Hatikvah
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Hatikvah or Hatikva (Hebrew: הַתִּקְוָה, "The Hope") is the national anthem of Israel.
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[edit] History
The Hatikvah text was written by the Galician-Jewish poet Naphtali Herz Imber in Zloczow (Ukraine) in 1878 as a nine-stanza poem named Tikvatenu ("Our Hope").
In 1897, at the First Zionist Congress, it was adopted as the anthem of Zionism; later it was arranged by the composer Paul Ben-Haim, who based the composition partly on Ukrainian 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 unofficially proclaimed as the national anthem of Israel.
In its modern version, the anthem text only has the first stanza and chorus of the original poem. The most important addition in those parts is that the hope is no longer just to return to Zion (that hope being seen as fulfilled), but to be a free nation in it.
It is an interesting, but not widely known fact, that Hatikvah was not officially declared as or chosen to be the national anthem of Israel until November 2004, when it was sanctioned by the Knesset in an amendment to the "Flag and Coat-of-Arms Law" (which is now called: "The Flag, Coat-of-Arms and National Anthem Law").
[edit] Music
The music for Hatikva is based on a folk song of unknown origin. The earliest known appearance in print was early 17th century Italy as "The Dance of Mantua". It has also been recognized in Spanish religious music as the Catholic song "Virgen de la Cueva" ("Virgin of the Cave") and the Jewish song "Prayer for the Dew". It's also recognizable as the Polish folk song "Pod Krakowem".
The folk song was also used by an English-Jewish cantor named Meier Leon, who used the stage name Michael Leoni to perform secular and Christian music such as Handel's Messiah. Leon adapted the song into the Jewish hymn Yigdal for his synagogue. This hymn was later adapted by Welselyan minister Thomas Oliver into the hymn To The God of Abraham Praise.
Bedřich Smetana likely adapted the melody from a Swedish version of the melody, "Ack, Värmeland" and used it for his symphonic poem "The Moldau", part of Má Vlast. This later became a Czech folk song, "Kočka leze dírou".
The modern adaptation of the music for Hatikvah was probably composed by Samuel Cohen in 1888. It's possible that he took the melody from Smetana's work, that he got the melody from a Romanian version of the folk song, "Carul cu boi" ("Carriage with Oxen"), or from the Hungarian arrangement "Tüzed, Uram Jézus" ("Your fire, my Lord Jesus").
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.
[edit] Lyrics
Here is the text in Hebrew with accompanying transliteration and translation in English:
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כל עוד בלבב פנימה עוד לא אבדה תקותנו, |
Kol 'od balevav P'nimah - 'Od lo avdah tikvatenu |
As long as in the heart, within, Our hope has not yet been lost, |
Some people compare the first line of the chorus, "Our hope is not yet lost" (עוד לא אבדה תקותנו) 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). However, this line is considered to be a biblical allusion to Ezekiel's "Vision of the Dried Bones" (Eze 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 bring them back to the Land of Israel).
Hatikvah is quite short: it is a single complex sentence, which consists of two clauses. The first clause sets out the condition: "As long as... A soul still yearns... And... An eye still watches...", and the second clause describes the outcome: "Our hope has not yet been lost... To be a free nation in our own homeland...".
[edit] Media
- Instrumental (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Recording by the United States Navy Band
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
- National Symbols - The "National Symbols" website for Israel features an .mp3 vocal version taken from the CD, "The Best Israeli Album in the World".
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