Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah ("The Hope"), expresses the Jewish people's longing to return to Israel, the land of their forefathers, after 2,000 years of exile following the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.
The original version of the text, initially titled Tikvatenu, was a poem written by Galician poet Naftali Hertz Imber around 1878, several years before he moved to the Land of Israel. By the time he left in 1888 (for London and Boston), pioneers in Rishon LeZion had popularized his poem, which had since been adapted into a song.
The poem was first published in Jerusalem in 1886 and originally consisted of nine stanzas.
The melody for Hatikva was later composed by Samuel Cohen, who based it on a Moldavian-Romanian folk song called "Carul cu Boi" (Cart and Oxen). It quickly gained popularity in the Land of Israel as part of the new wave of Hebrew songs and folk dances.
In 1901, Tikvatenu was sung for the first time during the Fifth Zionist Congress. Four years later, at the close of the Seventh Congress, a revised and shortened version of the song, now called Hatikva, was performed.
In 1933, at the 18th Congress, Hatikva was declared the official Zionist anthem.
After the declaration of Israel’s independence in 1948, Hatikva was naturally embraced as the national anthem. However, it wasn't until 2004 that it was formally recognized as the official National Anthem by the Israeli Knesset, following its inclusion in the new version of the Flag and Emblem Law, now known as the Flag, Emblem, and National Anthem Law.
Before becoming the anthem of the Jewish people, Hatikva underwent several revisions over the years, including some by Imber himself. Additionally, only two of the original nine stanzas of Tikvatenu make up Israel’s national anthem, and even these have been revised multiple times.
Additionally, some individuals opposed the selection of Hatikvah as Israel's national anthem. For instance, Rabbi Kook objected to the secular tone of Hatikvah and composed an alternative anthem with a more religious theme, titled HaEmunah (YouTube video). His alternative anthem includes a direct mention of God, unlike Hatikvah, which does not.
Traduction
"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."
You can see in the following video an explanation of the "Hatikva" melody's origins, and its path in history to become the National Anthem of Israel.
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