One from the GHL

A unit of GHL soldiers in the 1948 war

One from the GHL (Hebrew: אחד מן הגח"ל) is a Hebrew poem, later composed as a song, written by Nathan Alterman during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. It refers to the tens of thousands of holocaust survivals and other Jewish refugees that have immigrated to the newly created state of Israel and were immediately drafted in to the IDF and sent to the front lines with no military training. Many of the new recruits died in battle shortly after their immigration to Israel. The name of the draft is G.H.L.- Hebrew acronym for oversea draft. Overall some 20,000 newly arrived immigrants were drafted to the IDF during the war composing a third of the Israeli army manpower, some three hundreds of them died in battle.

Nathan Alterman wrote this poem in his weekly column in the daily newspaper Davar and published it in the last day of the war, in protest of the inhuman treatment of these soldiers. The poem criticizes with irony the instrumental use of the state towards the soldiers compared with pretension of the state to serve as homeland to Jewish refugees.

Later the poem was composed as a song by Shem Tov Levy and first performed by Arik Einstein in his 1985 album "land product". It is often sung during the Israeli Remembrance Day and in ceremonies marking the 1948 war of independence.

Lyrics

Original

English translation

מִסִפּוּן אֳנִיָה מִתְנוֹדֶדֶת. הוּא יָרַד אֶל רְצִיף הַנָמָל. וְחִכְּתָה בָּרָצִיף לוֹ מוֹלֶדֶת בִּדְמוּת אוֹטֹו צְבָאִי וְסֵמָל. הִיא אֶת שְׁמוֹ בְּחוֹתֶמֶת הִטְבִּיעָה, הִיא הִשְׁלִיכָה בְּגָדָיו אֶל הַשַׂק. וּשְבוּעָה נוֹרָאָה הִיא הִשְׁבִּיעָה לְקוֹלוֹ שֶׁל הַגֶשֶׁם הַדַק. וְנִרְאֵהוּ זוֹחֵל, אוֹ כּוֹרֵעַ, אוֹ עוֹמֵד עִם צַלַחַת בַּתוֹר, וְנֵדַע: לְלֹא בַּיִת וָרֵעַ קָר לִלְחֹם אֶת מִלְחֶמֶת הַדוֹר עוֹד הָאָרֶץ הַזֹאת לֹא נַתְנָה לוֹ לא יְדִיד, לֹא פִּנָה לְמִקְלָט, לֹא שִׂמְחָה מִן הָאֶלֶף הַלָלוּ, אֲשֶׁר לָנוּ הָיָה לְמַתָת. לֹא, כִּי רַק אֶת חַיָיו, פְּלִיטֵי חֶרֶב הוּא קִבֵּל עַל הַחוֹף מִיָדָה. אֲבָל גַם אֶת חַיָיו, אֵי-בַעֶרֶב, הוּא הֵשִׁיב בְּנָפְלוֹ בַּעֲדָה.

From the deck of a rocking baut. He went down to the pier of the port. In the pier he was greeted by a homeland as an army car and a sergeant. She stamped his name in the a stamp, she had thrown his clothes the sack. And a terrible oath she had swear him to the sound of the soft drooping rain. And he was seen crawling or kneeling, Or standing with a plate in line, And we know: With no home and a friend It's cold to fighting the war of the age also this land didn’t give him not a pal, not a spot for refuge Not one of these one thousand Which were given to us. No, not only his life, refugee He received on the shore from her hand. But also his life, in the evening, he restored as he full on her behalf.