Israel

Context

Written in 1878 by Naftali Herz Imber, a poet living in Lviv (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Ukraine). The melody is believed to derive from a 17th-century Italian song, which also influenced Smetana's 'Vltava' (Moldau). The title means 'The Hope,' and the anthem expresses a 2,000-year longing for return to the ancestral homeland.

Lyrics

Interesting facts

• • Written in Lviv, Ukraine, by a wandering poet who later died in poverty in New York, never seeing the state his anthem would represent
• • The melody shares roots with Smetana's 'Vltava' (Moldau), both believed to descend from a 17th-century Italian folk song called 'La Mantovana'
• • The opening 'as long as... still' structure echoes the Polish and Ukrainian anthems, reflecting the shared experience of stateless peoples in 19th-century Europe

Related anthems