A Brighter Day

After waiting all these years, Can’t believe it’s finally here. At last I can hold you near And show I love you well. Standing ‘neath the canopy, It’s the groom and bride to be, Ha-rei at m ‘kudeshet li K’da-at yis-rael.
Dodi li va-ani lo Ha-roeh ba-shoshanim.
Like Jacob and his Rachel,
I’ve been captured by your spell.
AMI want to do is tell
The world of our love.
Raise the cup and drink the wine,
Break the glass and now you’re mine,
Let the world know that I’m
The one you’re dreaming of.
Mi zoi olah min ha-midbar M’kuteret mor u-levonah
Like the evening stars above, Risisng with the winged dove, Wc will spread unending love As time goes on and on. Seven blessings we receive. They will seal our destiny. Yet I still cannot believe That we are now as one.

Al ha-nissim v’al ha-purkan, V’al ha-g’vurot, v’al ha-t’shu-ot, V’al ha-milchamot she-asitah She-asitah lavoteinu.

Ba-yamim ha-heim baz’man ha-zeh

Biy’mei Matityahu ben Yochanan Uviy’mei Mordechai v’Esther ha-malkah Uvayamim shel Mar Hertzel u-Ven Gurion Amad’tah lahem b’eit tsaratam.

Four hundred years of suffering ‘neath the pharoah. Misery and torment were all we saw. Moses led the children to the desert, There G-d revealed His sacred law. Forty years of wandering and searching, Trying to lose the vestiges of slaves. Then one day they crossed the river Jordan Returning to the land that G-d once gave.

Chorus

Through each disaster a feeling survives us,
And from the ashes a phoenix arises,
No matter what the cost, we’re still the optimist
We cannot stop looking for a brighter day.

Two thousand years of wandering “round this planet,
Six million murdered by a world gone mad,
But what should happen then, we returned to the Promised Land,

A home to end our wandering at last.
All those years and some are still in darkness,

Shadowed as an iron curtain’s drawn,
Leaders have come and gone, but the suffering goes on,
Waiting for redemption for so long.

(Chorus)

Our faith in G-d and in man is what guides us, A hope that one day the world realizes, No matter what the cost, when all our hope is lost, We cannot stop looking for a brighter day.

Hinei keil yeshuati
Evtach v’loef-chad
Ki azi v’zimrat kah Adoshem,
vay’hi li liy’shu-ah Liy’shu-ah.

Ushavtem mayim b’sasson
Mi-may’nei ha-yeshu-ah
Ladoshem ha-yeshu-ah
Al am’cha birchatecha,
selah Selah.

Behold the Lord is my deliverer
I trust in You and I am not afraid
For the Lord is my strength and my stronghold
The source of my deliverance
My deliverance.

Open wide your loving arms.
See your children coming home.
Give them shelter from the storm, T
hey’re coming home.

We were dying in Africa
In the region of Gondar.
The children were crying out
With disease and with hunger.

Then we set out on the road to freedom
Five hundred miles to the north.

We were 10,000 refugees On a line from Lake Tana.
We were met by the Sudanese As we left Ethiopia Carrying our one possession.
The holy books, the Torah.

Chorus
Now we’re going home
As the eagles soar.

We have found Shalom
At your open door.

We will be Falasha
Nevermore
Cause we’re going home.

Well my name is Avraham
I’m the priest for my people.

When we moved into Ashkelon
I was sick, I was feeble,
But the gates of Shaarei Tsedek opened
Wide for my whole family.

Beta Israel
Was the name we had taken
But they called us Falasha
In their scorn and their hatred.

Now with your help and kindness
We are learning to be Yisraeli.

(Chorus)

Chorus

Home to Jerusalem
Our love will never end.

You are the strength that flows through my right hand.
1*11 never forget you, Jerusalem.

High up in the hills is your golden dome,
Calling to your children to bring them home.

And they shall be like dreamers awakened from their sleep
To go up to Jerusalem.

Often in the night, we have called your name
(Jerusalem),

Burning with the light of a holy flame
(Jerusalem).

And now you stand before us with open arms.
Welcome back to Jerusalem.

(Chorus)

Im eshkacheich Yershalayim, Oh, tishkach yemini
No one can possess you
Though some have tried.

Too many are your lovers
To be denied.

Now gather here the faithful of every tribe.
Pray for peace in Jerusalem.

People of the world.
Now the time has come To put away our hatred And carry on

In song and celebration
For everyone.

We rejoice in Jerusalem.
(Chorus)

Young man:
Why are you crying, my old friend? Looking at photographs again. Thais just ancient history Why don’t you tell me what you see? Talk to me.

Old man:
These are the benches where we children sat,
Learning our lessons; I can still feel the sting
Of the teacher’s ruler.

I can still hear him sing, “Aleph, bais,”
Still see the look on his face.
You never saw anger like that;

Rebbe:
Children sit down and be quiet.

Rebbe:
Soon will be the holiday of Passover
And for this you must know the Mah Nishtanah.

Learn it well because someday you 7/ need to
teach it to your children. “Mah nishtanah halaylah
hazeh mikol halaylot…”

Cheder (Mah Nishtanah)
Mah nishtanah ha-laylah ha-zeh mikol ha-lailot Sheb’chol halailot anu ochlin chametz u-matzah Ha-la-la-la-laylah, ha-laylah ha-zeh kulo matzah Sheb’chol halailot anu ochlin sh’ar y’rakot Ha-la-la-la-laylah, ha-laylah ha-zeh maror

Chorus
Why is this night different from all other nights? Out of the slavery of Egypt into Freedom’s holy light. Tell me. why is this night different from all other nights? It’s Freedom’s holy light.
Sheb’chol halailot anu ochlin chametz u-matzah Sheb’chol halailot anu ochlin sh’ar y’rakot Ha-la-la-la-laylah, ha-laylah ha-zeh kulo matzah Ha-la-la-la-laylah, ha-laylah ha-zeh maror¦

(Chorus)
Tell me why?

Young man:
Why are you sighing, my old friend? Lost in your photographs again. It’s a new world, can7 you see. And you can always talk to me.

Old man:
Here is your cousin with his baby boy.
Look at how proud; he would have been your age now
Or a little bit older;
We could have saved them somehow, if we only knew.
We would have saved them somehow
But we didn’t know
How could we know?

Escape
It was a cold hard day in Poland.
The year was nineteen thirty-nine.
He told his father, “I’m going to America.”

He could hear the thunder rolling
Before the Germans crossed the line
He bought a pass, and started out all alone.

His family was still unaware of the danger He said he would send for the rest of them later. He knew he’d be starting again as a stranger But he was young and he had to try.

Come to America, America, The Land of Liberty. Come to America, America, To see what you could be. Come to America, America, With all your hopes and dreams. America the free.

He was three weeks on the ocean
Before they sailed into New York.

He saw a hand reaching out from America.

But then the man from immigration Said they weren’t taking any more: “Turn around, you’re not wanted here at all!”

He rushed to the front of the line and he shouted: “You made a mistake I am sure when you counted. The rights of these people must never be doubted; Our only hope is if you let us in.”

I hear America calling me With ihe promise of life and equality And I know that a new world awaits for me In America the Free.
Then the man came round the table.

And he looked him in the eye

And he said, “Son, welcome to America.

What makes you think that I should save you

More than the thousands I deny?

We’ve got a quota, and my friend, (hat is the law!

Just get over there now and fill out those papers. Sit down, and don’t ask me for any more favors. Those others with you can come in when I say so. It’s not my job to see that you survive.”

Young man:
What are you looking at, my fine old friend?
Some kind of boutonniere from God knows when.

Old man:
It’s a dried-up flower pressed into the page Just a wild-flower from a long time ago Oh, I wish you could know how it was…

Reminiscence
When I was young I had a fantasy That I would marry royalty. And everything seemed possible In the days when I was young.
And I recall I had a sweetheart then. At times I still remember when We ran through fields of wildflowers In the days when I was young.

But then there came a time of darkness
When the whole world fell around us,
And the Nazis came and dragged us to the ground.

And I don’t know why I survived it
When so many others didn’t.

They took the best and left us nothing
In the days when I was young.

And now I know you are my family:
You took me in out of my misery,
And we have travelled down these many years as one.

But yet I sometimes still remember those
Who perished, while the whole world closed
Their eyes and turned away
In the days when I was young.

Old man:
Now you are busy with your busy life
Minding your business, I just don 7 know anymore
Why I keep these pictures.

It just upsets me, I’m sure, though I can’t explain
It ‘$ not a matter of pain,
Just the question why?
Why?,..