Hatikvah facts for kids
Hatikvah (also transliterated as Hatikva, Hebrew: התקוה; meaning: The Hope) is the national anthem of Israel. The song tells about the 2000-year-old hope of the Jewish people to return to their homeland, Israel. The song lyrics (words) were originally a 9-stanza poem called תקותנו (Tikvatenu), or "Our Hope," written by Naphtali Imber. "Hatikvah" uses only the first stanza and the refrain of Imber's poem. The last line of the refrain was changed, and the words were put to music. The music is from a very old—and very popular—folk song that Samuel Cohen, a Jew born in Spain, found himself humming one day. It is in a minor key, which is usually not used for national anthems, because it sounds sad, but the words to the song are about the Jews' hope that one day their sadness will be turned into joy.
Lyrics
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Hebrew lyrics
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Romanization of Hebrew
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Cyrillization of Hebrew
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כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה, |
Kol od balevav penima, |
Кол од балевав пеніма, |
Literal English translation
- As long as in the heart, within,
- A Jewish soul still yearns,
- And onward, towards the ends of the east,
- An eye still looks toward Zion;
- Our hope is not yet lost,
- The hope of two thousand years,
- To be a free nation in our land,
- The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
Images for kids
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Imber's handwritten text of the poem
See also
In Spanish: Hatikva para niños
