G. Mhillel, recovered by Yojanan Cohen.
We lit the bonfire, the first bonfire in the colony. Tongues of fire rise and illuminate our
surroundings. In the bonfire, we warm our spirits.
At this moment we will remember the fire which was set two times in the Temple of
Jerusalem and symbolized our two exiles from our land.
We will remember the fire lit by our oppressors in Spain during the Inquisition; the fire
on which pure Jews who refused to break the convent with the people, with God and his
Torah, were slain; the fire, which heralded the Jews’ expulsion from Spain and new
upheavals.
We will remember the fire that was set four years ago in Germany after the tyrannical
governor’s rise to power, the fire that consumed the “illegitimate” books, the books of the
Jews and the sages, whose hearts were open to the pleading of freedom of people and
nations, and the fire cleared the land from every shred of liberty and human dignity, and
will be the sign of the beginning of the big calamity that befell our brothers in Germany.
We will remember the fire which ignites throughout the Land in “enlightened” Europe,
in Asia and Africa, in the three parts of the ancient world; fire which could bring
humanity back to the period before the expulsion of the Jews from Spain; fire which
corrupts every good field; the fire which incites feud and hatred between people and
nations. We will remember the fire, which prepares a new massacre for the world.
We will remember the tongues of fire and smoldering smoke, which rise from the field of
Israel in the homeland, whose yield was ignited by murderers who envy blossom and
growth.
Unlike these flames are the flames before us. Our fire warms, and those mentioned burn.
Our fire illuminates, and those bring darkness to the world. We lit the fire of peace, the
encompassing fire, which refines and purifies us from corrupt traits; a fire which unifies
and increases friendship and brotherhood; the fire which strengthens our souls and
desires toward redemption.
This fire, pure as a flag, pure as the sky, and our hearts pure as them.
