WhatsappIsrael’s national anthem is filled with hope, as the title “Hatikvah” indicates. Combined with a prayer to G-d, the result is stunning.
Israel’s National Anthem
Even those who are not Jewish have heard of Israel’s national anthem. Whether someone knows all the words or not, the tune is well known.
As a nation who suffered centuries of oppression, the Jewish people never lost hope. They never lost their dedication to their faith and their homeland.
The transliteration and translation of Hatikvah are below (Courtesy of Knesset.gov.il):
Kol od balevav penimah,
Nefesh yehudi homiyah.
Ulefa-atei mizrach, kadimah,
Ayin letziyon tsofiyah.
Od lo avdah tikvateinu
Hatikva bat shnot alpayim,
Lihyot am chofshi be-artzeinu,
Eretz tzion, virushalayim.
The translation: As long as in the heart within,
The Jewish soul yearns.
And toward the eastern edges, onward,
An eye gazes toward Zion.
Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope that is two-thousand years old,
To be a free nation in our land,
The Land of Zion, Jerusalem.
Avinu She’Bashamayim
Avinu She’Bashamayim is a special prayer said for the welfare of the state of Israel. Many communities have instituted it as part of the Shabbat service.
The translation is as follows (courtesy of Jewish Virtual Library):
“Our Father in Heaven, Rock and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel, the first manifestation of the approach of our redemption. Shield it with Your lovingkindness, envelop it in Your peace, and bestow Your light and truth upon its leaders, ministers, and advisors, and grace them with Your good counsel. Strengthen the hands of those who defend our holy land, grant them deliverance, and adorn them in a mantle of victory. Ordain peace in the land and grant its inhabitants eternal happiness.
Lead them, swiftly and upright, to Your city Zion and to Jerusalem, the abode of Your Name, as is written in the Torah of Your servant Moses: “Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, from there He will fetch you. And the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will make you more prosperous and more numerous than your fathers.” Draw our hearts together to revere and venerate Your name and to observe all the precepts of Your Torah, and send us quickly the Messiah son of David, agent of Your vindication, to redeem those who await Your deliverance.
Manifest yourself in the splendor of Your boldness before the eyes of all inhabitants of Your world, and may everyone endowed with a soul affirm that the Lord, God of Israel, is king and his dominion is absolute. Amen forevermore.”
