One song that is closely associated with my ethnicity is the Hebrew song of “Hatikvah,” meaning “hope.” Hatikvah was written as a poem in the 19th century by poet Naftali Herz Imber, and is therefore associated with the Romantic period. This song is the official national anthem for the State of Israel, as well as the anthem of the Zonist movement, and it’s all about the longing of the Jewish people to return to their homeland. The song was originally written in Romania, however, only the first line from the original poem was kept for what today is the national anthem for the Jewish people. The state of Israel was established in 1948, and this was a huge milestone for the Jewish people as they had no homeland to go to at that time. During WWII, many Jews had no place to go to, as most countries didn’t want them in their land. The Bible established Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, and this song talks about their hope that was not lost for over 2,000 years. The song emphasises the dream of the Jewish people to be a free nation in their own homeland. One musical characteristic that stood out to me was definitely the tempo, as the song is very slow and holds a mystical tune, including a lot of disjunct throughout the song. These characteristics make the song more meaningful and is appropriate for an anthem expressing deep longing. I wouldn’t say this song became part of pop culture that we have today, as Jewish people who are specifically living in the land of Israel have modern, secular Hebrew pop music. This piece is very much still tied to my ethnicity, as it is and always will be the national anthem of my people, expressing our desire to all unite in our home land.
This song has a lot of history behind it which is interesting. The hope and feelings behind the song is very evident, as in the video the voice has a lot of heart behind it. However, I wonder why they only kept the first line from the original version of the song.