Hear Israel, my God, by Sarit Hadad

For a video that captures the way this song has become a prayer on the lips of Israeli youth, go here. I don’t like this particular video, but the audio is excellent. Sarit is touring the US this month.

Singing this song is a nice way of practicing one’s Hebrew. Virtually all the words of the song occur in the Hebrew Bible. Most are part of its core vocabulary. Below the fold, text, translation, and vocalized text. For best results, work with the audio of the second video and compare it with the unvocalized text, until you can read the unvocalized text without a hitch. The translation I offer is not always perfectly literal. It’s poetry after all.

Note: in accordance with custom, Sarit pronounces אלוהים etc. as אלוקים etc.

כשהלב בוכה רק אלוהים שומע

הכאב עולה מתוך הנשמה

אדם נופל לפני שהוא שוקע

בתפילה קטנה חותך את הדממה.

When the heart is crying only God hears

the pain rises from within one’s breath

a man falls before he goes under

with a short prayer, he cuts the silence

שמע ישראל אלוהי אתה הכל יכול

נתת לי את חיי נתת לי הכל

בעיני דמעה הלב בוכה בשקט

וכשהלב שותק הנשמה זועקת.

Hear Israel, my God, you can do all

you gave me my life, you gave me all

in my eyes a tear, silently the heart cries

when the heart shuts up, one’s breath cries out

שמע ישראל אלוהי עכשיו אני לבד

חזק אותי אלוהי עשה שלא אפחד

הכאב גדול ואין לאן לברוח

עשה שיגמר כי לא נותר בי כח.

Hear Israel, my God, I am now alone

make me strong, my God, so I won't fear

the pain is great, there's nowhere to flee

make it end, no strength is left in me

כשהלב בוכה הזמן עומד מלכת

האדם רואה את כל חייו פתאום

אל הלא נודע הוא לא רוצה ללכת

לאלוהיו קורא על סף תהום.

When the heart is crying, time stops moving

in an inkling a man sees his whole life pass

to the unknown he does not want to go

to his God he calls, on the edge of the abyss.

כשהלב בוכה רק אלוהים שומע

הכאב עולה מתוך הנשמה

אדם נופל לפני שהוא שוקע

בתפילה קטנה חותך את הדממה.

When the heart is crying only God hears

the pain rises from within one’s breath

a man falls before he goes under

with a short prayer, he cuts the silence

שמע ישראל אלוהי אתה הכל יכול

נתת לי את חיי נתת לי הכל

בעיני דמעה הלב בוכה בשקט

וכשהלב שותק הנשמה זועקת.

Hear Israel, my God, you can do all

you gave me my life, you gave me all

in my eyes a tear, silently the heart cries

when the heart shuts up, one’s breath cries out

כשהלב בוכה רק אלוהים שומע

הכאב עולה מתוך הנשמה

אדם נופל לפני שהוא שוקע

בתפילה קטנה חותך את הדממה.

When the heart is crying only God hears

the pain rises from within one’s breath

a man falls before he goes under

with a short prayer, he cuts the silence

שמע ישראל אלוהי אתה הכל יכול

נתת לי את חיי נתת לי הכל

בעיני דמעה הלב בוכה בשקט

וכשהלב שותק הנשמה זועקת.

Hear Israel, my God, you can do all

you gave me my life, you gave me all

in my eyes a tear, silently the heart cries

when the heart shuts up, one’s breath cries out

 

כְּשֶׁהַלֵּב בּוֹכֶה רַק אֱלוֹהִים שׁוֹמֵעַ

הַכְּאֵב עוֹלֶה מִתּוֹךְ הַנְּשָׁמָה

אָדָם נוֹפֵל לִפְנֵי שֶׁהוּא שׁוֹקֵעַ

בִּתְפִילָה קְטַנָּה חוֹתֵךְ אֶת הַדְּמָמָה.

 

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלוֹהַי אַתָּה הַכֹּל יָכוֹל

נָתַתָּ לִי אֶת חַיַי נָתַתָּ לִי הַכֹּל

בְּעֵינַי דִּמְעָה הַלֵּב בּוֹכֶה בְּשֶׁקֶט
וּכְשֶׁהַלֵּב שׁוֹתֵק הַנְּשָׁמָה זוֹעֶקֶת.

 

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלוֹהַי עַכְשָׁיו אֲנִי לְבַד

חַזֵּק אוֹתִי אֱלוֹהַי עֲשֵׂה שֶׁלֹּא אֶפְחַד

הַכְּאֵב גָּדוֹל וְאֵין לְאָן לִבְרוֹחַ

עֲשֵׂה שֶׁיִּגָּמֵר כִּי לֹא נוֹתַר בִּי כֹּחַ

 

כְּשֶׁהַלֵּב בּוֹכֶה הַזְּמָן עוֹמֵד מִלֶּכֶת

הָאָדָם רוֹאֶה אֶת כֹּל חַיָּיו פִּתְאוֹם

אֶל הַלֹּא נוֹדַע הוּא לֹא רוֹצֶה לָלֶכֶת

לֵאלוֹהָיו קוֹרֵא עַל סַף תְּהוֹם

 

In the vocalization, I normalized to Masoretic standards in one case:

Sarit: לֶאֱלוֹהָיו = MT: לֵאלוֹהָיו.

Comments

[Kevin P. Edgecomb]

Nice translation, John!

I would, however, suggest "soul" rather than "breath" for נשמה. This is a later development based in Kabbalah, describing the highest part of the spiritual elements of a man: nefesh, ruach, neshamah, in increasing order. The Greek equivalent in Patristic writing would probably be nous, a difficult to translate word, denoting the faculty of spiritual perception and expression.

Or sumpin' like dat.

[JohnFH]

Hi Kevin,

I follow what you are saying, and other translations available online translate "soul" just as you suggest. I was trying to bring out the opposition in the song between leb and neshamah, which is hard to do if leb is translated "connotatively" (heart) and neshamah "denotatively" (soul).

In the song, and there are analogues throughout Hebrew literature, heart is the seat of interior speech / silence, whereas breath / anima is the seat of exteriorized speech.

[Kevin P. Edgecomb]

Well, yes, that's one way to approach it, I suppose. Still, it's somewhat awkward.

[JohnFH]

It is a bit awkward. I'm glad you brought up the more obvious way to translate neshama.

It isn't possible to transfer the full Monty from source to target language, so one has to make choices, each of which leaves a part of the original on the cutting room floor.

[Randy T]

How good is this translation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBR-CAo0v_8 of her song on you tube.
Randy

[Randy T]

If you have problems with the website address that I listed above just go to youtube.com and search for Sarit Hadad Hebrew 100.
Randy

[JohnFH]

Hi Randy,

On one occasion, the subtitles are completely wrong: the half-lines are reversed in the case of "to the unknown / he does not want to go."

On other occasions, you depended on online translations that don't translate word-for-word, such as "omnipotent" for "you can do all," and "big fall" for "on the edge of the abyss."

However, I do not give a completely word-for-word translation either. That's hard to do without producing gibberish.

A general purpose translation, however, will use "soul" for neshama as the video does.

I wish you well with this. God bless.

[Wolf]

The reason she uses "elokim" is because unless in "real" prayer one does not use "elohim".
Also Neshama is recognized by Jews world-wide as meaning "soul".

[JohnFH]

Hi Wolf,

Thanks for your comments. Not all Jews, of course, replace "elohim" by "elokim" outside of prayer - not by a long shot.

I agree that neshama refers to "soul" here, but in such a way that the soul's realization in "breath" is not excluded. The heart shuts up, but the soul through breath still cries out. The contrast in one of the song's lines between heart and soul = anima = breath would not otherwise be possible. My translation seeks to bring this out.

Perhaps there is another way to construe the relevant line, but that is the best I've been able to come up with so far.