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.”
Learn more about Hatikvah’s history here.
Listen to “Hatikvah” in the video below:
For Hebrew text of the lyrics, go here.
For a free musical score of Hatikvah, go here.
Hatikvah’s Lyrics in English Transliteration and Translation:
Transliteration:
Kol od ba’le’vav p’nima,Nefesh yehudi ho’miyah.
U’lefa-atei mizrach kadimah,
Ayin le’Tziyyon tzofiyah.
Od lo avda tikva-teinu,
Ha’tikvah bat sh’not al-payim
Lih-yot am chofshi b’ar-tzeinu
Eretz Tziyyon v’Yerushalayim.
Translation:
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.
mizrach
Pronounced: meez-RAKH, Origin: Hebrew for east, refers to a wall hanging designating this direction to help people pray facing east, or toward Jerusalem.
