[HANASHIR:11420] Re: HaTikvah

[ilana axel <iaxel...>]

I heard it too Rosalie- also on the way to a Bar
Mitzvah! It was amazing. I too was very moved!
I agree, it is nice to know all the stories, and I've
really loved the information everyone is contributed.
It really adds to my knowledge of the evolvement of
Hatikvah.
I still however feel that we should be teaching the
Israeli version, after all, it is their only national
anthem and there is no contention that I know of today
in Israel as to how to sing it anymore. What would it
feel like to Americans if we decided to teach
different versions of the Star Spangled Banner, just
because we knew they had once existed? I have been
teaching only the Israeli version at my shul, and,
last week at services, I think everyone had forgotten
that there was was another version without the bat.
It's worth the little bit of effort.
Thank you, Ilana
--- Rosalie Boxt <cantorboxt (at) erols(dot)com> wrote:
> Judah and chevre --
> 
> SO interesting that you posted re alternative
> lyrics, because I heard them!
> 
> "  But here's where things get interesting:
>  Although one source notes that the Zionist congress
> adopted Hatikvah in
> 1877 as its national anthem, apparently two
> different versions of the song
> developed over time and were sung concommittently. 
> OUTSIDE of Israel, the
> song ended with:
> 
>  Od lo advah tikvateinu,
>  HaTikvah hanoshanah,
>  Lashuv b'eretz avoteinu,
>  LaIr BaDavid chana."
> 
> Last Shabbat morning I was on my way to a Bat
> Mitzvah, and heard the most
> moving thing on NPR -- I almost pulled over I was
> crying so hard -- it was a
> recording from the 1940s of a British journalist who
> came to Belzen and was
> evacuating the camps.  He described seeing the few
> survivors having a
> service, he suspected the first service on German
> soil in many years.  He
> said there were bodies all around, and some members
> were dying as he
> watched.  But a small group began to pray.  He
> recorded them.  It was hard
> to understand, but then they started singing
> Hatikvah.  The reporter noted
> that the survivors were singing so loudly, with all
> their strength it almost
> wore them out, in order to be heard by the
> reporter's tape recorder, and to
> show the world .... anyway, they sang hatikvah, and
> sang those words Judah
> mentioned at the end.  I tried to listen carefully
> to get them all, but was
> crying too hard to do so.  It was absolutely
> amazing.
> 
> I too am in favor of singing things "correctly" if
> there is such a thing (my
> Israeli educator and the Israelis who teach in the
> religious school don't
> sing Bat), but after hearing the survivors sing
> other words, it was hard not
> to think that while we strive for accuracy in
> education, every text, every
> change, has a story, and one worth telling.
> 
> Rosalie
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Rosalie Boxt, Cantor
> Temple Emanuel, Kensington, MD
> 301-942-2000
> cantorboxt (at) erols(dot)com
> 
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