The manuscript of the original lyrics to “Al Kol Eleh” (On All of These), one of Naomi Shemer’s most enduring songs, was gifted last week by her family to the National Library of Israel.
Also known as “Al Hadvash Ve’al Ha’Okez” (“On the Honey and On the Sting”), it was considered for many years to be an anthem of sorts, although it was actually written under tragic personal circumstances. Shemer composed the song in 1980 with the aim of comforting her sister, Ruth “Rutik” Nussbaum, after the sudden death of her husband, Avraham.
However, within a short time, the song’s meaning shifted when it was adopted by those opposing the evacuation of Israeli settlements in the Sinai Peninsula, and then, some 20 years later, by those against the Disengagement from Gaza, and the opposition to vacating the West Bank settlement of Amona.
Family attitude toward the song very ambivalent
Speaking at the donation event last week, Rutik’s children – Tair, Noa, Yaakov, and Avshalom, together with Lali, their cousin and Shemer’s daughter – said that for many years the family’s attitude toward the song was very ambivalent as it reminded them of the loss of their father and uncle, and also because it had become politically charged.
“Through the many arrangements, translations into different languages, recordings, and letters from the early 1980s, the archive itself tells us how quickly this song spread and how widely it was embraced in Israel and in the Jewish world,” said Dr. Amalia Kedem, curator of the Music Collection at the National Library of Israel.
“From the realm of synagogue liturgy, we know a successful melody can quickly become a tradition overnight, and this song, like all of Shemer’s writing, speaks the language of prayer. Like her other songs that have become anthems, it is at once personal and universal, and every Israeli and every Jew can find themselves in it.”
The manuscript with the lyrics for “Al Kol Eleh” now joins thousands of other songs, notes, letters, records, and photographs in the Naomi Shemer archive at the library. All have been scanned and made accessible, free of charge, on the library’s website at: https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/music/musicians/naomi-shemer