שבט אחים ואחיות – Tribe of Brothers and Sisters

By: Idan Raichel
Featuring 35 other Israeli artists
and Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel

Seventy years on the road
I’m traveling and gazing
At what has been and what’s become
And how my soul still yearns

From Masada of the sunrise
And Jerusalem with its Selichot (prayers)
From Galilee beach and Akhziv
From the parties of Tel Aviv

My father dreamed and prayed
Of living in the land of Israel
Now my child asks me
What’s the story of Israel?

Here is home, here’s the heart
And from you I’ll not depart
Our forefathers are roots,
And we are the flowers, the tunes
A tribe of brothers and sisters

The same town, the same street
Twelve sons of Jacob
Collecting our travels
In a backpack of memories

Man is the imprint of his native land
Carving lines in the palm of his hand
Between the prayers and vows
The scents of citrus groves

And in my mother’s eyes
I’ll always find a place inside
While on the guitar is played
An ancient tune which shows the way

Here is home, here’s the heart
And from you I’ll not depart
Our forefathers are roots,
And we are the flowers, the tunes

Since Genesis its all been woven together,
Patches, patches of the story
Like two words – to connect
With a poet’s golden thread

I’m from here, I belong
And my every friend is like a brother
You’e the one who in my heart beats
I’m the west and the east

Here is home, here’s the heart
And from you I’ll not depart
Our forefathers are roots,
And we are the flowers, the tunes
A tribe of brothers and sisters