The worst attempt in history
To quench the holy fire
Where just a very lucky few
Slipped through the tight barbed wire
We raise up the survivors
Each a precious golden flame
The candles burn, and burn and burn
We treat them just the same
But as the clock ticks slowly on
A strange new era nears
One we gaze upon with worry
One the Jewish people fears
The last survivor sits at home
An old and frail Jew
At this time, not long in coming
She’ll give her soul up, too.
Not from famine, fever, fire, nor thirst
No gun, nor poison gas
But with wrinkled cheeks and smiling eyes
Does the moment come to pass.
Is this a cause for tragedy?
Is this a cause for weeping?
To stand there, stunned with disbelief
To tear our clothes in wailing grief
Bemoan their peaceful sleeping?
Hear me out: I do not try to claim
Their loss we will not mourn,
But now they’re free from all the burdens
They’ve unjustly bourn
Reunited with their families
Who wait for them on high
And perhaps receive an answer
To that burning question: Why…
No, it’s we who do not understand
We infants trapped down here,
So perhaps with love and gratitude
Should we shed a glistening tear.
Well that’s all well for them, you say
But us, what happens now?
Jew-hatred still runs deep and vile
And half the world is in denial
We must proceed, but how?
How can we hope to guard the flame
Ensure the memories thrive,
When all those who bore witness are
No longer left alive?
And how do we make sure our children
Keep our sacred vow
To pass down this infernal tale
To those who follow? How?
Relax, my friend, let slow your
Racing heart, and bear in mind
Survivors’ stories heard first-hand
Are not the only kind
Of testimony – you be sure
We’ve filmed and filed them
The papers, photos, documents
All saved in Yad Vashem.
An everlasting monument
So we should not forget
The vast and gaping hole, torn
From our nation’s heart. And yet
Are we becoming trapped within
This narrow paradigm?
Have we become fixated
On this single, dreadful time?
The Holocaust, the Holocaust
The mantra comes and goes
But it’s not the only time when Jews
Were faced down by our foes
The Maccabees, the Great Revolt,
The night-time on Masada
We say that we’re the victims
But inside we’re so much harder
Yes, our history’s an awesome one
Of steel, gold and bone
We cannot make it hang upon
The Holocaust alone
For if we pass the Shoah down
And nothing else down with it
The coming generation
Will not like that which we give it
And they’ll say: “Hey, that’s not something
I would want to carry on!”
Assimilation will commence, and our successors
Will be gone.
So forward we must turn our gaze
Not cease to look behind us
But realise we do not need
Survivors to remind us
The passing on of heritage
The laws, the joys, the pains
Lies encoded deep within ourselves
The blood in Jewish veins
It’s our secret to survival
Why the Jews outlast all others,
We receive our laws and customs
From our fathers and our mothers
And teach them to our children
In a long unbroken chain
Each link is forged in fire
Made to withstand any pain
But in this generation
It’s a practice we’re forsaking,
Replaced with Shoah education
And Israel as a celebration –
The ancient chain is breaking.
And that’s a cause for tragedy
Being caught up in the mission
Of Holocaust remembrance
And forgetting our tradition.
The Shoah will be remembered
Over that you need not fret
Even when the last survivor dies
We never will forget
But learn we must to let them go
Or from us they’ll be torn
The candles all burn lower now
And though it’s fine to mourn
The most important thing we face
‘Aint knowing what we’ve cried for,
But the piercing question that now slips
Between the last survivor’s lips:
“Are you living what we died for?”
