Created by J. Yalovitser
  • Home
  • We Sing When We're Joyful
  • We Sing When We Mourn

                                                                                       Hava Nagila
                                        Lyrics- Abraham Zevi (1918)  Music - Ukrainian folk  dance-song Singers - Turetsky Choir Хор Турецкого(Russia)

Picture
“Hava Nagila” is a very popular song among Eastern Jews.  All  Jewish weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs dances start with this song. The guests all gather in a circle holding  hands, and the bride and the groom  dance in the center. The lyrics for this song were taken from Psalm 118(verse 24) of the Hebrew Bible.
Hava nagila venismeha- Let's rejoice and be happy. I researched the name of the  composer and came to the conclusion that it was composed by Abraham Zevi  Idelsohn in 1918. Abraham used the melodies that were  taken from Romanian and Ukrainian folk dance-songs more the 160 years ago. In 1922 Abraham immigrated to USA. During the same year, he produced the first  commercial recording on the Polyphone Record label. “Hava Nagila” became very popular in USA, after the singer Harry Belafonte recorded it at Carnegie Hall in 1959 and included in his album.He loved this song so much that he would perform “Hava Nagila” at all his concerts Harry was saying that most Jews in  America learned that song from me.

Yiddish
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Hava nagila venismeha
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah venismeha
Uru, uru ahim!
Uru ahim be-lev sameah
Uru ahim, uru ahim!
Belev sameah

English
Let's rejoice
Let's rejoice
Let's rejoice and be happy
Let's  sing
Let's sing
Let's sing and be happy
Awake, awake,  brothers!
Awake brothers with a happy heart
Awake, brothers, awake,  brothers!
With a happy heart