"A Walk to Caesarea" ( he, הליכה לקיסריה, ''Halika LeKeisarya''), also commonly known by the opening words "Eli, Eli" ( he, אֵלִי, אֵלִי, "My God, My God") in the song version, is a poem in Hebrew written in 1942 by Hungarian Jewish

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

resistance fighter

Hannah Szenes Hannah Szenes (often anglicized as Hannah Senesh or Chanah Senesh; he, חנה סנש; hu, Szenes Anna; 17 July 19217 November 1944) was a poet and a Special Operations Executive (SOE) member. She was one of 37 Jewish SOE recruits from Mandate ...

, which Israeli composer David Zehavi set to music in 1945. Szenes wrote the poem while residing in kibbutz

Sdot Yam Sdot Yam ( he, שְׂדוֹת יָם, ''lit.'' Sea Fields) is a kibbutz in the Haifa District of Israel. Located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

which is located a short distance along the Mediterranean coast from the ancient port town of Caesarea. The song is considered one of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's unofficial anthems, and is the most-commonly played song on

Yom HaShoah Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG'vurah ( he, יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, , lit=Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Rem ...

(

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Remembrance Day) in Israel. The following is an English translation of the song version: ''My God, my God,''
''may it never end –''
''the sand and the sea,''
''the rustle of the water,''
''the brilliance of the sky,''
''the prayer of man.'' In Hebrew, the poem reads: ''אלי, אלי, שלא יגמר לעולם''
''החול והים''
''רשרוש של המים''
''ברק השמים''
''תפילת האדם''

References

External links

*{{YouTube, JlJWMFWSoRs, A rendition of the song by Miri Zehavi
Sophie Milman Version of Eli, Eli
Songs about Israel Songs about cities Hebrew-language songs Israeli songs 1942 poems