The Chase

Dedication and Background

From the thousands of Israeli songs written since her birth, I find Yaron London’s MIRDAF (The Chase) to be the most poetic expression of Israel’s struggle for survival and peace. In the wake of the hostilities of this past year, I thought it would be appropriate to translate this song and share it with readers of the Jewish Journal.This free, non-literal translation attempts to capture the rhythm of the Hebrew lyrics and the spirit of the unending Chase.

The song was written for Micha Shagrir’s documentary film, “Mirdaf,” during the War of Attrition (1968-1970). It describes the military situation along the Jordan border,
where PLO raids against Israel, followed by the IDF pursuing the perpetrators, became a daily routine.

The song was first performed by Chava Alberstein to music by Nahum Haiman (recipient of 2009 Israel’s Prize) and can be heard on Youtube (search for Mirdaf). Some years later, Haiman tried to make it in Europe and gave “Mirdaf” to a beautiful singer named Marie Lafore, who used the music and ignored the lyrics. In French the song became a romantic ballad called “Un bouquet du fleurs.”

Yaron London is a top Israeli TV anchor, journalist, and song writer. He co-hosted the popular “London and Kirshenbaum” talk show, 2002-2019.

The Chase, translated by Judea Pearl
To Israel, on her 73rd birthday

Generous land, her veins full of honey
Yet blood in her rivers like water, still flows.
Land whose tall mountains are carved out of copper,
Her nerves out of iron, she knows.

A land whose long history reads chase after chase,
Two thousand pages plus one,
The air in her lungs half consumed, she is tired,
But will chase back her foes in the run.

She, who can see her thin life from the sideline
Shaken like a leaf, clinging to one place,
Yes, she is fearful, but as if not concerned,
Will wait for the end of the chase,

The end of the chase is in hiding, she knows,
But will come, like the sun that ascends eastern slopes.
And till then, our feet shall not stop, shall not tire
From chasing the heels of those hopes.