Friday, July 2'7, 1956—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS -2S
Romantic Story of the Author of `Hatikvah,'
100th Anniversary of Naphtali Herz "tuber
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
T HE
COMING December will mark
the 100th anniversary of the
birth of a poet who is immortalized
by a song that has become the
national anthem of Israel.
The name of Naphtali Herz Imber
is known to but a few, but his song,
"Hatikvah," has become among the
most famous of the world hymns.
He was an interesting personality—
"a character." - He was a liquor addict,
but he had many unusually fine
qualities.
He was born in Zloczov, Galicia, in
1&56, lived for a time in England,
came to the United States, died in a
New York hospital in 1909 and his
remains were taken to Jerusalem in
1909. The author of "Hatikvah"-
meaning "Hope"—thus had his dream
fulfilled. At his funeral, thousands of
people chanted the "Hatikvah." The
song then had already become the
rallying hymn for millions of Jews
who prayed and hoped for Israel's
redemption.
THE 'BEA
story reads like a
romance.
In "The Neo-Hebrew Poet," the
seventh chapter of hiS "Children of
the Ghetto," Israel Zangwill intro-
duced one of his heroes, Melchitsedek
Pinchas, in the following telling para-
graph:
"The poet was a slim, dark little
man, with long; matted black hair.
His face was hatchet-shaped and not
unlike an Aztec's. The eyes were
informed by an eager brilliance. He
had a heap of little paper covered
books in one hand and an extinct
cigar in the other."
The prototype of Zangwill's Melchit-
sedek Pinellas was the man who was
destined to gain immortality with a
song which struggled for nearly 30
years for recognition as a national
anthem. Melchitsedek Pinchas was none
other than Naphtali Herz Imiber, author
of "Hatikvah"—the Zionist .song of
Hope which originally appeared under
the title "Tikvathenu."
Hatikvah did not become the na-
tional anthem of the Zionist movement,
in our day the national anthem of the
State of Israel, until the Zionist
Congress of 1907. There were other
challenging songs which competed with
"Hatikvah" for historic honors. "Dort
Vu Die Tzeder" ("Shorn MeKom
Arozim") for a time had more adher-
ents than Imber's song. But the
sentimental words and the catchy
tune of "Hatikvah" gradually caught
the imagination of the masses of the
Jewish people, and as time passed
nothing could stop its becoming
Jewry's national anthem and chief
song of Hope.
-
"Poets will sing for us . . . jour-
nalists will write for us . . . There
are no obstacles—but ourselves. It
is not the heathen that keeps us out
of our land it is the Jews, the rich
and prosperous Jews—Jeshurun
grown fat and sleepy, dreaming the
false dream of assimilation with the
people of the pleasant places in
which their lives have been cast.
Give us back our country; this alone
will solve the Jewish question." The
stirring address of the young student
in the great Zangwillian story pro-
ceeds to say:
"And if gold will not buy back
our land we must try steel. As the
National Poet of Israel, Naphtali
Herz Imber, has so nobly sung
(here he broke into the Hebrew
Wacht Am Rhein,' of which an
English version would run thus):"
* * *
ANGWILL at this point included in
"Children of the Ghetto" Imber's
"The Watch on the Jordan," in its
entirety. It is a translation which
helped to make that great - song
famous. The pioneers in .Palestine for
years preferred this song—"Mishmar
HaYarden"—to Hatikvah, and . many
Palestinians still retain this preference.
"Mishmar HaYarden" is superior to
"Hatikvah" as a literary creation. This
is the first . stanza in Zangwill's trans-
latidn:
Like the crash of the thunder
Which spilleth asunder
The flames of the cloud,
On our ears ever falling,
A voice is heard calling
From Zion aloud:
"Let your spirits' desires
For the land of your sires
Eternally burn.
From the foe to deliver
Our own holy river,
To Jordan return."
Where the soft-flowing stream
Murmurs low as in a dream,
There set we our watch.
Our watchword "The sword
Of our land and our Lord"—
By Jordan there set we our watch.
* * *
HE FIRST STANZA and the refrain
of Imber's "Hatikvah" are: ..
—
Z
T
nr;9 =;!:
/;
Irrr,
tow
nWIP n11 7 .1 Tki0 71
fisv?
* * *
T MBER'S NAME was not kept
secret in Zangwill's -"Children of
the Ghetto." Chapter XV, "The Holy
Land League," describes the formation
of a Zionist society in London before
the days of Herzl, about •55 years ago.
Guedalyah the greengrocer was named
president. Melchitsedek Pinchas failed
not only in his aspiration of becoming
treasurer, but also in being named
Collector. "All felt the incongruity of
hanging money bags at the saddle-bow
of Pegasus. Whereupon Pinchas re-lit
his cigar and muttering that they were
all fool-men betook himself uncere-
moniously without."
In the course of the discussion, dur-
ing the organizational meeting, the
student and cigar commission agent,
Joseph Strelitski, delivered an impas-
sioned address in which he said:
Ai) er) 7114
"IL
,rippi3n ;vv.,"
,1252...ft4 nki? nlvt7
.7 97
*
*
79 111-
SALAMAN'S translation of
N INA
of these two verses from the
Hebrew is considered the best. It
reads:
While ever yet unchanged within
his breast,
The inmost heart of Israel yearns,
And seeking still the borders of the
East,
His loving gaze tp Zion turns—
So long our hope will never die,
Yea, this our hope, through ages felt,
Back to our father's land to fly,
Home to the height where _David
dwelt.
* * *
N THE JEWISH STATE—in the set-
tlements preceding the proclama-
tion of the State of Israel—the refrain
has been changed, the authorship
being unknown, the text being as fol-
lows:
I
!A.
►
lityri ;ism tit's
niat!in nvrt
.1141t4, "tiipryt by ni,k17
Naphtali Herz Imber
.0 1VIT1 ijnit
In free translation, this text in use
in Zion means:
"We have not abandoned our hope
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free people in our land—
The land of Zion and Jerusalem."
* * *
HILE THE MUSIC of "Hatikvah"
has on occasions been traced to
the "Bohemian Symphony" of Sme-
tana, the Czech composer (1824-1884),
it has definitely been established by
the eminent Jewish musician, Zwi
Mayerowitch (1882-1945), late lecturer
on Jewish liturgic music at Jews' Col-
lege, London, England, that "Hatik-
vah's" music was composed by - Henry
Busato or 'Russotto, a Sefardic Jew,
who based his composition on the
tune used by Sefardic Jews in their
synagogues for many years for Psalm
117 in the Hanel. Mayerowitch main-
tained that this tune was published
in J857 — 20 years before Smetana
composed his "Bohemian Symphony"
—in "The Ancient Melodies of the
Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese
Jews: Harmonized by Emanuel Agui-
lar, Prefaced by the Rev. D. A. De-
Sola."
*
*
W
T MB ER was a most unusual personal-
ity who possessed a great gift for
humor and satire, whose instant re-
partee made him famous wherever he
lived—in this country, in England, in
Palestine, in Turkey. Many of his
eccentricities are recorded in Rebecca
Kohut's "As - I Know Them." Mrs.
Kohut relates in her book that the
original of "Hatikvah" was presented
by the eminent Hebrew poet to her
son, Dr. George Alexander Kohut.
From the notes in Dr. Ismar Elbogen's
"A Century of Jewish Life" we learn
that this copy of the original of "Ha-
tikvah" was presented by Dr. Kohut
to the Library of Yale University. We
also learn that another copy of Imber's
"Hatikvah," in the author's handwrit-
ing, has been presented to the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem by a non-
Jewish singer, a Mrs. Murphy, who
is said to have known Hebrew. We
are told that Mrs. Murphy gave a con-
cert at a New York hospital where
Imber was a patient, that she included
"Hatikvah" in her repertoire and asked
Imber to write the words down for
her.
* * *
I\TAPHTALI HERZ IMBER, member
of an ardent Hassidic family, first
won acclaim in his native community
for a Hebrew poem which dealt with
an Austrian patriotic theme, in 1870,
and the government of Austria re-
warded him with a cash prize.
His wanderings began after the
death of his father. He went to Vienna
and, from there proceeded to Constanti-
nople where he met the eminent
Christian lover of Israel, Laurence
Oliphant, (1829-1888), who propagated
the restoration of Zion to the Jewish
people nearly. 20 years before Dr.
Theodor Herzl - wrote "The Jewish
State" and organized the World Zion-
ist Movement and the World Zionist
Congress.
Imber and Oliphant—both mystics—
became great friends and together left
for Palestine, Imber serving as Oli-
phant's secretary. Oliphant bought
large tracts of land near Haifa. He
especially endeared himself with the
Zichron Yaakov colonists whom he
encouraged in their hours of stress.
Imber lived in Palestine for six years
(1882-1888). During these years he also
lived among the Bedouins and came
to know them well. He wrote essays -
and poems for Hebrew periodicals and
in 1886 produced his collection of He-
brew poems under the title "Barkai"
("Morning Star"). This book, dedi-
cated to Oliphant, included "Hatik-
vah."
* * *
EAVING FOR ENGLAND after
Oliphant's death, Imber came to
London and there befriended Israel
Zangwill who contributed- to the eccen-
tric poet's immortality by transform-
ing him into the "Melchitsedek Pin-
chas" of "The Children of the Ghetto."
He came to the United States in 1892
and died in dire poverty in New York
City on Oct. 8, 1909. During his resi-
dence in this country he visited num-
erous cities, notably in Chicago, San
Francisco and Los Angeles.
His brothers, still in. Zloczow, pub-
.
L
lished another collection of his poems
in 1902 under the title "Barkai HeHa-
dash" ("The New Morning Star"). Un-
fortunately, most of the books in this
collection were destroyed by fire. A
third volume of his poems was pub-
lished in New York City in 1905, after
the Kishineff pogrom. It is interesting
to note that Imber dedicated this vol-
ume to the Emperor of Japan with
whom Russia was at war at the time.
Five years earlier, in 1900, Imber
wrote a booklet prophesying the Rus-
so-Japanese War and predicting Ja-
pan's triumph. Apparently the anti-
Semitism of Czarist Russia made him
an ardent supporter of Japan.
After leaving Palestin e, Imber
stayed for a while in Egypt and
evinced a deep interest in mysticism.
He became an authority on esoteric
subjects, his pamphlets on mysticism
drawing wide attendtion. Among them
were "The History of the Golden Calf"
and "Keynote to Mystic Science." He
was the translator of Targum Sheni
under the title "Treasures - of Ancient
Jerusalem" (1898); was the author of
"The Education of the Talmud" which
was supplemented by "The Alphabet
of Rabbi Akiba," reference to which
appears in the reports of the U. S.
Commissioner of Education for 1895-6.
* * *
POSSESSING great mastery of the
Hebrew language, his rhetorical
phrases in "Hatikvah" helped to give
the song the great merit of being
chanted throughout the world, wher-
ever there are Jews. It became the
symbol of what the title denotes:
HOPE. Unfortunately, his ability to
write was greatly hampered by his
excessive use of liquor.
Among those who reminisced in
their writings about Imber were Louis
Lipsky and Philip Cowen. In his
"Memories of an American Jew,"
Cowen recalls: "I shall never forget
a Zionist meeting at Cooper Institute
where Imber was thrown out because
he was in his cups and had become
obstreperous. I had come late to the
meeting and he buttonholed me out-
side. As the meeting was about to
close and they sang `Hatikvah,' he
opened the door and leered through
the crack and said to those about him:
`They may kick me out, but they must °
sing my song'." Cowen also wrote:
"It was difficult to separate Imber
from his bottle, much to the chagrin
of his friends. He was always half-
seas over. Whenever we wished to
find him it was only a question of.
which favorite tavern he was in. He
was welcome at a number as trade
- followed him. Mayer Sulzberger be-
friended him, and he soon became
absolutely dependent upon the
Judge's bounty. In an effort to re-
deem him, Judge Sulzberger insisted
on his going to live in one of the
colonies in South Jersey. Money was
sent to one of the colonists with
instructions to pay his board weekly
and to give him liberal SUMS from
time to time for his liquor and
tobaccO. While on a periodic visit
to one of the colonies I met him
upbraiding his almoner for keeping
his money from him; robbing him,
as he said. He caused -much trouble
at the colonies by advising - the
people that the committee was keep-
ing from them the money that .Baron
de Hirsch sent for their individual
use. I heard him say it." '
We also are told by Cowen that "In
`Bohemia' Imber loved to tell of his
life in Haifa, and speak of the Oli-
phants, fancifully, as his 'foster par-
ents.' He spoke of Lady Oliphant as
`mother'."
Eccentric, but a great idealist; "in
his cups," but a devoted lover of Zion;
living the life of a semi-vagabond, but
nevertheless a great linguist and scho-
lar—Imber's name will live among the
very great in Zion and. Israel. His.
song gave hope to millions 'and con-
tinues to inspire the People of Israel
with the genius that emanates froth
the reborn State of Israel. Only the
words of his song were known until
now; from this point on his name, too,
must be listed affectionately where-
ever there are Jews, and his face will
be recognized by young and old; for,
his picture surely will be among those
to be perpetuated on the Postage
Stamps of the State of Israel,
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