[HANASHIR:11342] Hatikvah

[Cantor Brad Hyman <cantorb...>]

Greetings:

Hatikvah, as it has already been pointed out, is based on a quite lengthy
1886 poem by Naftali Hertz Imber (1856-1909). There are many other verses to
this poem, entitled "Tikvateinu." In fact, the anthem takes quite a bit of
liberty with Imber's pre-modern words, and makes them into a modern Hebrew
work. The efforts of Eliezar Ben-Yehudah, widely considered to be the
"Father of Modern Spoken Hebrew" would certainly understand what was done.
In my years of aquiring books and sources, I have always turned to primary
sources for such things as "how do you REALY sing this piece." In that
spirit, I direct you to No. 374 from the Nissimov Music Library, a two
volume set updated in 1995 through Cultural and Education Enterprises, LTD.
out of Tel Aviv. Their book, totally in Hebrew, shows the inclusion of 'bat'
both in the Hebrew, and in the music itself (not transliterated in the
lyrics I might add). When we discussed this very question back in Jerusalem
in 1996, the answer was simple: inaccuracy perpetuates inaccuracy. People
learn the wrong thing over time, they teach the wrong thing to others, and
before you know it... it is considered "mi-Sinai" or handed down from G-d!
You can't tell a 65 year-old congregant or student that they've been singing
it wrong for all these years. As far as they're concerned... "that's the way
I learned it and that's the way I'm gonna sing it." By the way... some
Israelis who have spent enough time around Americans or in America also sing
it wrong from time to time. That's the nature of the beast.
What we can do is prepare for the future by learning to sing it as the
Israelis intended to sing it. Take the time to get a hold of a good
recording and learn the timing. Get used to teaching it with 'bat' included.
It makes sense if you're speaking Hebrew to include it. Otherwise, you're
saying "the hope - two thousand years" instead of the construct which
implies an age.
I hope some of this is helpful.

L'shalom,

Brad Hyman

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