Hatikvah
Hatikvah (also Hatikva, literally "The hope") is the national anthem of Israel. The text was composed by the Galician poet Naphtali Herz Imber (1856-1909) in Jassy in 1878. The music is based on an old Moldavian folk song ("Cucuruz cu frunza-n sus"), arranged by Samuel Cohen. It was orchestrated in 1897 by the composer Paul Ben-Haim and in 1897, on the first Zionist congress, it became the hymn of Zionism, and on the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, it was proclaimed as the national anthem of Israel.Hatikvah is written in a minor key, one that seems depressing or mournful to many Westerners. However, as the title ("The Hope") would indicate, the mood of the song is uplifting.
Here is the text in English.
- So long as within our breasts
- The Jewish heart beats true
- So long as still toward the east
- To Zion looks the Jew
- Our hopes are not yet lost
- Two thousand years we cherished them
- To live as a free people in our land
- Land of Zion and Jerusalem
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כל עוד בלבב פנימה
עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, |
Kol od balevav
P'nimah -
Od lo avdah tikvatenu |