Babylonian Exile גלות בבל
The Babylonian Exile (Galut Bavel) began in 586 BCE after Jerusalem and the Holy Temple were destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Fifty years later, under Persian King Cyrus the Great, the exiles were allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple.
(1) By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion. (2) There on the poplars we hung up our lyres, (3) for our captors asked us there for songs, our tormentors, for amusement, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” (4) How can we sing a song of the LORD on alien soil? (5) If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither; (6) let my tongue stick to my palate if I cease to think of you, if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory even at my happiest hour. (7) Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall; how they cried, “Strip her, strip her to her very foundations!” (8) Fair Babylon, you predator, a blessing on him who repays you in kind what you have inflicted on us; (9) a blessing on him who seizes your babies and dashes them against the rocks!
Bob Marley and the Wailers – By the Rivers of Babylon
By the rivers of Babylon
where we sat down
and there we wept
when we remembered Zion
'cause the wicked
carried us away - captivity
required from us a song
how can we King Alpha's of a song
in a strange land?
'cause the wicked
carried us away - captivity
required from us a song
how can we sing King Alpha's song
in a strange land?
Sing it ...
we gunna walk it ...
so let the words of our mouth
and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable in Thy sight
O, Far I (2x)
Sing it ...
By the rivers of babylon
where we sat down
and there we wept
when we remembered zion
'cause the wicked
carried us away - captivity
required from us a song
how can we sing King Alpha's song
in a strange land?
'cause the wicked
carried us away - captivity
required from us a song
how can we sing King Alpha's song
in a strange land?
sing it ..
- What is the import of songs and singing in each of these psalms?
- Where do these psalms take place?
- What mood does each express?
- Is geographic location significant to our ability to sing, or are there other factors?
- How might this apply to galut (exile) in America?
In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport
BY EMMA LAZARUS
Here, where the noises of the busy town,
The ocean's plunge and roar can enter not,
We stand and gaze around with tearful awe,
And muse upon the consecrated spot.
No signs of life are here: the very prayers
Inscribed around are in a language dead;
The light of the "perpetual lamp" is spent
That an undying radiance was to shed.
What prayers were in this temple offered up,
Wrung from sad hearts that knew no joy on earth,
By these lone exiles of a thousand years,
From the fair sunrise land that gave them birth!
How as we gaze, in this new world of light,
Upon this relic of the days of old,
The present vanishes, and tropic bloom
And Eastern towns and temples we behold.
Again we see the patriarch with his flocks,
The purple seas, the hot blue sky o'erhead,
The slaves of Egypt,—omens, mysteries,—
Dark fleeing hosts by flaming angels led.
A wondrous light upon a sky-kissed mount,
A man who reads Jehovah's written law,
'Midst blinding glory and effulgence rare,
Unto a people prone with reverent awe.
The pride of luxury's barbaric pomp,
In the rich court of royal Solomon—
Alas! we wake: one scene alone remains,—
The exiles by the streams of Babylon.
Our softened voices send us back again
But mournful echoes through the empty hall:
Our footsteps have a strange unnatural sound,
And with unwonted gentleness they fall.
The weary ones, the sad, the suffering,
All found their comfort in the holy place,
And children's gladness and men's gratitude
'Took voice and mingled in the chant of praise.
The funeral and the marriage, now, alas!
We know not which is sadder to recall;
For youth and happiness have followed age,
And green grass lieth gently over all.
Nathless the sacred shrine is holy yet,
With its lone floors where reverent feet once trod.
Take off your shoes as by the burning bush,
Before the mystery of death and God.
“Since that day till now our life is one unbroken paradise. We live a true brotherly life. Every evening after supper we take a seat under the mighty oak and sing our songs.”
Extract from a letter of a Russian refugee in Texas
By the Waters of Babylon [V. Currents]: Emma Lazarus
1. Vast oceanic movements, the flux and reflux of immeasurable tides, oversweep our continent.
2. From the far Caucasian steppes, from the squalid Ghettos of Europe,
3. From Odessa and Bucharest, from Kief and Ekaterinoslav,
4. Hark to the cry of the exiles of Babylon, the voice of Rachel mourning for her children, of Israel lamenting for Zion.
5. And lo, like a turbid stream, the long-pent flood bursts the dykes of oppression and rushes hitherward.
6. Unto her ample breast, the generous mother of nations welcomes them.
7. The herdsman of Canaan and the seed of Jerusalem’s royal shepherd renew their youth amid the pastoral plains of Texas and the golden valleys of the Sierras.
A modern reinterpretation of Psalm 137:
Psalm 137 by Rami Shapiro-
Accidental Grace
By the rivers of Babylon
I collapse in tears
bemoaning my fate.
There was a time I believe in my own power.
I thought I could conjure You
through rite and ritual,
control You through psalms and sacrifice,
and make of You a fortress and shield against my enemies.
I was wrong, and my error has cost me everything.
So I sit and weep
hoping my tears can do what my magic could not:
show me the truth.
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
and again lift my sword in service to arrogance,
let my right hand shrivel.
If I abandon truth,
and again allow injustice to masquerade as deserved glory,
let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
reducing my speech to mumbling.
Ignorance has brought me here.
Arrogance is the cause of my ruin.
Let me remember how these led to the crumbling of my city,
and the shattering of my Temple.
And let me give thanks to You for leading me here.
Please, God, silence the vengefulness within me
that justifies battering the babies of my enemies
on the rocks of their city until their bodies dissolve in pools of blood and fat.
Help me step beyond anger to humility,
beyond cruelty to kindness,
beyond hatred to forgiveness and love,
and in this way realize a new way of being as I sit by the waters of Babylon.