Turning darkness into light. Rebuilding after destruction. Finding the rose amid the rubble. This has been the quintessential Jewish response to tragedy throughout our history. Affirming life and holding onto hope, not giving way to despair, and channeling grief into creativity has led to Jewish survival.
But how does one take the words of a young woman murdered by a terrorist and turn it into inspiring song?
With equal measures of talent, sensitivity, and a deep sense of responsibility.
AMIT alumnus Amiad G. composed the music and recorded a song, “A World of Peace,” to the poetry of Ori Ansbacher, z”l, a 19-year-old brutally murdered in February 2019 by an Islamic terrorist.
The violent rape and murder of Ansbacher, who was found at the Ein Yael forest on Jerusalem’s outskirts, shook the country to its core. More than 6,000 people marched in Jerusalem to express outrage over the killing of the young woman, who had volunteered at a youth center in Jerusalem.
On the day of her murder, Ansbacher went to seclude herself in nature, as she often did. Arafat Irafaiya, a Hamas terrorist who had served in prison, admitted to raping and killing her saying, “I entered Israel with a knife because I wanted to become a martyr and murder a Jew. I met the girl by chance.”
From high-profile politicians, to celebrities, to ordinary citizens, Israel grieved collectively. In the days following Ansbacher’s murder, several stories in the newspapers and other media appeared.
Amiad, who graduated from AMIT Ginsburg Bar Ilan Gush Dan High School for Boys in Ramat Gan and who was among AMIT’s student ambassadors in 2019, recalled the day he returned from a school trip when his mother showed him one of the articles.
“I came home from a school trip and my mom showed me an article about her and a song that she wrote,” said Amiad. “She wrote for herself. She wasn’t published anywhere, but the article had one of the songs (the lyrics or her poetry) published.
“My mom told me that it would be nice if I can compose it,” Amiad said. “My mother was very emotional about this. The whole country was very emotional about this, and everyone took it in a very personal way. My mother knows that I am a composer, so she suggested that I write the music.”
After “a lot of processing” once he put pen to paper, it took Amiad about 15 minutes to compose the song.
“I felt connected to the song, but I was still not sure that I would record it,” he said. “But when I did it, it felt right.”
Amiad went into the recording studio. He played the guitar and had studio musicians play the other instruments, and his version of “A World of Peace” was born. He sang Ansbacher’s lyrics and played his music. He uploaded the song to YouTube, and to date, there are more than 5,000 hits on the site. (Please listen to Amiad’s song!).
Here is a translation of the lyrics written by Ori Ansbacher:
A World of Peace
Make your world a world of peace
World of peace and youth peace
Remember the young woman you are
The sweetness there was
Before they tyrannized you
Allow yourself to reenter
The sweetness that was yours
Allow yourself to reenter
The sweetness that is you
Amiad said that Ansbacher was exploring “an existential question, ‘What is she doing here as a human being?’ The song talks about peace of mind and inner self before physical work in our world.”
Amiad’s souful sensitivity is apparent in many of the things he does. The athletic Amiad runs half marathons and does parkour, a French martial art of that involves, running, climbing, swinging and vaulting to move with speed and agility from one point to another in a complex environment. Academically, Amiad became the school’s a top computer science student.
For his gap year between high school graduation and service in the IDF, Amiad has chosen to work with special needs individuals at Shalva. AMIT schools emphasize giving back to the community, a staple of the Jewish values that are instilled in its students
As for his song, Amiad said that he was one among others, including famed Israeli singer, Shlomi Shabat, who were moved to put Ansbacher’s words to music.
In doing so they all have immortalized her and her message of peace, something that is forever hoped for.
May the memory of Ori Ansbacher be a blessing.
