A nation of superheroes, a kibbutz of superheroes, and now, a kindergarten of superheroes—a popular song gets another rewrite

Plus, in the video below, meet Yael Mazarib, one of the few Bedouin combat soldiers in the IDF

Over the years, we’ve shown on several occasions how Israeli songs get written and re-written, recorded and re-recorded, then used and re-used as part of our national “conversation.” As we’ve often said, without Israeli music, there’s no understanding the real soundtrack of this country.

We end this week of looking at Israelis’ extraordinary spirit with three versions of the same song, “A Nation of Superheroes” by the band known as Hatikva 6, the most recent one made by a kindergarten teacher in Eilat, with her very young charges.

Here’s one of the original videos, with English subtitles (found on the band’s page on Facebook):

Incidentally, the reference to “Amedi who is recovering” is a reference to Idan Amedi, the universally recognized actor from Fauda and popular singer, who was seriously wounded in the war in January but has thankfully largely recovered.

You may recall that a few weeks ago, we shared this version of the song, rewritten by the band for the survivors of Kibbutz Be’eri:

Now, with that as background, we can more fully appreciate the version of the song made by the small children in Eilat (with my thanks to Seth G for first alerting me to this one).

The video made its way around Israeli social media with the following text in the WhatsApp:

“Someone shared this: In my son’s kindergarten in Eilat, a class that has sixteen kids from families with soldiers called up, the teacher is simply amazing. All year, she’s been helping, supporting, setting up meals, babysitting, worrying about us. Even the end of the year party was like that. Here’s the video that she wrote and that the children sang and recorded, really moving. You’re more than welcome to share this. Am Yisrael Chai! 🇸🇻💛🎗️”

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In case you missed a day or two, here’s what we did this week, on a week dedicated to highlighting Israelis’ indefatigable spirit:

SUNDAY (06/23): We began the week focusing on the growing panic about a full-out war with Hezbollah and what that might look like, but also on the indomitable Israeli spirit. We provided a brief explanation of the “Darkness Scenario” and shared a video clip by Kan 11, with English subtitles added, of Rivka Peleg, a Haredi woman who enlisted in the IDF.

MONDAY (06/24): In continuing our look at the Israeli spirit and highs and lows, we looked at the horrors of October 7 through an excellent website that Kan 11 created called “7.10 360º”. We then shifted to glorious day of the recent hostage rescue with an interview of two helicopter pilots who took part in the operation.

TUESDAY (06/25): This day began with news of the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling that the ultra-Orthodox exemption from the draft is illegal, as well as new numbers that show how the two-state solution is dead. We also explored glimpses into Israeli society through a song which has become an anthem of sorts over the last eight months, and shared a clip of a few thousand Israelis at a Coldplay concert reacted to a performance of a song.

WEDNESDAY (06/26): In this week’s podcast, as part of our ongoing quest to “unpack” Israeli society, what it stands for and where it’s heading, we looked at where it came from, with the help of Professor Yehudah Mirsky, an expert on (among much else) Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

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Earlier this week we mentioned the extraordinary reporting of Kan 11. We’ve shared two of their videos this week and added English subtitles. Today, we meet Yael Mazarib, one of the few Bedouin combat soldiers in the IDF. She talks about her dual identity, her military service, October 7th, and what she hopes for the future.

The original of today’s video can be viewed here on the Kan 11 site.

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