Re: "Hatikvah"

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

> >> (BTW, has Hatikva been adopted as Israel's national anthem?)
> >

>Since Statehood, I believe, if not before.


Not so.

Although "Hatikvah" was adopted as the *Zionist* "anthem" (whatever that 
means) at a Zionist Congress (I believe the Fifth, but don't remember for 
sure) in 1933--and although numerous Internet sites, e.g., refer to it as 
the "Israeli national anthem"--the Israel Consulate confirmed for me what 
other sources suggested--that the State of Israel has (surprisingly!) 
*never* adopted "Hatikvah" (or, certainly, any other song) as a national 
anthem.  Israel doesn't *have* an official national anthem--although, 
obviously, "Hatikvah" is recognized by Jews around the world as though it 
were such.

Keep in mind that the United States took, I believe, 155 years before it 
adopted a national anthem--which was 117 years after our American anthem 
(like many others, I wish we had a different one--and I *don't* mean "God 
Bless America) was written, in 1814, to a well-established melody.

I wish all of us, and Jews who live under whatever formal or informal 
anthem, strength, sustenance, and peace in the year that's begun--and may 
all our wishes be fulfilled for the good.

--Robert Cohen


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