{"id":19304,"date":"2016-06-03T00:36:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T07:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=19304"},"modified":"2016-06-01T15:25:00","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T22:25:00","slug":"time-to-change-hatikvah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/06\/03\/time-to-change-hatikvah\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to change Hatikvah?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(photo by Zachi Evenor via\u00a0commons.wikimedia.org)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With Liberal MP Mauril B\u00e9langer\u2019s private members\u2019 bill seeking to change the lyrics of O Canada having advanced to its second reading, I am thinking about another anthem close to many readers\u2019 hearts: Hatikvah. With Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut having recently passed, the content of Hatikvah deserves some reconsideration.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9langer\u2019s amendment would make the Canadian national anthem more gender-inclusive, changing \u201cin all thy sons command\u201d to \u201cin all of us command.\u201d<\/p>\n

As reported by CBC News, B\u00e9langer said, \u201cAs Canadians, we continually test our assumptions and, indeed, our symbols, for their suitability.\u201d He continued: \u201cOur anthem can reflect our roots and our growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a statement that is rife for comparing with the Israeli experience. Israel\u2019s Jewish state-building origins have long been challenged by the country\u2019s democratic requirements.<\/p>\n

When it comes to inclusiveness, B\u00e9langer knows of what he speaks. Over the last several months, B\u00e9langer has been an especially unifying figure in the corridors of Canadian power, having been recently diagnosed with ALS. Not long ago, my own synagogue in Ottawa honored him in a highly moving ceremony that easily transcended whatever residue of partisan divisions may have remained after what was an unusually divisive Canadian election.<\/p>\n

Despite being written in the highly gendered language of Hebrew, Hatikvah doesn\u2019t suffer from gender exclusion (its gender inflections are mostly in the neutral \u201cwe\u201d form). But there is a different gap in its inclusiveness: the 20% of Israeli citizens who are Arabs. Reports about swearing-in ceremonies of Knesset members or Israeli judges from time to time include a mention of an Arab or Palestinian honoree walking out or simply refusing to sing.<\/p>\n

Writing in the Forward<\/em> in 2012, Philologos (a pseudonym for Hillel Halkin) proposed changing Hatikvah\u2019s lyrics to make them more inclusive. \u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable to have an anthem that can\u2019t be sung by 20% of a population,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPermitting [the minority] to stand mutely while others sing is no solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philologos\u2019 fix is simple. Change Yehudi <\/em>(Jewish) to Yisraeli <\/em>(Israeli), and le\u2019Tzion<\/em> (to Zion) to l\u2019artzeinu<\/em> (to our land). Close the song with \u201cin the city in which David \u2026 encamped.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an idea that is top of mind for Israel\u2019s Arab MKs, such as Yousef Jabareen, who told me in a 2015 interview that he believes Hatikvah should be adapted \u201cto accommodate both national groups.\u201d He added, \u201cThe Arab minority are not just another minority. They are a native minority. They were there before the establishment of the state of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

When thinking about any type of policy change, it\u2019s important to consider who stands to gain and who stands to lose. Given that a recent Pew poll found that 79% of Israeli Jews feel they \u201cdeserve preferential treatment,\u201d it\u2019s clear that Jewish Israelis are comfortable with their position of privilege \u2013 whether legislative or symbolic \u2013 in Israel. It stands to reason that any erosion in perceived privilege might be seen as a threat.<\/p>\n

Israeli Jews may not embrace these sorts of changes. Neither, when it comes to changing O Canada, do some Conservative MPs, citing no need to bend to \u201cpolitical correctness,\u201d as Larry Maguire said. Another MP, Kelly Block, said she does \u201cnot believe the anthem is sexist,\u201d according to CBC News.<\/p>\n

However, there is something powerful about allowing for expanded boundaries of inclusion. Further enfranchising those who feel excluded can help buttress the institutions that constitute the state, and the costs would be relatively low.<\/p>\n

By their design, national anthems are meant to express the will of the polity. Those who wield power might want to think about the effects of the content of national symbols on those who don\u2019t feel represented by them. When it comes to nation-building, casting a net that extends to the edges of the polity bears fruit for democratic functioning and civic identity.<\/p>\n

Mira Sucharov<\/strong> is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for<\/em> Canadian Jewish News and contributes to<\/em> Haaretz and the<\/em> Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications. This article was originally published in the <\/em>CJN.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(photo by Zachi Evenor via\u00a0commons.wikimedia.org) With Liberal MP Mauril B\u00e9langer\u2019s private members\u2019 bill seeking to change the lyrics of O Canada having advanced to its second reading, I am thinking about another anthem close to many readers\u2019 hearts: Hatikvah. With Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut having recently passed, the content of Hatikvah deserves some reconsideration. B\u00e9langer\u2019s amendment would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[5913,2516,5911,5914,4330,5915,5912,1172],"class_list":["post-19304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-op-ed","tag-anthem","tag-arabs","tag-hatikvah","tag-identity","tag-israel","tag-nationhood","tag-o-canada","tag-palestinians"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}