance along the Mediterranean coast from the ancient port town of Caesarea.

The song is considered one of Israel's unofficial anthems,[2] and is the most-commonly played song on Yom HaShoah (the Holocaust Remembrance Day) in Israel.[3]

The following is an English translation of the song version:[4]

My God, my God,
may it never end –
the sand and the sea,
the rustle of the water,
the lightning of the sky,
the prayer of man.

In Hebrew, the poem reads:

אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם
החול והים
רשרוש של המים
ברק השמים
תפילת האדם

References

  1. "My God, May This Wonder Never End - Poem of The Week". Haaretz. 24 February 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Fire In My Heart: About the Exhibition". Museum of Jewish Heritage. Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  3. The most played song on Yom HaShoah
  4. "My God, May This Wonder Never End - Poem of The Week". Haaretz. 24 February 2015.
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