The national hymn of Israel

The HaTikvah (Hebrew:התקווה), meaning hope, is Israel’s hymn. The Hatikvah was written by Imber in Zolochiv in 1878 as a nine-stanza poem named Tikvateynu (“Our Hope”). In this poem, Imber puts into words his thoughts and feelings in the wake of the establishment of Petah Tikva, one of the first Jewish settlements in Ottoman Palestine.
Published in Imber’s first book, the poem was adopted as the anthem of “Hovevei Zion” (lovers of Zion) and later of the Zionist Movement at the First Zionist Congress in 1897.

In 1948, when the state of Israel was established, Hatikvah was the unofficial national hymn.

The melody of the HaTikvah was written by Samuel Cohen. Cohen based the melody on a musical theme found in Bedrich Smetana’s “Moldau”.

The Lyrics:

English: As long as deep in the heart,
The soul of a Jew yearns,
And forward to the East
To Zion, an eye looks
Our hope will not be lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Kol od balevav p’nimah כל עוד בלבב פנימה
Nefesh Yehudi homiyah נפש יהודי הומיה
Ulfa’atey mizrach kadimah ולפאתי מזרח קדימה
Ayin l’tzion tzofiyah עין לציון צופיה
Od lo avdah tikvatenu עוד לא אבדה תקותנו
Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim התקוה בת שנות אלפים
L’hiyot am chofshi b’artzenu להיות עם חופשי בארצנו
Eretz Tzion v’Yerushalayim ארץ ציון וירושלים