Farm House

Write about your dream home.
Farm House

There’s nothing more encouraging to tell ourselves at the beginning of a new day, whatever prospects may await, than “this is the day that the Lord has made” and “I will rejoice and be glad in it!”

That is what Psalm 118:24 says and that is the foundation for the lyrics of “Hava Nagila,” which goes like this:

Hava nagila, hava nagila
Let us rejoice, let us rejoice

Hava nagila ve-nismecha
Let us rejoice and be glad

Hava neranena, hava neranena
Let us sing, let us sing

Hava neranena ve-nismecha
Let us sing and be glad

Uru, uru achim
Awake, awake brothers

Uru achim b’lev sameach
Awake brothers with a joyful heart

century, the Hasidic communities in Eastern Europe and Russia were known for humming a nigun.

They did so as a way to maintain a level of joy and happiness in the face of oppressive regimes, pogroms, and ruthless anti-Semitism.

In the early 20th century, a group of Hasidic Jews from Sadigora, Ukraine brought their tunes with them to Israel.

One in particular caught the attention of a Jewish composer and musicologist, Abraham Zvi Idelsohn.

A passionate Zionist who immigrated to Israel in 1905, he wanted to unite the Jewish People (the early pilgrims to Israel) in song through the music they brought with them and the newly revived Hebrew language.

Idelsohn transcribed the tune into sheet music and is credited with adding the lyrics while serving as a bandmaster in the Ottoman Army during WWI.

In 1918, a choir sang his rendition for a celebration concert in Jerusalem after the British Army defeated the Turks.

It caught on and quickly became an all-occasion song.

From High Holy Day feasts to informal folk dances, Jewish weddings, and bar/bat mitzvah celebrations, Hava Nagila is a staple song.

Dancing the traditional circle dance known as the Hora at Kibbutz Dalia  in 1945. (Israel National Photo Collection)

In the 1950s, the famous Jamaican-American singer Harry Belafonte helped to popularize it among the non-Jewish world by closing his performances with the joyful song.

Today, a version of it exists in most any music style, such as mambo, surf rock, and even heavy metal.

Bob Dylan, a famous American Jewish singer, named his rendition “Talkin’ Hava Nagila Blues,” saying it was “a foreign song I learned in Utah.”

That sums up how familiar this Eastern European Hasidic tune has become to Jew and Gentile around the world.

Why so much attention?

Because it really is a happy, joyful tune.

However, Idelsohn secularized Psalm 118 by removing references to the Lord, and few who sing it know how much God delights to hear us rejoice in song to honor Him!

Singing and Dancing David (painting in a Florence church)


You can help educate Jewish People worldwide today.

“Rejoice in hope… Rejoice with those who rejoice.”  (Romans 12:12, 15)

“Finally, brothers, rejoice!”  (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Believers dance and rejoice at a Messianic synagogue. (YouTube capture)

Rejoicing in Our Salvation Leads to Victory

“Is rejoicing really that important?” you might ask.

When we consider that joy is one of our spiritual weapons, the answer is yes!  Rejoicing is linked to praise, and praise is linked to victory!

When we rejoice, we put on the “garment of praise [tehilah] for a spirit of heaviness [dullness, depression].”  (Isaiah 61:3)

The enemy would dearly like to destroy our joy; it’s one of his weapons to separate us from God.  So, it’s critical that we remember to rejoice.

The Songs of Joy,
by James Tissot


God Rejoices over Israel!

An end-time prophecy is being fulfilled right now.

Only one time in the whole Bible does God say He will do something with all of His heart and all of His soul.

It is the planting of His Chosen Jewish people back in the Land that He gave to them as an everlasting possession:

“I will rejoice in doing good to them, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all My heart and all My soul.”  (Jeremiah 32:41)

Jerusalem, the City of the Great King, is “created to be a delight” (Isaiah 65:18); and again, God says that He Himself will “rejoice over Jerusalem” and “take delight” in His people (Isaiah 65:19).

Jerusalem

Yeshua wept over His city 2,000 years ago (Luke 19:41) because the people rejected Him.

Today, the people of Israel still reject Yeshua and His salvation, but He is coming soon!

And at that time, they will “rejoice greatly” as they sing and shout out what is prophesied in Psalm 118 and Matthew 23:

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

The Jewish people will then be singing songs to the Lamb and who knows, maybe also Hava Nagila!