Chava Alberstein: My Daughter, Are you Cyring or Laughing?

Written after the Six Day War, this iconic Israeli song describes a young girl from Kibbutz Gadot not knowing how to react when she emerges from a bomb shelter in northern Israel to see her home destroyed. On the one hand, her home is destroyed, and her father is away at war. On the other hand, Israel’s successful conquest of the Golan Heights means that the communities of northern Israel will finally be safe after years of constant shelling from Syria. Kibbutz Gadot in the Jordan Valley suffered massive attacks during the 1950s and 1960s and was largely destroyed during the Six Day War. A complete English translation of the lyrics is provided onscreen and below. See the Hebrew lyrics of one verse below and the complete Hebrew lyrics here.

הביטי למעלה, בתי, אל ההר
ההר שהיה כמפלצת
עוד יש תותחים, ילדתי, על ההר
אך הם מאיימים על דמשק

My Daughter, Are You Laughing or Crying?

Last shell exploded and hushed,
The silence surrounded the valley,
A girl in Gadot came out of the shelter,
And the are no more houses in the farm.
Mommy, we had a greenish house,
With daddy, and doll, and a Loquat tree,\
The house is gone, daddy is far,
Mom are you crying or laughing?

Look up my child, to the mountain,
The mountain that became our monster.
There are (still) some cannons, my child, on the mountain,
But they are threatening Damascus.

Look up my child, to the Golan Heights,
There are soldiers there, but now their flag
Is blue and withe,
Daddy is crying and laughing there too,
We will have greenish house, my child,
With daddy, a doll, and Loquat tree.
and no more fear, my beloved child,
My child are you crying or laughing?

Sunsets in red, and sunrises in gold,
Touching the greenery and the water,
With out an enemy cannons on the mount.
The valley will be double as green.

The Jordan (river) flowing, curving as drunk,
blossom kissing the valley.
and no one will turn the Jordan backwards.
My child are you crying or laughing?