Lechol ish yesh shem - Everybody's got a name

Efraim Sicher, whose ancestors were deported from Bruchsal to Gurs, wrote in an email: "You should know that it is important that "every person has a name" -- this  song based on a poem by Hebrew poet Zelda; on holocaust day they read the names of the victims in Parliament."

Efraim points out that it is important to know that "everyone has a name". The song of the same name (Lechol ish yesh shem) is based on the poem by Zelda. On Holocaust Memorial Day (Jom Ha'Shoah) this poem will be read in the Parliament of Israel.

The text of this poem was written by Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky, who was born in 1914 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, to a rabbi family. Together with her parents she moved to Jerusalem in 1926 and died there in 1984. The singer Chava Alberstein sings this poem to the melody of Hanan Yovel on her CD "Like a Wildflower".

Every person has a name
that God gave him
and which his father and mother gave him
        
Every person has a name
which his  height
and the style of his smile gave him
and which his tapestry gave him

Every person has a name
which the mountains gave him
and which his walls gave him.

Every person has a name
which the star signs gave him
and which his neighbours gave him.

Every person has a name
which his sins gave him,
and which his longing gave him.

Every person has a name
which his enemies gave him
and his love gave him.

Every person has a name
which his festivals gave him,
and which his work gave him.

Every person has a name
which the  seasons gave him,
and which his blindness gave him.

Every person has a name
which  the sea gave him,
and which  his death gave him