הַתִּקְוָה‬

Hatikvah

Hatikvah (Hebrew: הַתִּקְוָה‬, English: «The Hope») is a Jewish poem and the national anthem of Israel. Its lyrics are adapted from a poem by Naftali Herz Imber, a Jewish poet from Złoczów (today Zolochiv, Ukraine). Imber wrote the first version of the poem in 1877, while he was a guest of a Jewish scholar in Iași, Romania. The theme of the romantic anthem reflects the Jews’ 2,000-year-old hope of returning to the Land of Israel, restoring it, and reclaiming it as a sovereign nation.

When the State of Israel was established in 1948, Hatikvah was unofficially proclaimed the national anthem. It did not officially become the national anthem until November 2004, when an abbreviated and edited version was sanctioned by the Knesset in an amendment to the Flag and Coat-of-Arms Law.

כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה‬
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה,‬
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה‬
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה;‬

Kol ‘od balevav penimah
Nefesh Yehudi homiyah,
Ulfa’ate mizrach kadimah,
‘Ayin leTziyon tzofiyah;

O while within a Jewish heart,
Yearns true a Jewish soul,
And Jewish glances turning East,
To Zion fondly dart;

עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ‬,‬
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם‬‬
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ,‬
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם.‬

‘Od lo avdah tikvatenu,
Hatikvah bat shnot ’alpayim,
Lihyot ‘am chofshi be’artzenu,
’Eretz-Tziyon virushalayim.

O then our Hope—it is not dead,
Our ancient Hope and true,
To be a nation free forevermore
Zion and Jerusalem at our core.