Page 16 - Ulpan Or E-Tone (02-01-18) Advanced Level

E-Tone™: Ulpan-Or Weekly News Digest

Item #3 (Advanced Level)

Hava Nagila

More than bagel with lox, more than Seinfeld or Woody Allen, the song
Hava Nagila is the most recognized icon of modern Jewish folklore. From

Bob Dylan to Ray Charles, Hava Nagila has countless versions all over the

world. The song began its way to American pop culture in a Shtetl in the
Ukraine as a Hassidic melody, and was probably turned into a Zionist

Hebrew song by the father of Hebrew musicology Abraham Zevi Idelsohn,
who wrote it in honor of the Balfour Declaration. “The song Hava Nagila

is a very simple song, unsophisticated in terms of its lyrics, but the rhythm

and joy it has built-in, obviously manages to connect Jews and Israelis
wherever they are on the globe.” And even on days when the relationship

between the Jews of the United States and Israel is in turmoil, when Hava

Nagila is playing for guests at a Bar Mitzvah or a wedding, there’s no
choice but say goodbye to the buffet for a minute and join the circle.

Page 16 - Edition 01-02-18
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