  Israeli music |
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Am Yisrael Hai ("עם ישראל חי" meaning "The people of Israel live") Is a Jewish solidarity phrase, especially among Israeli Jews.
History
A version of "Am Yisrael Hai" appeared as early as 1895 in a Zionist songbook. It was set to many different tunes, and printed with sheet music in Popular Jewish Melodies (1927). The slogan was also popular in Zionist prose literature.
In the songbook Songs of My People (circa 1938), compiled in Chicago, the song "Am Yisrael Hai" appears. The lyrics are the words "Am Yis-ra-el, am Yis-ra-el hai. Am-cha Yis-ra-el hai," in varying order.
The front of the stage of a concert in Munich (in 1945/1946) by the St. Ottilien Ex-Concentration Camp Orchestra displayed the words "Am Yisrael Hai".
In 1948, American journalist Quentin Reynold noticed that someone had carved "Am Yisrael Hai" into the Arch of Titus—an ancient Roman monument to the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in the Jewish War of 66-73 CE; it is suspected that the phrase was carved during World War II.
Carlebach song
The phrase gained more popularity in 1965, when Jewish songwriter Shlomo Carlebach composed "Am Yisrael Hai" as the solidarity anthem of the Soviet Jewry movement at the request of Jacob Birnbaum, founder of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. Carlebach and Birnbaum knew each other, and their respective grandfathers had met at the First Zionist Congress in 1897 in Basel. By 1965, Carlebach was already popular for his melodies put to Hebrew prayers, and Birnbaum reached out to him in the hopes of composing a song ahead of a planned major SSSJ rally in front of the Soviet Mission to the United Nations in New York on April 4, 1965.
According to musicologist Tina Frühauf, Carlebach's lyrics evoke a sense of the Jewish nationhood Jewish survival, and an affirmation of Jewish identity.
It is the final song of Soul Doctor, a Broadway musical about Carlebach's life.
Contemporary use
The song and its core phrase widely became a defiant expression and affirmation of Jewish continuity, especially during times of war and religious strife. The song was sung on the second day of the Six Day War and at the end of the Yom Kippur War. In 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu inscribed the words "Am Yisrael Hai" in the guestbook of the Wannsee Villa in Berlin. Some tour groups visiting Masada shout "Am Yisrael Hai" to invert the emphasis on martyrdom and resistance at the fort; life is the point, according to Professor Theodore Sasson.
Hasidic singer Benny Friedman launched his "Am Yisrael Hai" global music tour in January 2024 to promote Jewish unity and solidarity.
Composition
| Hebrew | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי (repeat 3x) עוֹד אָבִינוּ חַי (repeat 3x) |
Am yisrael chai od avinu chai |
The people of Israel live, our Father still lives! |
The song's lyrics are derived from Genesis 45:3, "Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?'" (Hebrew: הַעוֹד אָבִי חַי) Carlebach added the words "Am Yisrael Chai" and for the song's refrain, changed the words "is my father still alive" to "our father is still alive" (Hebrew: עוֹד אָבִינוּ חַי) in a possible reference to the Jewish tradition that "Jacob/Israel did not die." According to musicologist Tina Frühauf, Carlebach changed the reference from Joseph's father to God, "as the father of the children of Israel."
Legacy
In 2023, Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, debuted a 50-meter-long mural titled Am Yisrael Chai that covers 4,000 years of Jewish history.
Notes
References
External links
- Entry in the Jewish English Lexicon dictionary
- ^ "תולדות "עם ישראל חי", והמקצוע העתיק ביותר בעולם". www.ruvik.co.il. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
- החמר הספרותי של לוח ציון: לשנת אתתמ"ח (תרע"ח) (in Hebrew). הראל. 1918.
- Popular Jewish Melodies. Bureau of Jewish Education. 1927.
- העברי (in Hebrew). 1921.
- Mast (in Hebrew). Safruth. 1917.
- Coopersmith, Harry (1937). Songs of My People - שירי עמי. Chicago: Anshe Emet Synagogue. pp. 153–4.
- Bohus, Kata (2020). Our Courage – Jews in Europe 1945–48. De Gruyter Oldenbourg. p. 207. ISBN 978-311064920-8. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- Werner, Alfred (1949). "Review of The Birth of Israel; We the People". Jewish Social Studies. 11 (3): 310. ISSN 0021-6704. JSTOR 4464834.
The arch of Titus bears an ancient inscription, proclaiming the end of the Jewish nation. Visiting Rome, last year, the American journalist, Quentin Reynolds, noticed another, more recent inscription on the same monument. It was, in all likelihood, a Palestinian soldier serving with the Allies who had carved these three Hebrew words into one of the supporting columns: Am Yisrael chai, 'The People of Israel Lives.' This would have been an apt title for the first third of the present book, a splendid job of reporting on Israel's life-and-death struggle in the spring of 1948.
- Rosenblatt, Gary (2023-11-03). "'Am Yisrael Chai' has become an anthem for the Jewish people — but where did it come from?". The Forward. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Fruhaufwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - "Am Yisrael Chai". Jewish English Lexicon. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- "Jewish Diaspora expresses solidarity with Israel amidst attacks". Jerusalem Post. 2023-10-07. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
- Brackman, Levi (2009-01-09). "Meaning of Am Yisrael Chai". Ynet News. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- Sasson, Theodore (Summer 2008). "From Shrine to Forum: Masada and the Politics of Jewish Extremism". Israel Studies. 13 (2): 161. doi:10.2979/ISR.2008.13.2.146. JSTOR 30245689. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
- "Am Yisrael Chai". Zemirot Database. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- "Genesis 45". Sefaria. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
- "The revolution is not over, says Neshama Carlebach". Times of Israel. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
- "Mural titled 'Am Yisrael Chai' unveiled at Ben-Gurion Airport". Jerusalem Post. 2023-06-20. Retrieved 9 October 2023.