Thinking About (the) Hope

Over the past two months or so, a rather interesting discussion has developed on the online version of the Jewish Daily Forward.

Language columnist and renowned translator Hillel Halkin, writing under the pen name Philologos, responded to the controversy that broke out when Salim Joubran, the first Israeli Arab to serve on the Israeli Supreme Court, was observed standing stoically at a state function during the singing of Hatikvah (The Hope)—Israel's national anthem.

For some, Joubran’s silence spoke volumes—it was seen as on par with an act of treason by an Israeli Arab who cynically opposed the very state which afforded him the privilege of serving on the high court.

Others asked if he could be blamed for his silence; the text of Hatikvah, which speaks of the yearning of the Jewish soul to establish its home in the land of Zion, does not speak to the Arab experience. Would an American Jew sing a national anthem proclaiming the virtues of the United States as a Christian nation?

Halkin, for his part, noted that the current version of Hatikvah is relatively recent:

“The original words of Stanza 2 of “Hatikvah” were: “Od lo avda tikvateynu, / hativka ha-noshana, / lashuv le-eretz avoteynu, / le’ir ba David, David ḥana” — “We still have not lost our hope, / our ancient hope, / to return to the land of our fathers, / to the city in which David, in which David encamped.”

In 1948, the return to the Land of Israel being no longer merely a hope and Imber’s reference to David sounding archaic, this was changed to Od lo avda tikvateynu, / hatikva mi-shnot alpayim, / lihiyot am ḥofshi b’artseynu, / be-eretz tsiyon ve’yerushalayim” — "We still have not lost our hope, / our 2,000-year-old hope, / to be a free people in our land, / in the land of Zion and Jerusalem."

Out of a desire to be more sensitive to Israel’s Arab citizens, Halkin suggests reverting to the earlier text. He also suggests an additional—and perhaps more controversial change—amending the first stanza’s yehudi to yisraeli—"In every Israeli soul there yearns" instead of "In every Jewish soul."

Responding to Halkin's column, the Forward produced a video of Neshama Carlebach singing his Hatikvah with his suggestions. The column, and subsequent video, evoked a predictable array of responses ranging from: “You can change anything you want. They will still hate us because we are Jews.” To: “if you want to change anthem to make it suitable to all - why not change the Israeli flag to make it suitable for all? One could hardly expect an Arab to sing the 'national anthem for all' under the flag with Jewish symbols”

For me, the discussion is an interesting one, harkening back to the earliest days of Zionism. What does it mean to be a Jewish state? How should Israel deal with minority populations? And how will it respond to the population surge among Arab citizens of the State? And, finally, is it truly possible for Israel to be both Jewish and democratic: can it simultaneously promote a religious/cultural tradition and an open, free, and liberal set of values?

The sensitivity around these issues is not new; when I was in ulpan at Hebrew University, a number of Israeli Arabs from Jerusalem sat in the class as a prerequisite to their admission in the college. One lesson focused on Naftali Imber’s composition of Hatikvah at the end of the 19^th century.

Our instructor approached the lesson with a degree of care and sensitivity, out of concern for the Arab students in the class. To my—and I think her—surprise, after learning about and subsequently listening to the anthem, Farid, one of the Arab students, quipped "Oh—that’s what they sing at all of the soccer games."

Navigating these tensions, I think, will become one of Israel's most important projects over the next twenty five years. While it is essential to be an inclusive state, Israel is the only Jewish state among a sea of Islamic nations who place limited value on cultural diversity. At the same time, as Jews, we measure ourselves by the best values of our tradition: to acknowledge that all are created in the image of God, and that all humanity is sacred.

How would you navigate theses questions? Hopefully, we can create an engaging, respectful, and meaningful discussion.

Thank you to for inspiring this blog.