Lay Down Your Arms
2015 March of the LivingAs part of providing video production and live broadcasting services to “March of the Living” since 2012, JMG worked with MOTL Director of Education, Eli Rubenstein, to create this clip of the special musical performance of “Lay Down Your Arms” using footage from the rehearsals and recording sessions as well as the live performances at the 2015 ceremonies at Aushwitz/Berkenau and in Israel.
Special Recording of Peace Song, “Lay Down Your Arms”
Musical Work premiered in Auschwitz-Birkenau at March of the Living on Holocaust Remembrance Day
To mark the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe, the March of the Living Children’s Choir and the Habonim Youth Choir, joined by other young people who love singing and yearn for a peaceful world, recorded a special version of the Israeli peace song, “Lay Down Your Arms”, first recorded in Toronto, by the Habonim Youth Choir, in 1992.
( 2015 also marks the 20th anniversary of the murder of Israeli PM Yitzchak Rabin who was assassinated on November 4, 1995.)
The melody to Lay Down Your Arms was written by an Israeli soldier, Doron Levinson, in memory of his fallen comrades.
The Hebrew verses are taken from Isaiah 2:4: “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they teach their children war anymore.”
Isaiah’s words, written over 2,500 years ago, have spoken to peace-lovers in every generation. Today, those words appear on an inscription at the United Nations Peace Park in New York City. The video includes images from the UN Isaiah inscription as well as from the Great Isaiah Scroll, which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls currently housed in the Israel Museum. It is the oldest manuscript of the Book of Isaiah ever found, estimated to be between 2,000 – 2300 years old.
The English lyrics and bridge were composed by two Canadian songwriters, Lisa Catherine Cohen (main lyrics) and Harry Lewis (bridge).