[HANASHIR:15753] Re: Am Yisrael Chai

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

On Wed, 29 Oct 2003, Richard Green wrote:

> I think it's from Kiddush Levana if I remember
> correctly.

No, that is not correct. The phrase "Am Yisra'eil Chai"
has no traditional source. It was coined in the 1930's
or so, during the rise of the Nazis, and is clearly the
expression of a very modern Jewish nationalist
consciousness: Zionism.

On the other hand, the phrase "Od Avinu Chai" is as
traditional as you can get. It was Yosef's exclamation
about his father Ya'akov, when he learned from his
brothers that his father, who he hadn't been in contact
with for years, was still alive.

Again, you can read the complete story here:
http://www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/articles/on-am-yisraeil.html


 Groeten,
 Irwin Oppenheim
 i(dot)oppenheim (at) xs4all(dot)nl
 ~~~*

 Chazzanut Online:
 http://www.joods.nl/~chazzanut/

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