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Am Yisrael Chai (Hebrew:עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי,pronounced[amjisʁaˈʔelχaj]ⓘ;lit. 'ThePeople of Israel Live') is a solidarity slogan to express the strength and solidarity of theJewish nation and as an affirmation ofJewish continuity andidentity, typically during times of heightened adversity. To this end, it has historically featured inJewish music,literature,art, andpolitics.
The phrase gained popular use in 1965 when songwriterShlomo Carlebach composed the song "Am Yisrael Chai" as the anthem of theStudent Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) movement. According toThe Forward, the slogan ranks second as an anthem of the Jewish people behind onlyHatikvah, the national anthem ofIsrael.
A version of "Am Yisrael Chai" featured inearly Zionism, appearing as early as 1895 in a songbook.[1] It was set to many different tunes,[1][2] and printed with sheet music inPopular Jewish Melodies (1927).[3] The slogan was also used in American Zionist publications such asThe Mast (1917) andHaivri (1921).[4][5]
At theSecond World Jewish Conference in 1933 to encourage and coordinate an economic boycott of the newly empoweredAdolf Hitler and hisNazi Party, Hungarian-American rabbiStephen Samuel Wise ended the event's final address by declaring to the crowd:
"We are prepared to defend ourselves against the will ofHitler Germany to destroy. We must defend ourselves because we are a people which lives and wishes to live. My last word that I wish to speak to you is this – our people lives — Am Yisrael Chai!"[6]
In the songbookSongs of My People (c. 1938), compiled inChicago, the song "Am Yisrael Chai" appears.[7]
On April 20, 1945, five days after the liberation of theBergen-Belsen concentration camp, British military chaplainLeslie Hardman led aShabbat service at the camp for a few hundred survivors. Knowing it was being recorded byPatrick Gordon Walker of theBBC, a Jewish military chaplain proclaimed "Am Yisrael Chai, the children of Israel still liveth!" after the group sang Zionist anthemHatikvah at the conclusion of the service.[8][9][10]
The front of the stage of a concert inMunich (in 1945/1946) by theEx-Concentration Camp Orchestra displayed the words "Am Yisrael Chai".[11]
In 1948, American journalistQuentin Reynolds noticed that someone had carved "Am Yisrael Chai" into theArch of Titus, an ancient Roman monument to theRoman conquest of Jerusalem during theFirst Jewish–Roman War, likely by aPalestinian soldier serving with theAllies duringWorld War II.[12]
The FirstNFTY Leadership Institute in the summer of 1948 was dedicated to the theme "Am Yisrael Chai—Israel Lives Again: The Implications of the State of Israel for American Jewish Youth."[13]
The phrase gained popular use in 1965, when Jewish songwriterShlomo Carlebach composed "Am Yisrael Chai" as the solidarity anthem of theSoviet Jewry movement at the request ofJacob Birnbaum, founder of theStudent Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), a United States political organization that promoted the rights of Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate to Israel. Carlebach and Birnbaum knew each other, and their respective grandfathers had met at theFirst Zionist Congress in 1897 in Basel. By 1965, Carlebach was already popular for his melodies put toHebrew prayers, and Birnbaum reached out to him in the hopes of composing a song ahead of a planned major SSSJ rally in front of the Soviet Mission to theUnited Nations inNew York on April 4, 1965.[14]
While in Soviet-dominatedCzechoslovakia, Carlebach wrote and first performed "Am Yisrael Chai" before a group of youth in Prague. On April 2, 1965, Carlebach phoned Birnbaum with news that the song was completed. Carlebach publicly performed the song for the first time at the April 4 SSSJ rally. The song became the centerpiece of the SSSJ's annual solidarity rally between 1972 and 1991.[14][15] It is the final song ofSoul Doctor, aBroadway musical about Carlebach's life.[16]
| Hebrew[17] | Transliteration | English |
|---|---|---|
| עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי (repeat 3x) עוֹד אָבִינוּ חַי (repeat 3x) | Am yisrael chai od avinu chai | The people of Israel live, our Father still lives! |
The song's lyrics are derived fromGenesis 45:3: "Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am Joseph. Ismy father still alive?'" (הַעוֹד אָבִי חַי)[18] Carlebach added the words "Am Yisrael Chai" (the Nation of Israel lives) and, for the song's refrain, changed the words "is my father still alive" to "our father is still alive" (עוֹד אָבִינוּ חַי)[19] in a possible reference to the Jewish tradition that "Jacob/Israel did not die." According to German-American musicologistTina Frühauf, Carlebach changed the reference from Joseph's father to God "as the father of the children of Israel."[16]
Jewish news organizationThe Forward placed "Am Yisrael Chai" second only toHatikvah, the national anthem of Israel, as "an anthem of the Jewish people".[14] Judaic scholarArnold Eisen has called "Am Yisrael Chai" the "civil religion" of American Jewry.[20]
The phrase and Carlebach's song has become a widely used defiant expression and affirmation of Jewish continuity, especially during times of war and heightenedantisemitism.[21] Jacob Birnbaum interpreted the song's dominant phrase to signify "a rebirth of Jewish life, including music" in the post-Holocaust world.[14] According to musicologistTina Frühauf, the song's lyrics evoke a sense of theJewish nation, Jewish survival, and an affirmation ofJewish identity.[16] Some tour groups visitingMasada shout "Am Yisrael Chai" to invert the emphasis on martyrdom and resistance at the fort; life is the point, according to Professor Theodore Sasson.[22] The phrase is also chanted during theMarch of the Living, an annual student commemoration of the Holocaust.[23]
After the1980 Paris synagogue bombing,Howard Squadron of theConference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations stated toAlain de Rothschild, "We stand with you in this hour, knowing that we are one people sharing a single destiny. Am Yisrael Chai."[24] Outside the courthouse after an Israeli court rendered a guilty verdict forJohn Demjanjuk in 1986, "Am Yisrael Chai" was sung along withAni Ma'amin, a prayer which was sung inNazi concentration camps. Professor Glenn Sharfman suggests that the trial and verdict symbolized both a remembrance of the past and a statement of the future.[25] Egyptian-Italian journalistMagdi Allam proclaimed "Am Yisrael Chai" during his acceptance speech after receiving theDan David Prize in 2006 for fostering understanding and tolerance between cultures.[26] In 2009, Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu inscribed the words "Am Yisrael Chai" in the guestbook of theWannsee Villa in Berlin.[27]
It is often used by theJewish diaspora to express support and solidarity withIsrael. The song was sung on the second day of theSix-Day War in 1967, at the end of theYom Kippur War in 1967, and after theOctober 7 attacks in 2023.[28] Marchers at solidarity rallies in Europe after the1991 Iraqi missile attacks against Israel chanted "Am Yisrael Chai."[29]
In 2023,Ben-Gurion Airport inTel Aviv unveiled a 50-meter-long mural titledAm Yisrael Chai that covers 4,000 years ofJewish history.[30]
During a solidarity event after theOctober 7 attacks in 2023, US Ambassador to the UNLinda Thomas-Greenfield uttered "'Never again' is now. Am Yisrael Chai."[31] Ten days after the attacks,Benny Friedman released a song called "Am Yisrael Chai" to capture the spirit of the Jewish people[32] and launched the "Am Yisrael Chai" concert tour in January 2024 to promote Jewish unity and solidarity.[33][34] Israeli singerEyal Golan released a song also titled "Am Yisrael Chai" on 19 October, in which he sings about thereturn of the hostages and the solidarity and resilience of the Israeli people.[35] Jewish a cappella groupsMaccabeats,Y-Studs, andSix13 released "Avinu SheBashamayim" as a reaction to the attacks, ending with the words "Am Yisrael Chai."[36]
After his release from Hamas captivity during theGaza war hostage crisis,Edan Alexander wrote "Thank you,President Trump! Am Yisrael Chai!" as his first public message.[37]
Israeli singerYuval Raphael ended the performance of her song "New Day Will Rise" during the final of theEurovision Song Contest 2025 with an "Am Yisrael Chai".[38]
The arch of Titus bears an ancient inscription, proclaiming the end of the Jewish nation. Visiting Rome, last year, the American journalist, Quentin Reynolds, noticed another, more recent inscription on the same monument. It was, in all likelihood, a Palestinian soldier serving with the Allies who had carved these three Hebrew words into one of the supporting columns: Am Yisrael chai, 'The People of Israel Lives.' This would have been an apt title for the first third of the present book, a splendid job of reporting on Israel's life-and-death struggle in the spring of 1948.