We Are Here

היום שנים עשר יום שהם שבוע אחד וחמשה יומים לעמר

Today is twelve days, which is one week and five days, of the omer

חוד שבגבורה

A day of humility in a week of strength

Today, on Yom HaShoah, I share this poem by Hirsch Glick, written in the Vilna Ghetto. I was drawn to this poem the first time I read it. It wasn't until years later that I discovered these were the words to the song that was a rallying cry for the Jewish Partisans. You can hear it sung in the original Yiddish on the website of the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. Click on the Explore tab to access a menu, and click on Films. At the end first film listed, "Introduction to Jewish Partisans" The song is at the end but please, watch the film, and share it with the next generations. Their strength is a testament to the fact that yes, despite all odds, "We are still here."

Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble,
We are here!

From land of palm-trees to the far-off land of snow,
We shall be coming with our torment and our woe,
And wherever our blood was shed in pain
Our strength and courage shall spring forth once again.

We'll have the morning sun to set our day a-glow,
And all our yesterdays shall vanish with the foe,
And if the time is long before the sun appears
Then let this song go like a signal through the years.

This song was written with our blood and not with pen;
It's not a song that summer birds sing overhead,
It was a people among toppling barricades,
That sang this song of ours with guns in their hands.

Never say that there is only death for you,
Though leaden skies may be concealing days of blue,
Because the hour we have hungered for is near;
Beneath our tread the earth shall tremble,
We are here!

---- Hirsh Glick(1922-1944)