A recently published study discusses the image of Naftali
Hertz Imber, author of Hatikvah, the State of Israel's
national anthem. The book, The Imber Portfolio, was
published by the Zionist Library and distributed by Mossad
Bialik. Its author, Nakdimon Rogel, formerly the deputy
director of the Broadcasting Authority, has long been
involved in the study of various affairs in the history of
modern settlement of Eretz Yisroel. His studies have appeared
in three books and scores of articles, some of which question
historical "truths" of the establishment and shatter myths
which were woven into the chapters of Zionist history.
While studying the First Aliya, Rogel came across the name of
Naftali Hertz Imber, and with the aid of old articles,
documents and affidavits, wrote a book which is considered
the first critical study of Imber's life.
Imber, who wrote Hatikvah in 5638 while in Rumania,
five years before he had set foot in Eretz Yisroel,
constantly felt that he had been rejected and neglected by
the heads of Zionism. He claimed that his contribution to the
nation's movement wasn't merely the Hatikvah, but also his
book Barkai, in which he claims that he was the first
to propose the "national vision," even before Theodore
Herzl.
Imber wrote: "I never had a good day in my life. The world
doesn't owe me a thing, because it isn't my world. However
the Zionists owe me a great debt, and I need a collector,
right now, who will collect my debt. Herzl took 200 copies of
my second edition of Barkai and paid well for them.
But I didn't see a red cent of that money."
The researcher found an undated letter from Imber to Herzl,
apparently from the end of 1899. In it, Imber claimed that in
his book Barkai, he was the first to propose the idea
of a "Jewish State." When the second edition of Barkai
appeared, he suggested that the "treasury of the Jewish
settlement" buy the entire edition from him for 1000 American
dollars.
The book also deals with Imber's strange personality and with
his sources of inspiration for the Zionist national anthem.
Louis Lipski, founder of the first official journal of the
Zionist movement in America and later the president of the
Zionist Federation of America, wrote of him: "I met him for
the first time in 1901 at the Zionist Congress in
Philadelphia. Truth to tell, he wasn't very comely. He had an
Indian head. His face was resolute, his hair long, and his
clothes tattered and worn. He was very unkempt, and the smell
of stale whiskey wafted from him. He was on the dais at that
convention, and when the audience sang Hatikvah, he
rose to his tottering feet and accepted the applause, which
he thought had been directed toward him, with a smile of self-
satisfaction like that of one who says: `I'm the one who laid
this golden egg.' At that time, the whiskey bottle in his
coat pocket was evident. Everyone in the audience saw it, and
all were amazed by his strange behavior."
M. Z. Reizin wrote that Imber acted like "a person who had
lost all feelings and all aspirations except for two: the
aspiration to be honored as a poet, and the desire for wine.
. . Imber's glance flitted to and fro in a confused manner,
and his speech was heavy and illogical."
