The Hebrew poem that gave me strength

If you are a newsletter subscriber of mine, then you have gotten my personal note on how I spent Independence Day. If you have not received it, let me give you a super short summary of this year's Independence Day in Israel: fires everywhere and all parties cancelled.

I had just experienced the big Spanish blackout on April 28, and here I was two days later. It felt depressing.

I sat down on the balcony and opened a poetry book. I so strongly felt my connection to the words, it surprised me, and yet I remembered why I fell in love with Hebrew in the first place.

Here is the poem that gave me strength:

“Ein Yahav” (עֵין יַהַב) by Yehuda Amichai – Hope in the Desert

עֵין יַהַב

נְסִיעָה לֵילִית לְעֵין יַהַב בָּעֲרָבָה

נְסִיעָה בַּגֶּשֶׁם. כֵּן, בַּגֶּשֶׁם.

שָׁם פָּגַשְׁתִּי אֲנָשִׁים שֶׁמְּגַדְּלִים תְּמָרִים.

שָׁם רָאִיתִי עֲצֵי אֶשֶׁל וַעֲצֵי שִׁיטָה.

שָׁם רָאִיתִי תִּקְוָוה דּוֹקְרָנִית כְּמוֹ תַּיִל דּוֹקְרָנִי.

וְאָמַרְתִּי בְּלִבִּי: אֱמֶת, הַתִּקְוָוה צְרִיכָה לִהְיוֹת

כְּמוֹ תַּיִל כְּדֵי לְהָגֵן עָלֵינוּ מִן הַיֵּיאוּשׁ.

הַתִּקְוָוה צְרִיכָה לִהְיוֹת שְׂדֵה מוֹקְשִׁים.

English Translation

Ein Yahan

A night drive to Ein Yahav in the Arabah.

A drive in the rain. Yes, in the rain.

There, I met people who grow date palms.

There, I saw great tamarisk trees and great risk trees

There, I saw hope barbed like barbed wire

And I said to myself: It is the truth. Hope must be

Like barbed wire to keep out our despair.

Hope must be a minefield.

(A. Z. Foreman)

Interpretation

Yehuda Amichai was a famous Israeli poet whose work combines personal and national experience. He is known for his lyrical voice and thoughts on love, war, and the human condition. Amichai emphasizes hope as something active and defensive in "Ein Yahav" by using images of the bleak desert. “Ein Yahav” is a small moshav in the southern Arava,

Image of Hope as Protection: Amichai famously compares hope to a barricade. He describes seeing "hope barbed like barbed wire" in his writing. This metaphor depicts hope as keen and protective, rather than soft and passive. Hope, like barbed wire, must "keep out … despair." Similarly, calling hope "a minefield" (שדה מוקשים) promotes the sense that hope entails danger yet is intended to protect. In other words, in times of crisis, people want a robust, watchful hope - one that discourages pessimism and stays resilient even when conditions are difficult.

Context of the Setting: The poem’s setting (a night drive through the rain in the Arava desert) underscores difficulty and vulnerability. Amid that harsh journey, the traveler meets date-farmers and sees trees and hope. The unexpected appearance of life (“people who grow date-palms,” “great tamarisk and acacia trees”) after rain shows renewal.

Meaning in Grieving Times: In the closing lines, Amichai declares: "Hope must be like wire to defend us from despair" and "Hope must be a minefield." This sobering but inspiring message provides solace during times of fear. It admits that setbacks and disasters (the "despair" and danger) exist, but stresses that hope must be powerful and proactive. For readers enduring national disasters or persecution, the poem emphasizes that we endure via a robust optimism that protects our souls.

Summary

Overall, “Ein Yahav” conveys that even in the darkest, most desperate moments (a storm at night, a desert land), a resilient hope can be found and must be nurtured. Amichai offers a vision of hope not as naive optimism, but as fortitude – something that defends the community’s spirit.