
Second stanza:
Tell me Alina: What bad appearance
Brews in the blood of a Hebrew woman?
You come out of the aljama1 counting,
With a fistful of sand,
You wander without looking back,
There will be no one to light the fire in your home,
Follow the sign of chance,
Of the sephardic moon.
There is a lot of religious imagery here that doesn't seem to get to the other side. I hope you will consider these:
bad appearance -> evil mark
Brews in the blood -> burns in the blood
You come out of the aljama1 counting,
With a fistful of sand, ->
Escaping from your ghetto, praying (chanting hymns) with
A fistful of your hearth's ashes in hand
You wander without looking back,
There will be no one to light the fire in your home, ->
Don't look back as you run away
Leave no light behind
Follow the sign of chance,
Of the sephardic moon. ->
Signposts of your destiny
Under the sephardiic moon
***************************
Tell me Alina: What evil mark
Burns in the blood of a Hebrew woman?
Escaping from your ghetto, crying with a fistful
Of your hearth's ashes in hand
Don't look back as you run away
Leave no light nor sign behind, besides
Signposts of your destiny
Under the sephardiic moon
The lyrics were inspired by the 'Leyenda de las llaves de Toledo' (The Legend of the Keys of Toledo). This controversial legend dates back to the time when the Sephardic Jews were expelled from Toledo and other cities on the Iberian Peninsula. Forced to leave in haste, many of the Jews left with little more than the keys to their homes in hopes they might one day return. Still today there are descendants of these Sephardic Jews that claim to have the keys to the houses in Toledo that their ancestors left. The song tells the story of the exile through the eyes of Alina, a Jewish girl who left her home using the moon as her guide. (According to the booklet).