Hatikvah

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

So long as 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

Here is the text in Hebrew.

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.

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