July 17, 2026 Categories: Inspiration from Zion: This is a Love Story
Inspiration from Zion: Walk in the Land of Israel
Wisdom is knowing what we don’t know. When I made Aliyah I discovered that although I am Jewish and was raised in a Zionist household, I knew nothing about Israel.
Nothing. That was a painful discovery. I was 13 and the culture shock was enormous. It took me years to reorient myself and be able to articulate what I didn’t know or understand and why it matters. I was raised in a Zionist household. We weren’t religious but we observed Jewish holidays. Or so I thought. I attended a Jewish school and Jewish after-school daycare and even so – I knew nothing about Israel. I don’t remember Israel ever being mentioned in my school. I thought I knew Hebrew (after moving here I discovered I didn’t). I knew what I thought were the basics about the Jewish holidays, but no one had ever pointed out the intrinsic link to the Land and to the fight for freedom and sovereignty. The most Zionist holidays either weren’t ever mentioned (like Shavuot or Tu B’shvat) or the elements of Zionism in them were simply ignored (like with Hannukah). I knew we were different, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. Reverence for books and education was the air I breathed. I knew about the hate. I knew my grandmother was a fighter for Israel. And with all that – no one ever told me that the pillars of Jewish identity are the connection to our People, our Land, and the Torah. As secular Jews, our connection to the Torah was tenuous. We were connected to other Jews in our area but not in a way that was much different from other friends. You celebrate holidays with these, you do other things with those. And our Land? I had absolutely no clue. Going to an Israeli school as an American ignoramus was difficult. Class trips were a big issue. Everyone seemed to love them. What was instinctive to my classmates was incomprehensible to me. We didn’t go on a trip to a museum or some similar location. We got on a bus, drove someplace, got out, and – walked. It seemed pointless to me. Why walk for hours, up and down hills, just to get back to the bus? That’s where we started off from so… why?
| Get up and walk in the land Northern Command Band Lyrics: Yoram Taharlev Composer: Yair Klinger | קום והתהלך בארץ להקת פיקוד צפון מילים: יורם טהרלב לחן: יאיר קלינגר |
| Get up and walk in the land In a backpack and a stick. [did he use the “in” rather than “with” for the rhythm of the sounds of the letters or because he was suggesting we put our soul into the tools of hiking?] You will surely meet on the way The Land of Israel again. Her paths will embrace you [The paths] Of the good land, She will call you to her Like to a cradle of love. This is indeed the same country, This is the same land And the same piece of rock Burnt in under the sun. And under the asphalt [Under] the showy buildings, The homeland hides Shy and humble. Get up and walk in the land… And vineyards of olive trees And the hiding place of the spring Still keeping her dream And our old dream. [she and we are two separate entities, part of the same story]. And red roofs on the mountain And children on the trails, Where we walked With belt and packs. [The words here work on two levels. Due to the choice of the plural form, to me, they seem to suggest the tools of soldiers rather than those of the hiker described at the beginning of the song – the belt of a soldier and bullet casings rather than backpacks. Bullet casings rather than bullets, to mirror the word used in the beginning of the song.]. Get up and walk the land… | קום והתהלך בארץ .בתרמיל ובמקל וודאי תפגוש בדרך .שוב את ארץ ישראל יחבקו אותך דרכיה ,של הארץ הטובה היא תקרא אותך אליה .כמו אל ערש אהבה ,זאת אכן אותה הארץ זו אותה האדמה ואותה פיסת הסלע .הנצרבת בחמה ומתחת לאספלט ,לבנייני הראווה מסתתרת המולדת .ביישנית וענווה …קום והתהלך בארץ וכרמי עצי הזית ומסתור המעיין עוד שומרים על חלומה .וחלומנו הישן וגגות אודמים על הר ,וילדים על השבילים במקום שבו הלכנו .עם חגור ותרמילים …קום והתהלך בארץ |
