"Hatikvah" (Hebrew: הַתִּקְוָה, pronounced [hatikˈva], Arabic: الأمل, lit. English: "The Hope") is a 19th century Jewish poem and the national anthem of Israel. Its lyrics are adapted from a poem by Naftali Herz Imber. He wrote the first version of the poem in 1877, while he was a guest of a Jewish scholar in Iași, Romania. The theme of the romantic composition reflects the Jews' 2,000-year-old hope of returning to the Land of Israel, restoring it, and reclaiming it as a free and sovereign nation.