Re: "Hatikvah"

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Please don't be so hard on God Bless America; composed by a Jew and rhymes
'foam' and 'home'.  To quote a great Jewish lyricist, Who could ask for
anything more?

Shanah Tovah and easy fast,



Robert Cohen wrote:

> > >> (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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--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
Head, Division Of Composition and Music Theory
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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