There were so many fantastic parts to Emanuel B’yachad, but most memorable was the group performance of Ha’Shorashim – The Roots. Whilst the lyrics and composition were developed in the short time when were together at school this year, we were faced with the challenge of converting this moving Anthem to an online format while all choir members were learning at home.
Below are the lyrics of the song – their meaning and intent are so powerful and made even more special by the fact that our students and staff played such a key role in the Anthem’s development – and the making of video of Ha’Shorashim.
Written by Alice Chance in collaboration with Liat Granot, Myles Cohn, Ezra Hersch, Guy Rein, Jordan Stein, and Morah Ruth Harvey
In this place
On the hill
We stand, faces lifted to the sun
From this place
On the hill
We gaze ahead to all that’s yet to come
This Gadigal soil on which we gather
Is rich with story, scarred but beginning to heal (mm ma’so’ret, chesed)
It’s here our voices come together
Join with all those echoes filling the air still
Here on the hill (ma’so’ret, chesed)
Just like a tree
The roots go deep
They feed the branches
Brighten the leaves
So too for me
My roots go deep
They teach me love
They let me dream
Oh, ha’shorashim shelanu amukim
Hem not’nim chayim la’a’na’fim
Anachnu not’nim kavod
la’ma’so’ret,
Mi’dor le’dor anachnu g’delim
As we grow, we reach towards the light
As we dream, we become all that we might
Translation of Hebrew verse (not sung)
Oh, these roots of ours go deep
They feed our branches
We give respect to tradition/that which is
passed on
From generation to generation, we grow
