Zecharia Ben Ezra
Ani Zecharia Ben Ezra
Ve-lachmi lachma anya
Ve-gar ani be-ma’abara
Etzel ha-kvish le-Netanya

Ba-choref ya ha-kor choder
Ba-kayitz ya machnik li
Aval eini doresh yoter
Ze ma she-yesh maspik li

Kan kol ashir ve-kol ani
Motze pegam o mum lo
Rak ha-echad ha-teimani
Od lo chaser me’um lo

Ya mi pilel ya mi milel
She-yizkereni ha-go’el
She-yekayem ma she-hivtiach
U-va ha-melech ha-mashiach
Ha-kol kedei im tov im ra
Ne’um Zecharia Ben Ezra
Zecharia Ben Ezra

Etmol nolad bi lev acher
Nasati nes Tziyona
Yaradeti le-Sde Boker
Ba-derech Ben Guriona

Amarti lo tishma adon
Al na yiplu panecha
Kol zman she-yesh od El Elyon
Zecharia acharecha

Az levavo mi-gil nadam
U-leshono nevucha
Ya Zecharia ashrei ha-am
She-yesh lo ben kamocha

Ashrei ha-am ve-ha-medina
Im ze kochah ve-ze onah
Im kach hen lo lashav yaradeti
Ve-tov ha-tza’ad she-tzadati
Ha-kol kedei chai El Elyon
Ne’um ha-gever Ben Gurion
Ha-gever Ben Gurion

Zecharia Ben Ezra
I am Zecharia Ben Ezra
And my bread is the bread of poverty
And I live in a transit camp
By the road to Netanya.

In winter, oh, the cold pierces
In summer, oh, it is stifling
But I do not demand more
What I have is enough for me.

Here, every rich and every poor man
Finds a flaw or a blemish in his lot
Only the one, the Yemenite
Still lacks nothing at all.

Oh, who could have dreamed, who could have told
That the Redeemer would remember me
That He would fulfill what He promised
And the King Messiah has come.
It is all worth it, whether good or bad
So says Zecharia Ben Ezra
Zecharia Ben Ezra.

Yesterday a different heart was born in me
I carried a banner to Zion
I went down to Sde Boker
On the path of Ben-Gurion.

I said to him, listen sir
Do not let your spirit fall
As long as there is still a God above
Zecharia is right behind you.

Then his heart went silent with joy
And his tongue was humbled
“Oh Zecharia, blessed is the nation
That has a son like you.”

Blessed is the nation and the state
If this is its strength and its might
If so, I did not come down in vain
And good was the step that I took.
It is all worth it, by the Living God
So says the man Ben-Gurion
The man Ben-Gurion.