Israel was seamlessly woven into my upbringing. The cousins who made aliya, the sabbatical my dad took that brought us to Israel the whole summer of ‘92, the Israeli hairdresser who spoke with my mom in Hebrew throughout our haircuts. And, the music. I remember in my Kindergarten school presentation singing “Eretz Yisrael sheli yafa v’gam porachat” (My land of Israel is beautiful and flourishing.) I remember my first summers at Camp Ramah feeling so moved and connected to others singing Ani v’Atah - 'you and I will change the world.'
And I remember in my gap year in Israel after high school, singing. It was towards the end of the second intifada, and we certainly felt the intensity of the time. Our program decided that we weren’t allowed to take public buses because of the threat of violence. There was an instance when we were on a tiyul, an outing, and our plans got abruptly diverted because of a security threat. So I remember that Friday night well. We were in our lounge on the Kibbutz that we lived on, the Kibbutz that was two miles from the Gaza border. We heard the sounds of Gaza often. And that night twenty years ago, to be honest I don’t remember what led us to sing in the lounge together, but we sang.
We sang Yihiyeh Tov with a deep love, and also deep concern. So many of us were discovering for the first time some of the complicated elements of Israel, her society and her history. We sang with hope and with confusion. We sang with anger at terrorism and disdain for certain policies and we sang with love and we sang because of the power of the Zionist dream.
Yihiyeh Tov, whose words were written by Yehonatan Geffen and sung by David Broza, has multiple meanings. Yihiyeh Tov can mean, “it will be good,” and it’s a belief that any bad situation can be turned around. It’s a declaration that if we work hard enough, it can be good. 'It will be good' can be a prayer about the miracle of Israel herself; that she has not peaked, that she has more growth, but that she will be good.
Yihiyeh Tov also means “it will be better.” It’s an acknowledgement that life is hard, that the reality of Israel can be hard. And in that is a prayer, a prayer of comfort in catastrophic times, that there can be hope, that indeed it will be better. The last couple of months have brought so many devastating moments to Israel, from her political landscape to terrorism. There is so much now that is not tov, that is not good, that is not better. And yet, there is also still a dream, a hope and a belief.
The chorus goes: ויהיה טוב יהיה טוב, כן לפעמים אני נשבר אז הלילה הו הלילה איתך אני נשאר
It will be good, yes it will be better Sometimes I am broken But tonight, oh tonight, I’ll stay with you.
Sometimes, when I think about Israel, I feel broken. But I stay, even in the pain, even in the brokenness. Because for tonight, I believe that Yihiyeh Tov - it will be better.
