Actually, the complete phrase is "Let My people go… that they may serve Me." from Exodus 5:1.
It is interesting how the phrase has been used (and abused).
When you check the phrase in the Wikipedia you learn not only, what you had know as a child, that the phrase had been used as a "Negro Spiritual", but that
A Hebrew translation of the song is a common element in the Passover seder in Israel.
Jay reports that there is a Hebrew translation, though he does not know how popular or well-known it is. On Kibbutz Hatzor it is sung every year. He admits that the first time he heard it he found it very strange, but after years of hearing, and singing, it, it seems quite natural.
the refrain is
!שלח נא את עמי
A "Negro" spiritual (or escape from slavery song) that uses biblical imagery designed to show the way north and out of slavery was supposedly used by the kibbutzniks helping the ma'apilim know where to land their boats. I think I "learned" this at Habonim camp in the early 1960s, but have not been able to verify it. The generation that might have done this is quickly dying off.If anyone has any information regarding this please let me know.
I recall a button of black and white hands clasped in a six-pointed star with the words Let My People Go around the perimeter. However, this button is not where I can make a scan to share here.
In an explicitly Jewish context, the phrase was used by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry on its lapel buttons to call attention to the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union. A number of variants appeared.
| Date: | ≅ 1970 |
| Size: | 5.3 cm |
| Pin Form: | safety |
| Print Method: | celluloid |
Despite Everything - Davka
A Starting Point
