Hatikvah

As long as deep within the heart
The soul of Judea is turbulent and strong,
As long as to the East, forwardly,
The eye toward Zion constantly is turned,
Then our hope it is not dead,
The ancient longing will be fulfilled,
To return to the land -- the land of our fathers,
The city of Jerusalem, where David encamped.

From Fireside Book of Folk Songs

Comments: ""Hatikvah (The Hope)"" was written in 1878
by the Hebrew poet Nephtali Herz Imber and was set
to music by Samuel Cohen, one of the pioneer settlers
in Rishon Le Zion, Palestine.
The song was taken up by the Palestine Colonists
and became the anthem of the Zionist movement after it
was organized in 1897.
The melody is based on a Czechoslovakian folk song
(Sophia A. Udin, Director of the Zionist Archives
and Library.)RB

RB
OCT98