At Holocaust memorial, Netanyahu reads poem by father-in-law

Addressing the Knesset Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reads a poem by his father-in-law, whose family perished in the war.

Says Netanyahu: “My father-in-law, the late Shmuel Ben-Artzi, made aliyah in the 1930s, as a Zionist pioneer. His entire family stayed behind in Poland and was destroyed. Afterwards, he wrote the following poem in their memory. He wrote: To the dear and holy memory of my brothers – Meir, Shimon Tzvi and Aryeh – and my sisters – Yehudit and Pesla – who were plucked in the bud by impure hands.

Last night I was in the village of my birth,
In the landscape that is dear to my heart in its radiance,
In the well of my childhood a reflection still shimmers,
My father’s house still stands.

The chestnut trees are already stained red,
This is the nature of Poland’s autumn.
My brother and I lumber, as before,
On the path to our sukkah, we carry branches to cover it.

The wind chases a cloud through the sky;
Tonight the rain won’t dare to come.
We will arrive home in a moment.
We will decorate the sukkah by hand as dictated in law.

We approached the house—Gentiles in our midst!
I searched for a sukkah of peace in vain.
My brother left me his burden—and is no more!
All alone there I cried until the dream ended.”