Generation

Click to see the original lyrics (Hebrew)

A generation left and a generation arrived, a generation sits on the cusp of crisis1

This generation, everyone waited for it, and now it's growing up

A generation that wants to taste, to touch, to feel deeply2

To eat from The Tree of Knowledge and in the end to fall in love

A generation that thirsts for love

Wants a little love

A whole generation that chooses Hell

Rather than the Eden3 of compromise

A generation that returns backwards

A generation that breaks the idols of grandpa; grandpa has a small God

A God of fear of punishment, a God of black and white

A God locked in four4 bars of Halakha5

"Do what is written in it and merit an abundance of blessing"

A God superficial like vorts6 and overused gematrias7

A generation that breaks the heart of dad

A generation that breaks the tablets8

A generation that thirsts for love

Wants a little love

A whole generation that chooses Hell

rather than the Eden of compromise

A generation that returns backwards

A generation that is fat and not satisfied, medical pills for all seekers

Love isn't for eternity, so now it is divorced

Postmodernist, Liberal, sanctifies confusion

No truth and no normal, the crying generation, the generation of the flood9

In the nights, we remember grandpa, sometimes (we) are a little jealous

With a smile of "bread with salt"10, Baba Sali11, a burning candle

A generation that thirsts for love

Wants a little love

A whole generation that chooses Hell

rather than the Eden of compromise

A generation that returns backwards

For love

Wants a little love

A whole generation that chooses Hell

rather than the Eden of compromise

A generation that returns backwards

1. lit. mouth of the womb or crisis (www.sefaria.org/Klein_Dictionary%2C_%D7%9E%D6%B7%D7%A9%D6%B0%D7%81%D7%91...). In the Mishna Arakhin 1:4 (https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Arakhin.1.4), the phrase יושב על המשבר refers to a women who sits on "the travailing chair in the throes of labor." Ben Ari is using this phrase to characterize the generation on the cusp of crisis/pain but also immense change, which is what occurs during child birth.
2. lit: deep in the heart
3. lit: Garden of Eden
4. A reference to the Rabbinic saying that since the destruction of the Temple, God's only influence in the world is through the "four cubits (a measurement) of Halakha (Jewish law)." See Talmud Berakhot 8a (www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.8a.18)
5. Jewish Law
6. A short thought or idea usually conveyed through Jewish sources (https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4108758/jewish/What-Does-...)
7. A system in which Hebrew letters are assigned numerical values. In religious Jewish circles these values are used to connect different words or ideas. Some people find these connections to be a stretch and overused, which is what Ben Ari is referring to. (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/gematria/)
8. A reference to Moses smashing the Tablets (given to him God on Mount Sinai) after seeing the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf
9. From Genesis.
10. A reference to a saying in Ethics of the Fathers 6:4 (https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.6.4) which advocaes for a simple life with bread with salt.
11. A 20th century Moroccan Rabbi and mystic. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Sali)