1978 Israeli poem continues to encourage hope

By Omer Zalmanowitz

SAN DIEGO — Yehonatan Geffen’s 1978 Hebrew-language poem , which I’ve translated as, “It Will Be Good,” pays homage to the peace treaty negotiations between Egypt and Israel, and honors Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit in Israel. In support of Geffen’s positive message I want to share my take on the veracity of Geffen’s poem in today’s world, as there are many lines in this poem that are resonant with how lives are being lived during the current global health crisis, not least the refrain and title of the poem, “It will be good.”.

In Geffen’s poem, spring has come and gone, and “People live in stress/in search of why to draw in a breath.” It’s a universal line, yet its truth and relevance are amplified now with so many afflicted people who are desperately in search of how to draw in a breath. There’s a primacy to breathing that is immediate, ever-present, a cardinal rule of our being. Air and oxygen are the gifts that the blue planet holds for us, a protective layer not found anywhere else. When this protective layer erodes we come face to face with our own frailty, and yet somehow still holding on to our fragile balancing act of humanity by virtue of telling ourselves that it’ll be good.

Geffen has continued to share iterations of the poem with the public at important historical moments on our mutual timeline. By adding to, and updating the poem Geffen maintains a relevancy of the text, aligning it with current events, re-contextualizing the words, and responding to new emerging conflicts. The poem is a triumphant reminder to give peace a chance. In 1995, after the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Geffen expanded the poem in an expression of hope that there is a future yet to live.

Amidst the Occupy movement protests of 2011 Geffen  renewed ‘It Will Be Good,’ once again, adding three more stanzas at the end. The tone of the added lines is direct, confrontational, and there is a pronounced dynamic of us versus them. By now the text is positioned as a protest song.

A poem is a bystander, and by function of its existence as a record, it is separated from what it records. It does, however, leave indelible marks. There are examples of texts taking on a life of their own, existing both as a record and as a locus. In 1914 Stravinsky’s ballet “The Rite Of Spring,” was the site of a riot, as concertgoers split into camps of being for and against the work, with some members of the audience going up in arms against others in the name of purity of art. Charlie Hebdo’s 2011 magazine cover, a satirical cartoon, incited an egregious act of violence against the journalists of the French weekly newspaper. There are other examples, to be sure, Israeli Declaration of Independence by David Ben-Gurion being a case in point, as over the course of days after the declaration an all-out war broke out. There is, however, no text that stands in isolation, and Geffen’s poem does not exist in a void. There was, and still is, a great yearning for things to be good.

‘It Will Be Good,’ was always meant to be sung, as is evident from its inception. The poem was first set to music in 1978, and it has seen a few revivals since. And while it is not a rock anthem for the ages, Geffen’s poem in its sung version is as poignant now as it was decades ago. And while “…there is no visible terminus,” Geffen concludes with a fresh reminder that echoes loudly from all those years ago: “Because it will be good/I look outside the window/maybe an arrival of a new dawn.”

In reinforcement of Geffen’s positive message I want to offer my own personal prayer: I hope that people will have a chance to decompress, to heal, and to find each and every breath a gift.

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Omer Zalmanowitz is a musician and freelance writer based in San Diego,.  He may be contacted via omer.zalmanowitz@sdjewishworld.com