Rabbi Dr Margaret Jacobi

Many of us will be familiar with the song ‘Sachki’ which is found in our Siddur on p. 197. It has a beautiful tune and beautiful words of hope, ‘You may laugh and mock my dreams! But my dreams shall yet come true…’ But we may not be familiar with the background to the poem and its author, Saul Tchernikovsky.

Tchernikovsky was born in Russia in 1875 and began writing poetry at a young age, with his first poems being published in 1890. He studied medicine and served as an army surgeon during the First World War. His poem ‘As I Stood’ movingly reflects his experience. He was also a skilled linguist and translated Greek tragedies and works by Shakespeare into Hebrew. He was a Zionist and immigrated to Palestine in 1931, where he died in Jerusalem in 1943.

Tchernikovsky’s poem Sachki’ expresses a hope for peace between nations. But, in verses omitted from our Siddur, it also expresses the hope that Jews will again flourish in their own land. It also contains an allusion to our Sidra for this week, Toldot.

The sidra relates the birth of Isaac and Rebecca’s sons Esau and Jacob. Even before their birth, the twins seem to struggle with each other. Distressed by her painful pregnancy, Rebecca cries out to God. God answers her with a prophecy: ‘Two nations are in your womb and they will struggle for mastery over each other.’ The Hebrew phrase for the struggle is ‘L’om mil’om’ and that phrase is used by Tchernikovsky in his poem.

The story of Esau and Jacob is one of struggle, rivalry and hatred. Jacob steals Esau’s birthright and when Esau discovers the deception he vows to kill his brother. Eventually, after many years, they meet together and appear to be reconciled, but it is an uneasy reconciliation and afterwards they move apart and do not meet again.

In later Jewish tradition, Esau, who became known as Edom, came to symbolise the eternal enemy of the Jews. In rabbinic literature, Edom was identified with their Roman persecutors. Later, Edom represented the Arab peoples. The rivalry of Esau and Jacob and their fight for precedence and mastery came to symbolise the relationship between the Jews and those who sought to destroy them.

Tchernikovsky would surely have been aware of the symbolism of those two words, L’om mil’om’, when he used them in his poem. He would also have been only too aware of the conflict between Jews and Arabs, who both claimed ownership of the land which was then the British Mandate of Palestine. And yet he changes the context of the words to one of hope: ‘’Yisu shalom, az uvrachah l’om mil’om – peace and blessing shall pass from nation to nation.’

As an army surgeon, Tchernikovsky witnessed the worst of war. He saw the brutality which human beings were capable of. Yet he was able to express hope for the future. His poem tells us that our dream of peace can come true. It expresses his belief that human beings can overcome their rivalries, and that the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau can live in peace.

At this time of bitter conflict, part of a longer conflict between Israelis and Palestinians which seems so long and enduring, we can feel a sense of despair that the conflict will ever end. Tchernikovsky’s poem offers us hope that peace can come, even after generations of war and hatred. Let us continue to believe that our dream of peace can come true, that nations who have fought each other can be reconciled and peace will at last fill the earth.

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