Israeli-Americans Rise Above Scapegoaters, Reviving History of Independence through Songs

Sam Firstenberg teaches about Jewish life in Gaza in
1946. Kfar Darom remembered in song, uprooted in 2005

Inside the guarded walls of Congregation Beth Jacob in Beverly Hills, over 100 Israeli-Americans gathered on Yom Ha'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) 2024 - not just to celebrate, but to reaffirm a history increasingly under attack. The traditional public celebrations were absent this year, replaced by this more private gathering where participants sang the soundtrack of Israel's legitimate birth and development—songs they know not from textbooks but from lived experience.

In the hostile climate that has emerged since October 8th, 2023, following Hamas's attack on Israel, these aging pioneers of the Israeli state find themselves in an unimaginable position: having to defend the very legitimacy of their history against a coordinated Islamo-Marxist campaign that has successfully rewritten the narrative in much of the public consciousness.

Sing-alongs (shira b'tzibur) have long been a part of the
culture of Jewish Palestine. These musicians entertained
during the Palmach defenders era in the early 1940's

These Hebrew songs—ranging from pre-statehood anthems to ballads commemorating the development of cities, infrastructure, and social cohesion—form a cultural archive that directly contradicts the portrayal of Israel as a colonial project. The elderly participants singing these songs are not reading history—they lived it. They cleared malarial swamps, built irrigation systems, established democratic institutions, developed arts and sciences, and created a thriving multicultural society, all with international legal recognition.

Singers: Cantor Arik Wollheim, Dr. Judea Pearl, Ms. Anat Sadan, pianist Amit Sternberg. (Helpers not pictured: Orly Lavi-Travish, Vered Hopenstand, Nirit Brand, and Ilana Green). Watch and hear the sing-along in the video playlist at the end of this article.

Living Witnesses to Contested History: Dr. Judea Pearl

Helping leading the singing (especially helpful with the songs of early Israel) was Dr. Judea Pearl, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at UCLA, who was born in Tel Aviv in 1936 during the British Mandate for Palestine— a living witness to pre-state Jewish life in the region and Israel's legitimate founding.

"Most of us here are Israeli-Americans. Most of us speak Hebrew. Most of us were born in Israel. Some of us like me are old enough to remember 1948 and the songs that preceded it,"

explains Dr. Pearl. For him and many others present, these songs aren't merely nostalgic—they are documentary evidence of a history now being systematically erased in public discourse.

The cruel irony isn't lost on those familiar with Pearl's story. His son Daniel, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, was murdered in 2002 by terrorists partly because of his Jewish identity. Now, on the very campus where Dr. Pearl taught his entire career, Islamo-Marxist encampments and protests have created an environment where Jewish students and supporters of Israel's right to exist face harassment and intimidation.

When asked if he ever imagined having to explain the legitimacy of Israel 76 years after its UN ratification, Dr. Pearl reflected:

"Yes and no, because for 20 years now I see the erosion of legitimacy going on increasing, and I warned against it, but we didn't take care of it at the time, and now we have to carry the consequences."

Cultural Resistance Through Song: Anat Sadan

Ms. Anat Sadan, who has organized these sing-along events for 14 years, explains how what began as community-building has transformed into cultural resistance.

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"After October 7th, we felt that we cannot sing anymore. We were deeply disturbed and sad," Sadan explains. "But we decided that it's such an important time to bring the community together because the songs tell the story of the establishment of Israel and the history of Israel."

As a Holocaust educator and docent at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles, Sadan draws disturbing parallels between historical patterns and current events.

"We've seen the Islamo-Left reviving the techniques of the Communists and German National Socialists - vilifying the Jews through propagandized media reporting - but the liberal press hasn't pointed it out - and social-media makes for more malicious  propagandizing."

The Israeli participants' intimate knowledge of these songs—their ability to recall lyrics that detail specific historical moments in Israel's development—stands as powerful testimony against revisionist narratives that portray Israel's founding as an act of colonization rather than the legitimate return and nation-building that these seniors personally witnessed and participated in. 

Preserving an Embattled Truth: Sam Firstenberg

Hollywood filmmaker Sam Firstenberg, who selects the songs and prepares the multimedia presentation, sees his role as not just preserving culture but safeguarding historical truth.

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"We are people who preserve the nostalgic culture and taste and sound of Israel,"

Firstenberg explains. But in today's political climate, this preservation work has taken on greater urgency. Each song in the carefully curated program serves as a time marker in the legitimate development of the state—from pre-1948 compositions through the various struggles, wars, and aspirations for peace.

Firstenberg guides the audience through a chronological journey of Israel's history, projecting photographs and historical context that directly challenge the false narratives that have gained traction in media, academia, and activist circles. These aren't abstract talking points for the attendees—they are the soundtrack of their youth, their military service, their nation-building efforts.

"Jews lived in Palestine of course in the Biblical times and but even after the Diaspora after the destruction of the Second Temple there were still here and there Jews in the land of Israel... mainly in Jerusalem in Safed, in Tiberius in Hebron in the holy cities ..."

explains Mr. Firstenberg, countering the revisionist claim that Jewish presence in the region is a modern European transplant.

The Power of Musical Testimony: Amit Sternberg

Pianist Amit Sternberg, who provides the musical foundation for the sing-along, understands the documentation value of these gatherings.

"Each song represents a period in the country's development,"

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Sternberg explains.

"It's a way to learn about history... through schools, through synagogues."

The urgency in his voice is evident when discussing the importance of transmitting this knowledge to younger generations who are increasingly exposed only to delegitimizing narratives about Israel's founding.

For Sternberg and many participants, these songs serve as primary sources—cultural artifacts that preserve the actual chronology and sentiment of Israel's development in a way that counters the revisionist history now dominant in many spaces.

A Sacred Act of Remembrance: Cantor Arik Wollheim

Cantor Arik Wollheim of Congregation Beth Jacob, who also led some of the singing, sees profound parallels between these cultural gatherings and religious observance in a time of threat.

"It's definitely therapeutic to all of us,"

Wollheim explains.

"We all listen to the news. We're all very much connected. We all have family and friends in Israel. We're all in one way or another affected."

The cantor made a point of bringing his children, including his seven-year-old, understanding that in the current climate, exposure to this firsthand testimony has become essential.

"It was important for me that today, even if they don't know all the music, just to experience that, to know it exists."

In a poignant comparison, Wollheim notes the similarity between the communal singing and religious services:

"It's the same thing. You want—I don't care how you sing—I want you to sing."

In this context, singing becomes not just participation but affirmation—bearing witness to a truth under threat.

Behind Guarded Walls: A Living Testimony

Anti-Israel UCLA faculty and students protest Israel's fending 
off five, invading Arab armies in '48 which caused the death
or displacement of some Arab residents of Israel - Nakba Day-
to justify Muslims' irredentist quest of conquering the Jewish state

The symbolism is impossible to ignore: Israeli-Americans gathering behind guarded walls to affirm their history through song, while just five weeks later, an organized mob of anti-Israel protestors would march antagonistically through the streets surrounding this very synagogue. For many participants, the echoes of historical persecution are unmistakable—"never again" is happening now.

The irony is profound: at a moment when campuses like UCLA have become hotbeds of anti-Israel activism, these Israeli-Americans—many of whom contributed significantly to American academia, arts, and industry—find themselves having to defend not just political perspectives but their lived experiences, their memories, their truth.

As Ms. Anat Sadan reflected on Dr. Pearl's participation, she described it as "closing the circle" for someone who has experienced the full arc of Israel's modern history. 

Sam Firstenberg and Judea Pearl read lyrics
projected on screen. Judea plays piano and for
years conducted the Los Angeles Hebrew Choir

   "He's coming back to   his country that he   loves  ...  It's like a circle   of life!"

In this modest gathering organized at Congregation Beth Jacob with Cantor Wollheim- there was defiance in every note sung—not the defiance of militancy, but the quiet insistence of truth against falsehood, of lived experience against revisionist ideology. Every song served as documentary evidence of a history these participants not only witnessed but helped create—a history now contested by those who weren't there to see it unfold.

Amit Sternberg plays the soundtrack of
Israel's evolution

The question remains: in a media environment increasingly hostile to their narrative, who will amplify these voices? Who will recognize that in these songs lay not just cultural nostalgia but historical testimony that directly contradicts the newly dominant narrative about Israel's founding and development? 

As the world seems to close in once again on Jewish communities, these elderly Israeli-Americans sing their defense — but how will they get heard above the din? 

Watch the singalong by clicking through these segments. (Flip through the playlist of videos of the sing-along using the icon menu in the upper right corner).

 

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Here is also playlist of the videos of the interviewees above which you can play sequentially on a wider screen or television for a sit-back experience with higher fidelity audio. 

(As with the playlist above, move through the playlist by clicking the icon menu in the upper right corner. Or the arrows in the lower left corner will advance forward or backward. To close the dropdown menu when it's open, just click somewhere else). 

Shmulik insists that in case you didn't realize that the link in the text above would take you to the 12 videos on YouTube and you'd prefer to watch it there and step through them, here is another link if you'd prefer to watch the playlist of all the song videos: 

Sing-along recharges spirits of beleaguered Israeli ex-pats on Independence Day abroad

Happy singing!