Hatikvah

Hatikvah (also Hatikva, "The Hope") is the national anthem of Israel.

History

The Hatikvah text was written by the Galician poet Naphtali Herz Imber in Jassy (Romania) in 1871 as a nine-stanza poem named Tikavatenu ("Our Hope").

In 1897, at the first Zionist congress, it became the hymn of Zionism; later it was arranged by the composer Paul Ben-Haim, who based the composition partly on Romanian Jewish folk tunes.

Later the text was edited by the settlers of Rishon LeZion and it underwent a number of other changes until 1948, when the state of Israel was created, and it was proclaimed as the national anthem text of Israel.

In its modern version, the anthem text only has the first stanza and chorus of the original poem. The most important edition in those parts is that the hope is no longer to return to Zion, but to be a free nation in it.

Music

The music, composed probably by Samuel Cohen, is said to be based either on a theme from Bedřich Smetana's "The Moldau" symphonic poem (part of Má Vlast, "My Country"), an old Moldavian folk song, or another source.

Hatikvah is written in a minor key, one that may seem depressing or mournful to some people. However, as the title ("The Hope") would indicate, the mood of the song is uplifting.

Lyrics

Here is the text in Hebrew with accompanying transliteration and translation in English:

כל עוד בלבב פנימה נפש יהודי הומיה, ולפאתי מזרח קדימה עין לציון צופיה - עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, התקוה בת שנות אלפים, להיות עם חופשי בארצנו ארץ ציון וירושלים.

Kol od balevav P'nimah - Nefesh Yehudi homiyah Ulfa'atey mizrach kadimah Ayin l'tzion tzofiyah. Od lo avdah tikvatenu Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim: Li'hyot am chofshi b'artzenu - Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim.

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

The first line of the chorus, "Our hopes are not yet lost" (עוד לא אבדה תקותנו) has been compared to the opening of the Polish national anthem "Poland is not yet lost" (Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła) and similarities between Zionism and the Polish nationalist movement have been pointed out.