National Anthems: Israel

I'll admit some partiality to Israel's national anthem. Ok, it's my favorite. The music is fantastic and the words express the unity of a people that has transcended the political existence of their country for thousands of years.

What makes me a fellow countryman of, say, a child of illegal immigrants in California? For argument's sake, let's also suppose that this child of illegal immigrants is a far-left liberal who believes that America's net influence on the world has been decidedly bad. I can think of two ways in which we might be considered countrymen.

First, we might be considered countrymen based on politico-geographical borders and the law that rules within them. We were both born within the borders of the United States, and so are both U.S. citizens under law. Because we both subscribe to that law and accept the rights, privileges, and responsibilities it offers, we are countrymen. There seem to be a couple of problems with this view. First, the fact the other person's parents are illegal immigrants makes the common legal ideology seem like a strange commonality. Of course, that has no bearing on what the other person thinks of or reacts to the law, so that point is moot. Second, given the other's political ideology, we disagree significantly about the law. We disagree both about what the current content and purpose of the law is and about what the content and purpose of the law should be. The disagreement is strongest on the law's most fundamental and important points. So that commonality with respect to the law seems problematic.

Second, we might be considered countrymen because we share a national heritage. Given, my ancestors were Mayflower pilgrims (arriving in Plymouth in 1620) and Swiss Huguenots (arriving in Pennsylvania in the 18th century), and the other's are Latin Americans who had little to do with this country until the other's parents illegally entered it. They likely did not enter the country with an aim to be good citizens of it, but to capitalize on the economic situation here to build a more comfortable life for themselves. Of course, my ancestors also came with the intent to build a better life for themselves, but I feel like the two are different somehow. Regardless, the idea is that the other, as a U.S. citizen, inherits the common heritage of U.S. citizens. It's a diverse heritage, but from their diversity our forbears united behind common ideals and forged a national identity--E Pluribus Unum. But I have neither common ideals nor a common national identity with the other here; the other's ideals are radically different from mine, and the other rejects or is ashamed of the national identity that came with U.S. citizenship.

So what makes us countrymen?

The Israelis do not have this problem. They are bound together by a common heritage and belief that has withstood the worst this world has been able to give it. They are passionate about it and, since Moses, have been willing to fight for it.

Observe.

Finally, here are the words:

As long as in the heart, within,
A Jewish soul is yearning,
And to the edges of the East, forward,
An eye gazes towards Zion,

Our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of two thousand years,
To be a free nation in our land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.