Lay Down Your Arms
By Eli Rubenstein (The original article was published in Voices from The Heart
(McClelland & Stewart, Inc. © 1998 Edited by B. Goldstein, J. Shulman).
I first met Doron Levinson in 1989. At the time, he was working on his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto and teaching Hebrew and Jewish studies at Toronto's Temple Sinai Hebrew School. Doron was one of those exceptional teachers all of us remember from childhood. He was multi-talented—a spellbinding storyteller, a beguiling magician, and a musician and composer. (If more of us had had teachers like Doron when we were in school, who knows what the face of the world would look like today!)
Our paths intersected again when I was planning the first national March of the Living journey - [Eli is the director of the Canadian contingent of a worldwide organization that sends Jewish children from around the world to visit Poland and the former Nazi concentration camps there, and then to Israel, "lest we forget." (But how can we?)] Convinced of the critical role music plays in the life of teenagers, I was in the process of producing a tape of Holocaust- and Israel-related music for the students to take with them on the trip. When Doron learned of this, he suggested that I consider including a song he had written based on a Biblical text in the collection.
This is how the song's composition came about: The 1973 Yom Kippur War. Doron was commanding a tank battalion when one of his men confided in him his belief that this would be his last battle. Doron calmed the nervous soldier down, assuring him they would return from this encounter unscathed. But Doron was wrong, and his soldier's premonition was accurate. In a fierce tank battle, his gunner was killed, and Doron himself was temporarily blinded. During his convalescence, Doron, unable to see, found himself with time on his hands. A piano in the hospital beckoned him. He found his fingers tracing out a melody expressing his anguish over his fallen comrade and over other close friends he had lost in previous battles.
Meant as a testament to his lost companions and as a plea for an end to the conflict, Doron set the melody to the Hebrew translation of the words in Isaiah (2:4): "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Isaiah's words, written over 2,500 years ago, have spoken to peace-lovers in every generation. Today, those words appear on an inscription at the United Nations Peace Park in New York City.
Doron played the song for me. The melody was haunting; the words echoed the prophetic yearning for a world where peace would be the common currency. I immediately agreed to include the song in our collection. A few months later, Toronto's Habonim Youth Choir, conducted by Esther Ghan-Firestone, recorded it. The song became a favourite of the students on the March of the Living trip. One problem, however, remained. Since the song's lyrics were in Hebrew, many students did not understand them - and a literal translation into English would not capture the power of the Hebrew poetry.
Thus began a year-long effort to find a suitable English adaptation of the song. Ultimately, I connected with two songwriters, Lisa-Catherine Cohen and Harry Lewis. Lisa-Catherine wrote the body of the lyrics, while Harry contributed the bridge.
The song was then titled “Lay Down Your Arms.”
Aviva Rajsky & March of the Living Choir in 2015 performing ‘Lay Down Your Arms.” in Poland.
The English Lyrics
Dear God, please hear us - Listen to our prayer,
And help us do Thy will upon this Earth...
Let the children suffer war no more.
And let a peaceful world be given birth
Every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby
Every heart can learn to love...
Lay down your arms
Begin the journey home
And join the human family
Bridge: The road is long and steep
What we sow, we reap
Children need you:
Let us lead you -
Promises we make, we all must keep
Hebrew: They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall no longer raise-up arms against nation, neither shall they teach their children war anymore. [Isaiah 2:4]
Somewhere deep inside the soldier,
There's a dreamer
Dreaming of a world of peace...
Lay down your arms -
Let Time heal every wound,
And Love will someday set us free!
In 1992, a video of the song was produced, and shortly thereafter, through Ms. Cohen in California, Hal Leonard/Cherry Lane Music, the world's largest sheet music publishing company, acquired the sheet music rights, marshalling its vast network to distribute the song. Roots Canada launched a special promotion, producing a Lay Down Your Arms T-shirt and sweatshirt featuring a dove in the design and offering a free Lay Down Your Arms cassette to each of its customers who purchased one.
The lyrics to Lay Down Your Arms have touched the hearts of children's choirs, adult choirs, and audiences from all walks of life throughout Canada, the U.S., and Israel. Since its release, there have been countless performances of the Song in synagogues, churches, schools, and camps. The song has been used in several films, broadcast on radio and television in Canada and the United States, and is a regular feature on Israel television's Yom Hazikaron broadcasts.
In the spring of 1995, several schools and religious institutions around the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camps and the end of World War II with a performance of Lay Down Your Arms. In 2000, it was performed by the 60-voice choir of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles at the memorial for the children shot by a deranged racist at California's Northridge Community Center.
Lyrics: Lisa Catherine Cohen
Bridge: Harry Lewis
Conductor: Esther Ghan Firestone
Directed by Eli Rubenstein
What is the appeal of the song? There are many ingredients. It is an ex-soldier's tribute to his lost comrades and his personal prayer for peace; it echoes the sentiment of world harmony first expressed in the Bible and yearned for throughout the generations by all peace-loving people; its pleading melody is haunting yet uplifting; its lyrics express the belief that "someday love will set us all free."
Perhaps the most important line is: "Every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby," which suggests that every human being can shape the moral contour of his life. The line brings to mind the unforgettable image of the firefighter attempting to rescue an infant after the tragic bombing in Oklahoma City. It reminds us of the extremes of good and evil humanity is capable of: the murderous hand of a terrorist who planted the bomb and the compassionate hands of the rescuer who tenderly the lifeless baby while the senseless inferno rages behind him. "Every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby."
The story of Lay Down Your Arms is one that bridges continents and peoples. It was composed by an Israeli soldier, recorded in Canada by a local children's choir, given to thousands of teenagers who participate in the life-changing March of the Living journey, featured on Israeli television for its local citizenry, and performed by school, synagogue, and church choirs throughout the world. It is a story of citizens coming together to create a lasting work of art that seeks to benefit all of humanity.
Israel's Moran Choir visited Toronto in 1996 as part of their North America-wide tour. Arguably, Israel's most acclaimed youth choir is based in Moshav Beit Yitzhak, a small agricultural co-operative founded in 1929 with the assistance of the Canadian Jewish community. One of the songs the choir performed for its sold-out performance in Toronto was Lay Down Your Arms.
The endlessly energetic choir conductor, Naomi Faran is also a tireless peace advocate. In a conversation with me, she forcefully expressed her views on the subject of children and peace: "I believe that the more children's choirs we have in the world, the more children who learn and sing songs of peace—like Lay Down Your Arms—the better chance we will have of bringing an end to all the violence and war we see in the world."
Amen