Holding on to hope in the eye of a hurricane 

Over the weekend, I stepped into a hurricane. Not a hurricane of fear, alarm, chaos or catastrophe – but a storm of exhilaration and defiance, pride and poignancy. I’m referring to Eden Golan presenting her song “Hurricane” at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden.

This bold and captivating song, which gained the most popular votes in the second semi-final, and Australia’s twelve maximum of public votes, made it to fifth place in the finals on Sunday.

I was moved by the song and its lyrics, its lovely tune, the energetic presentation, but mostly by the significance and resonance of its timing – even though it does not mention October 7, and some of the original lyrics were removed as “too political”.

The song was originally titled “October Rain” and included lines like, “There’s no air left to breathe” and “They were all good children”, an apparent allusion to those hiding in shelters or at the Nova music festival. Despite this, the more arresting replacement title is also more apt – as the Talmud asserts, ‘a hint is enough for a wise person’ and certainly as good as a wink!

The title is more trenchant as are the telling words: “I’m still broken from this hurricane”. We, the Jewish people, are still broken and wounded by the ongoing war, the terrible plight of the hostages and the rampant, raging antisemitism. We too feel like “someone stole the moon tonight” and “took my light. Everything is black and white”.