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The words to Israel's national anthem were written in 1886 by Naphtali Herz Imber, an English poet originally
from Bohemia. The melody was written by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldavia. Cohen actually based the melody on a musical
theme found in Smetana’s "Moldau."
Kol ode balevav P'nimah -
Nefesh Yehudi Homiyah
Ulfa'atey mizrach Kadimah
Ayin l'tzion Tzofiyah.
Ode lo avdah tikvatenu
Hatikvah bat shnot alpayim:
L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu -
Eretz Tzion v'Yerushalayim.
As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning
Deep in the heart,
With
eyes turned toward the East,
Looking toward Zion,
Then our hope -
The two-thousand-year-old hope
Will not be lost:
To be a free
people in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.
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