Worker’s Song

Bar-Nash (Noah Shapiro)

1895

 

Written down while working in the fields, patterned after the Arabic working song and sung to that tune.

O I have my life and my labor!
Yah ḥai li, li-hah-‘amali!
Awaken, my brothers, there’s no time for rest,
arise and go forth, onward, to work!          O I have my life . . .
Work is the ground that the world stands upon,
so give a cheer and sing out your thanks!         O I have my life . . .
For work and none other, we’ll live all our lives,
yes, it’s work that will save us from troubles and cares!   O I have my life . . .
She—it’s work that breathes the breath of life
and work that makes our strong hard bones!       O I have my life . . .
It gives the body strength and might
lends the head vigor and brains!         O I have my life . . .
By work we’re made rich, honest work brings success,
and it’s work that brings us every blessing!        O I have my life . . .
From the dew of heaven and every sweetness
work gives bread to eat and clothes to wear!       O I have my life . . .
Working the land offers another profit
for work is the soul of all the nation!         O I have my life . . .
For it is the foundation of all its labor —
blessed is the nation who is like this!          O I have my life . . .
And thus, my brother, onward to work
so give a cheer and sing out your thanks!      O I have my life . . .

April 29, 1895
 

 

Translated by

Jordan 
Paul

.

 

Credits

Bar-Nash (Noah Shapiro), “Shir avodah” [Worker’s Song], https://www.zemereshet.co.il/m/song.asp?id=136.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

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Creator Bio

Bar-Nash (Noah Shapiro)

1863–1931

Born Noah Shapira in Kishinev (today Chişinău, Moldova), Bar-Nash grew up in a Hasidic family who encouraged him to pursue both traditional and secular education. An early member of the Ḥoveve Tsiyon movement in Kishinev, he immigrated to Palestine in 1890 and was a pioneer in Zikhron Ya’akov, Rehovot, and Hadera. His work in the fields inspired many of the songs he would publish, in Hebrew newspapers, under the pseudonym Bar-Nash, the most famous being “Shir avodah” (Worker’s Song, 1895), also known by its refrain, “Yah ḥai li, li-hah-‘amali!” (O I have my life and my labor!)

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