Yanky55
Member
Thank you Pashuteh Yid and welcome to the ranks of risha’im on this site.
I never knew the refrains not commonly sung and indeed they reflect the deep feelings of Yiddishkeit by the composer(s), as opposed to simply feelings of a free nation.
Btw, did you know that Chaim Nachman Bialik (oops…am I allowed to say that name on this site?) suggested that the Shir Hama’alos sung by Yossele Rosenblatt (composed by chazzan Pinchas Minkowski) and sung in virtually every home, be used as the national anthem?
I wonder if Cantoresq knows that?
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I’ve known it for years. As I recall it, the idea was universally rejected by all but the dati leumi faction. The secularists opposed it on two grounds. There were those who didn’t want a religous text to be the anthem of a secular state. Others didn’t want to offend the chareidim with the anthem.