Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Naphtali Herz Imber on Freedom
Here is an interesting letter from the Jewish Standard (9.14.1888) from Naphtali Herz Imber, most known for writing Hatikvah. He gives his view of "Judaism and Freedom," which is different from what many would think in light of the criticism which was leveled at the poem which speaks of "a free people" but does not mention God (one statement of this viewpoint goes like this: "הרוצים להיות עם חפשי מן התורה.")
"in light of the criticism which was leveled at the poem which speaks of "a free people" but does not mention God"
ReplyDeleteimber's original poem was longer and even the two stanzas that remain today are somewhat different in various places. most importantly, he wrote he didn't write להיות עם חפשי בארצנו as we have today, but rather:
עוד לא אבדה תקותנו
התקוה הנושנה
לשוב לארץ אבותינו
לעיר בה חנה דוד
the phrase להיות עם חפשי בארצנו בארץ ציון וירושלים was introduced by yehuda leib matmon cohen and i assume (but have no idea) that עם חפשי was a political statement, not a religious statement. even this change was not universally accepted and a few decades later some argued to retain imber's original text.
hatikvah has a fascinating and tumultuous history (as told by jacob kabakoff in his biography of imber)
btw, a friend of mine told me about 7 years ago that in shulamith his daughter was taught להיות עם יהודי בארצנו (or something like that)
and imber published some wacky mysticism stuff in america
ReplyDeleteFascinating (both the post and the comments).
ReplyDeleteThe whole concept behind Hatikvah and not losing hope is based on a possuk in Yechezkel in the Valley of the Dry Bones. {In turn, the cartoon strip Dry Bones is based on the same chapter.] A lot of peeps dont know this.
ReplyDeleteDF:
ReplyDeletewhich possuk?
I've definitely heard "Am Kadosh" sung by religious Zionists. I don't think it fits the meter, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, and "B'Kol Aretzeinu" by rightists. :-)