The Hope - Ha tikvah (hah-teek-vah)

 

Hatīkvāh
"The Hope"

הַתִּקְוָה‎
Poem lyrics below an Israeli flag
National anthem of Israel
LyricsMusicAdopted	Naftali Herz Imber, 1877 Shmuel Cohen, 1887–1888 1948[a]

Hope- to cherish a desire with anticipation

Jeremiah 31:35-37 NKJ

Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the LORD, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says the LORD: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the LORD.

In other words, Israel will not cease to be a nation.  Israel will endure as a literal, physical entity as long as the sun, moon, and stars are in the heavens. 

"What is the biblical Hebrew word for hope?

In English, hope is a somewhat abstract idea of expectation. The word for hope in Hebrew (Tikvah), however, is more concrete. In Hebrew, the word means expectation—and it also means cord or rope, which comes from a root word that means to bind or to wait for or upon."

The National Anthem of Israel expresses the hope of the Zionists whose expectation throughout the history of the displaced Jews, including the Holocaust, was to return home to the Nation of Israel. 

" 'Next year in Jerusalem,'  is a phrase that is often sung at the end of the Passover Seder and at the end of the Ne'ila service on Yom Kippur."

In 1948 this "Hope" began to materialize as the Jews returned in great numbers to the new nation of Israel.  The national anthem melody was written around 1600.  

Be sure to listen to the posted recording of "Hatikvah."