A Be'eri Survivor, and Orphan of October 7, Continues to Sing

Daniel Wais takes one of Israel's biggest stages to thank the parents he lost

Daniel Wais performed this song not long on Israel’s reality music show “A Star is Born”, and the next morning I received not one, but two messages, “Can you translate this?”

Almost without exception, I translate only modern songs, and this song was written by Naomi Shemer, one of Israel’s most prolific and beloved singers and composers (she wrote Jerusalem of Gold), in 1993 towards the end of her long career. But with this very modern version sung by Daniel Wais, an October 7th survivor from Kibbutz Be’eri, I felt an exception needed to be made. The song is moving not only due to Daniel’s beautiful voice and the serenity he exudes as he sings, but also because he uses the song to thank his parents, both of whom were killed by Hamas.

You can see his live performance here, and enjoy my creative translation below.

Click to see the Youtube video with my creative English translation. I share here only the link in order to assure that any proceeds from the song remain with the artists where they belong.