Hatikvah, literally “the hope,” is Israel’s national anthem. Its lyrics were written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, a poet originally from Galicia. The melody was written by Samuel Cohen, who based the melody on a musical theme from Bedrich Smetana’s “Moldau.”
The origins of “Hatikvah” (The Hope) far predate its use as the Israeli national anthem, in use since soon after its founding as the first Jewish state in modern history. The music is based on a folk song of unknown origin, but appears several times in European folk songs and religious music. The arrangement by Shmuel Cohen from 1888 is probably based on a Romanian folk song he heard during his childhood in Romania, most likely “Carul cu boi” (“The Ox Driven Cart”). The melody also somewhat resembles Smetana’s symphonic poem “Ma Vlast”, which in turn was based on a Swedish version of the Romanian song.
The lyrics of the anthem were taken from the first verse and chorus from Naftali Herez Imber’s 1878 poem “Tikavatenu” (Our Hope), which had nine stanzas. At the first Zionist congress of 1897, it was adopted as the anthem of Zionism. The lyrics (primarily of the chorus) underwent a few changes between that time and the creation of the Jewish state of Israel some 50 years later, primarily a change where the song once spoke of a hope to return Zion, it now speaks of a hope to live as a free nation there.
Translation: English
As long as within our hearts
The Jewish soul sings,
As long as forward to the East
To Zion, looks the eye –
Our hope is not yet lost,
It is two thousand years old,
To be a free people in our land
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
Above is a souvenir sheet with the Israeli national anthem lyrics issued in 2008.
