The Melody
Written by Oded Burla,
illustrated by Assaf Benharroch, and translated by Ilana Kurshan
Kalaniot Books, 2022
“The Melody” tells a tale about a
beautiful melody. One day the melody thinks, “Why am I here?” It decides to
find someone to listen to its music.
The melody goes from the mountain
to the trees, the stones, the river, a crow, a mole, a horse, and finally to a
mother with her baby. The melody asks each one, “Will you listen to me?”
But no one will listen. The
mountain says nothing. The trees say they have their own song. They have no use
for the melody. The stones are silent. They want to sing, but cannot speak.
The river waters are moving so
fast they can't stop to learn the melody.
The crow said he couldn’t sing all night. He would be mistaken for a nightingale. “I don’t want to be something I’m not. I’m happy being a crow.”
The mole said, “Who would I sing to in my underground burrow? The worms?”
And the horse said, “Nay, nay. I
don’t want to be called the singing horse. No thanks!”
Finally, the melody finds a mother sitting with her baby in a garden. The melody enters into her heart, and she begins to sing a lullaby to her child. The song she sings is the melody.
Illustrator Assaf Benharroch brings the story to life with beautiful, colorful images.
This story is based on the
ancient Biblical story that God offered the Torah, or Jewish Bible, to the
people. Each nation decided not to accept the Torah because it could not abide by the Torah's laws. When the Torah is presented to the Jews on Mount Sinai, they welcome
it.
Like the mother in this story,
each Jew is meant to teach the Torah to the next generation, keeping its
melodies alive.
This story was originally written in Hebrew by Oded Burla. It first appeared in the collection, “Who Wants to Be a Scarecrow,” and was published by Sifriyat Poalim, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1996.
Ilana Kurshan has translated this edition of the story into English for Kalaniot Books, Moosic, Pa. Kalaniot is an imprint of Endless Mountain Publishing Company. It publishes children's books about Jewish culture and history.
Oded Burla was an Israeli writer, poet, and artist. Burla wrote and illustrated 70 books. He is considered one of the founders of children’s literature in Hebrew. He passed away at 94 in 2009.
About the Illustrator
Assaf Benharroch is an Israeli illustrator and artist. He is a partner and art director at Studio Poink and teaches digital illustration at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design. He lives with his wife and three young sons in the Israel countryside.
About the Translator
Ilana Kurshan is the author of “If All the Seas Were Ink,” which was published by St. Martin’s Press and won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. She also translates books from Hebrew to English. She is the Book Review editor at Lilith magazine. She lives in Jerusalem.
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