Hatkivah: controversy and variations – Part 2

Although Israel’s national anthem is beloved by many, that admiration is not universal. Some people claim that the hymn is overly secular. Others criticize it for not representing the reality of the ethnic and religious mix of the country today. And still others just want to riff on a venerable tune and turn heads.

You won’t find God or Torah mentioned in Hatikvah, so Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief rabbi of Palestine in the early 20th century, wrote his own alternative anthem, HaEmunah (The Faith).

 

Eternally lives in our hearts,

the loyal faith Haemunah

to return to our holy land,

the city where David settled.

 

There we shall stand to receive our destiny,

which the father of many nations acquired,

there we shall live our life

the life of the innumerable community.

There we shall serve our God

with joy, happiness and song

there we shall pilgrimage

three times a year.

Torah of life is our desire,

given from heavenly mouth

forever it is our heritage

from the desert it was given.

Zev Rosenfield has put together a detailed comparison of the two poems. He suggests that Naftali Herz Imber’s Hatikvah takes a somewhat sombre and negative tone with lyrics like “Only the last hope is sustaining us.” Imber believes that the only hope of keeping the Jewish flame lit is to have a few Jews remaining to kindle it. On the other hand, Rav Kook strikes a more optimistic note. “The roots of Zionism are not in the ‘last Jew’ who finds some strength. Rather, the eternal Torah, given to us by HaShem, is the root of Zionism.”

The lyrics of Hatikvah certainly do not please Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Shalom Cohen. He characterized it in February as a “stupid song.” As explained by the Jerusalem Post, “Large parts of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) world have a long-held animus toward the Israeli national anthem. The words ‘to be a free nation in our land’ that appear in the anthem are generally scorned by the haredi community, who see themselves as servants of God. It is commonly believed in the ultra-Orthodox community that the meaning behind the words ‘free nation’ is free of the religious commandments of the Torah.”

Several years ago, Raleb Majadele, Israel’s first Arab cabinet minister, caused headlines when he said that he does not sing Hatikvah. “I fail to understand how an enlightened, sane Jew allows himself to ask a Muslim person with a different language and culture to sing an anthem that was written for Jews only.” And after Salim Joubran, an Israeli Arab judge on the Supreme Court of Israel, stood with hands folded while not singing Hatikvah at a state ceremony, the reaction was mixed. “He spat in the face of the state of Israel,” said David Rotem, a member of Knesset with the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party.  The newspaper Ha’aretz disagreed. It said in an editorial, “The time has come for Israel to consider changing the words of its anthem so that all Israelis can identify with them.”

Writing in the New York Times, journalist Adam Lebor argued that to gain wider appeal, “Only a single phrase needs to be changed: ‘nefesh Yehudi,’ which means a Jewish soul, should be replaced with ‘nefesh Yisraeli,’ an Israeli soul.” Lebor admits that this change won’t automatically instil a love of the anthem among Israel’s minorities – he doesn’t suggest altering lyrics that talk about longing for Zion – but the change “would send a clear message: here we are, Israelis – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, African, Russian and more – in the heart of the Middle East. And we are here to stay.”

Here is Neshama Carlebach singing her own inclusive lyrics.

An Anthem For All? from Jewish Daily Forward on Vimeo.

Don’t go tampering with those lyrics says Gadi BenMark. Writing in Haaretz.com, he said that Israel should follow Canada’s lead. Its anthem has two sets of very different lyrics in both of the country’s official languages, English and French. “Just as all Canadians share the music of O Canada, all Israelis can share the music of Hatikvah. The music is the bridge that unites… The mission would be to put together text to which any Israeli citizen who speaks Arabic can relate… It can be called ‘Al Amal,’ the hope, thus carrying the same meaning as ‘Hatikvah,’ yet this hope needs to be ‘universal Israeli.’”

Amir Benayoun didn’t change the words. He just sang them with subtle, smoldering rage. The Israeli singer set the lyrics to the melody of Keli Atah Ve’Odecka, a traditional Chabad tune. He then interspersed the song with radio news reports about childhood poverty in Israel, the kidnapping of Gilad Schalit, the possible division of Jerusalem and more. And he had his “little gift” delivered to the country’s cabinet ministers. You can read up on Benayoun’s version in the Hebrew article Abda Tikvatenu (Our Hope has been Lost) and then listen to it online.

Not everyone has given up hope. A few years ago, ynetnews.com (the English online arm of Yediot Achronot) embarked on an interesting project. Titled, There’s Hope, the website invited Israeli and Jewish singers and performers from all walks of life and musical genres to put their stamp on Hatikvah including:

• American Marty Friedman, former lead guitarist of Megadeth;

• Teapacks, Israel’s representatives at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest;

• And a great teaming of Dudu Fisher and the Human Beat Box for a hip-hop version.

Try your own variation after you download the sheet music. And for something different, sing the lyrics in French, German, Portuguese, Polish, Malay, Japanese, Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Farsi, Chinese or Arabic.

If you’d like to download a wild adaptation and blow out your speakers at the same time, try cranking up this version by Seth Diamond (aka DJ Blood Sacrifice) of the New York metal band Gods of Fire.

On the other end of the aural spectrum, David Bar-Tzur has created a version to aid interpreters who want to deliver Hatikvah using sign language. Here’s what the last stanza looks like in American Sign Language notation:

OUR HOPE DISSOLVE, NOT-YET.
TWO THOUSAND YEAR UP-TO-NOW HOPE STILL STRONG.
||: HOPE WE FREE (2h)THERE-rt CAN.
(<) TEMPLE MOUNTAIN, (>) JERUSALEM, WE CHERISH. :||

And then watch it performed (dramatically) in Israeli Sign Language.

The most famous song to compete with Hatikvah for the hearts of Israelis is Naomi Shemer’s Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Shortly after the 1967 Six Day War, Knesset member Uri Avneri tabled a bill to make that song the national anthem. According to the Jerusalem of Gold website, Avneri met with Naomi Shemer in a café and attempted to explain to her how important her song had become.

Shemer found it amusing. “I like Hatikvah,” she said, “and it is not replaceable.” The bill never went to committee.

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