03. UN ISRAELITE ERRANT (A wandering Israelite)

‘Un Canadien errant’ ("A Wandering Canadian") was written by Antoine Gérin-Lajoie in 1842 after the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837–38. Some of these rebels were condemned to death; others were exiled to the United States and Australia. This song captures their pain of exile, while touching another nerve – that of the French Acadians (the Cajuns), who suffered mass deportation to Louisiana by the British in the Great Upheaval between 1755 and 1763. This Québecois anthem has here been adapted to the Jewish people’s unique history – quintessential wanderers travelling far and wide, holding to the precious biblical hope of a final and prophesied Return to Zion (Psalm 137).