The Sticker Song

There was an Israeli song that was popular in the early 2000s by a hip hop band called HaDag Nachash called the Sticker Song.

I loved it.

Partly because as an avid lover of the Hebrew language it tickled me to try to sing along to it (I never did succeed) and partly because the whole song, every single line, was actually a slogan from a car bumper sticker. So every so often there was a phrase I recognised and was able to join in with despite the speed of the rap.

But really the cleverness of the song was that it encapsulated so much of the love, and different ways to love, and believe in and be passionate about, the Jewish state. Some were quotes from Torah, others were clever plays on words and others were just clear calls for change. And collectively it created a collage of Israel at that particular moment.

And my mind has turned to this song again today as I reflect on my trip to Israel this summer, seeing so many stickers, on cars, lampposts, benches, walls….

This time, the stickers are variations on the same theme; a picture of a young man or woman, with an inspirational quote, and the Hebrew letters ז״ל (Zayin Lamed) after a date within the last almost three years.

Because the stickers, and graffiti, and yellow ribbons and little paper butterflies and hearts hanging in the trees, that I saw pretty much everywhere I went, are memorialising the people murdered on 7 October 2023, and the soldiers and civilians who have been killed since by Hamas, and Iran, and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

1195 human beings murdered by Hamas on 7 October 2023, in their homes, at a music festival, on the streets and on army bases.

964 soldiers and 16 civilians since.

Each one a whole world to their loved ones. Each one deserving of a longer life and a more honourable death.

I hate saying ‘October 7th’.

Four measly syllables as shorthand for all of this pain, trauma, and memory?

An updated Dag Nachash song isn’t the answer.

Because it couldn’t be the catchy upbeat rap of the early 2000s; the lyrics would be the seemingly endless list of names (although we have a much much longer list we read out every year on the day commemorating the Shoah- Holocaust) followed by the quote their family and friends have chosen to be their legacy.

2159 names with dates of death within 1000 days of each other.

So perhaps it falls not on words, but pictures to encapsulate this new Sticker Song. A Sticker Lament.

May all their memories be for a blessing and may all of Israel heal, in time, from this heartbroken-ness.