Information about Hatikvah

State of Israel  Geography Land of Israel Districts Cities Transport Mediterranean Red Sea Judea and Samaria Sea of Galilee Jerusalem Tel Aviv Haifa History Jewish history Timeline Zionism Aliyah Herzl Balfour British Mandate 1947 UN Plan Independence Austerity Arab-Israeli conflict History 1948 War 1949 Armistice Jewish exodus Suez War Six-Day War Attrition War Yom Kippur War 1982 Lebanon War 2006 Lebanon War Peace proposals Treaties with Egypt, Jordan Israeli-Palestinian conflict History Timeline Peace process Peace camp First Intifada Oslo Second Intifada Barrier Disengagement Israeli Apartheid Economy Science and technology Companies Tourism Wine Diamonds Agriculture Military industry Aerospace industry Demographics Culture Religion Israeli Arabs Kibbutz Music Archaeology Universities Hebrew Literature Sport Israelis Laws Politics Law of Return Jerusalem Law Parties Elections PM President Knesset Supreme Court Courts Foreign affairs International law UN US Arab League Security Israel Defense Forces Intelligence Community Security Council Police Border Police Prison Service Project   •  • [ e]

Jewish and Israeli Music (main article)
Religious music:'''
Historical • Contemporary Piyyut • Nigun • Pizmonim Zemirot • Baqashot
Secular music:
Israeli • Israeli Folk Klezmer • Sephardic • Mizrahi
Not Jewish in Form: Classical • Mainstream and Jazz
Dance:'''
Israeli Folk Dancing • Ballet Horah • Hava Nagila • Yemenite dance
Music for Holidays
Chanukah • Passover • Shabbat
Israel
Hatikvah • Jerusalem of Gold
Piyyutim
Adon Olam • Geshem • Lekhah Dodi Ma'oz Tzur • Yedid Nefesh • Yigdal
Music of the Haggadah
Ma Nishtana • Dayenu • Adir Hu Chad Gadya • Echad Mi Yodea

Hatikvah (Hebrew: הַתִּקְוָה, “The Hope”, Arabic transliteration هاتكفا), sometimes styled HaTikva(h), is the national anthem of Israel. The anthem was written by Naftali Herz Imber, a secular Galician Jew, and who moved to Palestine in the early 1880s. The anthem's underlying message is about "hope," the wish of the Zionists that they would someday attain national independence in the Land of Israel. It is one of the very few national anthems written in a minor key.

History

Historical background

Writing

The text of Hatikvah was written by the Galician-Jewish poet Naftali Herz Imber in Zolochiv (Ukraine) in 1878 as a nine-stanza poem named (“Our Hope”). It was supposed to be an expression of his thoughts and feelings following the construction of one of the first Jewish settlements in Israel, Petach Tikva. Published in Imber's first book, Barkay (Hebrew: ברקאי‎), the poem was subsequently adopted as the anthem of Hovevei Zion and later of the Zionist Movement at the First Zionist Congress in 1897. The melody (of folk origin) was arranged by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldavia. The text was later revised by the settlers of Rishon LeZion, subsequently undergoing a number of other changes.

Declaration of the State of Israel

When the State of Israel was declared in 1948, HaTikvah was unofficially proclaimed the national anthem. It did not become the official anthem until November 2004, when it was sanctioned by the Knesset in an amendment to the “Flag and Coat-of-Arms Law” (now called “The Flag, Coat-of-Arms, and National Anthem Law”).

In its modern rendering, the text of the anthem includes only the first stanza and refrain of the original poem. The most significant element in the additional stanzas (in addition to the hope of returning to Zion, a hope being seen as fulfilled) is the establishment of a sovereign and free nation in Eretz Yisrael.

Rav Kook's objection to Hatikvah on religious grounds

Zev Rosenfeld writes: "Rav Kook heard Hatikvah, did not care for it, and disagreed with the attitude that it conveyed. ... Rav Kook wrote an alternate poem called 'Haemunah' (The Faith), which is the country's second unofficial national anthem, moreover in direct response to Hatikvah, entitled Ha'Emunah. He hoped that it would ultimately replace Hatikvah as the national anthem...

"It is clear that Imber and Rav Kook zt”l subscribe to two very different outlooks on Zionism. Typical secular Zionists of the late nineteenth century did not attribute any religious aspects to their dream of creating a Zionist movement to return to Eretz Yisrael . They were tired of persecution and anti-Semitism. The only hope was to rely on those courageous individuals who could stand up on their own two feet and breathe life into the dying nation. The only logical place to dream of such a rebirth is the land with common history for all the Jews, Eretz Yisrael. However, if this proved impossible, other options might suffice. This is clearly the message behind Imber's Hatikvah - the last hope for survival."[1]

Non-Jewish citizens

The anthem is generally rejected by the religious minorities and the Arab Palestinian national minority in Israel. Written as a Zionist anthem, many non-Jewish citizens find it difficult to accept. Particularly, the specific reference to the yearnings of "a Jewish soul" is often cited as making the text impossible for a non-Jew to identify with the text. Notably, Raleb Majadele, the first Israeli-Arab appointed as a member of the Israeli government in January 2007, refuses to sing the anthem, stating that the song was written for Jews only.^[1]

Also some Left-wing Jewish Israelis have expressed reservations about the text, and on various occasions proposals were made to replace it, adapt or change the text, or compose a second anthem with words which all citizens of Israel could find acceptable. However, so far no such proposal has come near to acceptance.

Music

The melody for Hatikva is based on “La Mantovana,” a 16th century Italian song. Its earliest known appearance in print was in early 17th-century Italy as “Ballo di Mantova.” This melody gained wide currency in Renaissance Europe, being recorded variously as the Spanish hymn “Virgen de la Cueva” (“Virgin of the Cave”), the Yiddish folk song “Prayer for the Dew,” the Polish folk song “Pod Krakowem,” and as the Ukrainian “Kateryna Kucheryava.” This melody had been famously used by Bedřich Smetana in his symphonic poem “Má vlast” as “Die Moldau.”

The modern adaptation of the music for Hatikvah is assumed to be composed by Samuel Cohen in 1888. He himself recalled many years later that he had adapted the melody from a Moldavian folk-song, possibly “Carul cu boi” (“Carriage with Oxen”) which shares many structural elements with Hatikva.

Hatikvah is written in a minor key, which is often perceived as mournful in tone and thus rarely used in national anthems. However, as the title (“The Hope”) and the words suggest, the import of the song is uplifting and optimistic in spirit.

Current text

Below is the current text (first stanza and the amended refrain of the original nine-stanza poem) in Hebrew, along with a transliteration and translation.

כל עוד בלבב פנימה נפש יהודי הומיה, ולפאתי מזרח קדימה, עין לציון צופיה,	Kol od baleivav p'nimah Nefesh y'hudi homiyah Ulfa'atei mizrach kadimah Ayin l'tziyon tzofiyah	As long as in the heart, within, A Jewish soul is yearning, And to the edges of the East, eastward, An eye watches towards Zion,
עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו, התקווה בת שנות את אלפים, להיות עם חופשי בארצנו, ארץ ציון וירושלים.	Od lo avdah tikvateinu Hatikvah bat sh'not et alpayim Lihyot am chofshi b'artzeinu Eretz tziyon viyrushalayim	Our hope is not yet lost, The hope of two thousand years, To be a free nation in our own land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Some people compare the first line of the refrain, “Our hope is not yet lost” (עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו), to the opening of the Polish national anthem, Poland is not yet Lost (Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła) or to the Ukrainian national anthem Ukraine has not yet Perished (Ще не вмерла Україна, Šče ne vmerla Ukraïna). However, this line is considered to be a Biblical allusion to Ezekiel’s “Vision of the Dried Bones” (Ezekiel 37): “…Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost”), describing the despair of the Jewish people in exile, and God’s promise to redeem them and lead them back to the Land of Israel.There is however no proof for this connection, and the Polish allusion is obviously much more convincing given Imber's background.

Hatikvah is relatively short; indeed it is a single complex sentence, consisting of two clauses. The subordinate clause posits the condition (“As long as…A soul still yearns…And…An eye still watches…), while the independent clause specifies the outcome (“Our hope has not yet been lost…To be a free nation in our own homeland”).

Original nine verses of Hatikvah with transliteration and English translation

1 כָּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה ,נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה ,וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה .עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּ? 1 Kol od balevav penimah Nefesh yehudi homiyah Ulefa'atei mizrah kadimah Ayin letziyon tzofiyah 1 So long as in the heart, within, a Jewish soul cannot find rest, And Jewish glances turning East, To Zion fondly dart, פזמון עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִקְוָתֵנוּ :הַתִּקְוָה הַנּוֹשָׁנָה .לָשׁוּב לְאֶרֶץ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ .לְעִיר בָּהּ דָּוִד חָנָ? Refrain Od lo avdah tikvatenu Hatikvah hannoshanah Lashuv le'eretz avoteinu Le'ir bah david chanah Refrain Our hope is not yet lost, Our ancient hope To return to the land of our fathers, The city where David encamped; 2 כָּל-עוֹד דְּמָעוֹת מֵעֵינֵינוּ ,יִזְּלוּ כְגֶשֶׁם נְדָבוֹת וּרְבָבוֹת מִבְּנֵי עַמֵּנוּ .עוֹד הוֹלְכִים עַל קִבְרֵי אָבוֹ? 2 Kol-od dema'ot me'eineinu Yizzelu chegeshem nedavot Urevavot mibbenei ammenu Od holechim al kivrei avot 2 So long as tears from our eyes Flow like benevolent rain, Throngs of our countrymen Still pay homage at the graves of our forefathers, פזמו? Refrain Refrain 3 כָּל-עוֹד חוֹמַת מַחֲמַדֵּינוּ ,לְעֵינֵינוּ מוֹפָעַת וְעַל חֻרְבַּן מִקְדָּשֵׁנוּ .עַיִן אַחַת עוֹד דוֹמָעַ? 3 Kol-od chomat machamaddeinu Le'eineinu mofa'at Ve'al churban mikdashenu Ayin achat od doma'at 3 So long as our precious Wall Appears before our eyes And over the destruction of our Temple Our eyes still well up with tears, פזמו? Refrain Refrain 4 כָּל-עוֹד מֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן בְּגָאוֹן ,מְלֹא גְדוֹתָיו יִזֹּלוּ וּלְיָם כִּנֶּרֶת בְּשָׁאוֹן .בְּקוֹל הֲמוּלָה יִפֹּלו? 4 Kol-od mei haiyarden bega'on Melo gedotav yizzolu Uleyam kinneret besha'on Bekol hamulah yippolu 4 So long as the Jordan’s pent-up tide Leaps downward rapidly, And while its gleaming waters glide, Through Galilee’s blue sea, פזמו? Refrain Refrain 5 כָּל-עוֹד שָׁם עֲלֵי דְרָכַיִם ,שַעַר יֻכַּת שְׁאִיָּה וּבֵין חָרְבוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם .עוֹד בּת צִיּוֹן בּוֹכִיָּ? 5 Kol-od sham alei derachayim Sha'ar yukkat she'iyah Uvein charevot yerushalayim Od bt tziyon bochiyah 5 So long as the city gates, humiliated, Dot the barren highways, And between the ruins of Jerusalem The daughter of Zion still cries, פזמו? Refrain Refrain 6 כָּל-עוֹד דְּמָעוֹת טְהוֹרוֹת ,מֵעֵין בַּת עַמִּי נוֹזְלוֹת וְלִבְכּוֹת לְצִיּוֹן בְּרֹאשׁ אַשְׁמוֹרוֹת .עוֹד תָּקוּם בַּחֲצִי הַלֵּילוֹ? 6 Kol-od dema'ot tehorot Me'ein bat ammi nozelot Velivkot letziyon berosh ashmorot Od takum bachatzi halleilot 6 As long as fast-paced tears Fall from the eyes of the daughters of our nation, Mourning for Zion at the peak of evening, She will still rise at midnight; פזמו? Refrain Refrain 7 כָּל-עוֹד נִטְפֵי דָם בְּעוֹרְקֵינוּ ,רָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב יִזֹּלוּ וַעֲלֵי קִבְרוֹת אֲבוֹתֵינוּ .עוֹד אֶגְלֵי טַל יִפֹּלו? 7 Kol-od nitfei dam be'orekeinu Ratzo vashov yizzolu Va'alei kivrot avoteinu Od eglei tal yippolu 7 As long as blood drips in our veins, The passion for return will flow, And on the gravestones of our Fathers Wisps of dew will fall, פזמו? Refrain Refrain 8 כָּל-עוֹד רֶגֶשׁ אַהֲבַת הַלְּאוֹם ,בְּלֵב הַיְּהוּדִי פּוֹעֵם עוֹד נוּכַל קַוּוֹת גַּם הַיּוֹם .כִּי עוֹד יְרַחֲמֵנוּ אֵל זוֹעֵ? 8 Kol-od regesh ahavat halle'om Belev haiyhudi po'em Od nuchal kavvot gam haiyom Ki od yerachamenu el zo'em 8 So long as deep national love Beats in the heart of the Jew, We can survive another day Because a zealous God will grant us grace; פזמו? Refrain Refrain 9 שִׁמְעוּ אַחַי בְּאַרְצוֹת נוּדִי ,אֶת קוֹל אַחַד חוֹזֵינוּ כּי רַק עִם אַחֲרוֹן הַיְּהוּדִי !גַּם אַחֲרִית תִּקְוָתֵנו? 9 Shim'u achai be'artzot nudi Et kol achad chozeinu Ky rak im acharon haiyhudi Gam acharit tikvatenu! 9 Brother, listen, far away, The single voice, our vision, Because only with the last Jew, Lies also our last Hope! פזמו? Refrain Refrain

Media

References

Links

• Hatikva article from the Jewishvirtuallibrary