This Hebrew translation of “La Marseillaise,” the national anthem of France, was made by Efrayim Dror for the Free French Army (Forces Françaises Libres) and its many Jewish volunteers during the early years of World War II. His translation was published in 1951. Some context is offered by Lucien Steinberg: “A Jewish Agency memorandum of 1943 mentions that 40,000 non-French Jews volunteered for the French Army in September-October 1939….They joined special units—the 21st, 22nd and 23rd foreign volunteer infantry battalions. Other units were attached to the Foreign Legion, such as the famous Half-Brigade №13 and the foreign infantry battalions №11 and 12” (in “The Participation of Jews in the Allied Armies,” Shoah Research Center, 1971).^[5] Lucien Steinberg, “The Participation of Jews in the Allied Armies*”, Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust, Proceedings of the Conference on manifestations of Jewish Resistance, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1971 pp. 379-392.  On Simḥat Torah (18–19 October) 1973, the Lubavitcher Rebbe adapted the melody to the piyyut “Ha’aderet v’ha’emuna”. In ḤaBaD, the melody is believed to convey the idea of a “spiritual French revolution” – in that Torah should be spread around the world as an advent to the messianic era.

“La Marseillaise” was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (War Song for the Army of the Rhine). The French National Convention adopted it as the new Republic’s anthem in 1795. The song acquired its nickname after being sung in Paris by volunteers from Marseille marching to the capital. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, “La Marseilles” was banned and it became the anthem of the French left. The French government brought back the popular anthem in an attempt to motivate the French people during the Franco-Prussian War. It’s adoption by the Paris Commune in 1871 (albeit with new lyrics under the title “La marseillaise de la Commune”) led to “La Marseillaise” becoming an anthem of the international revolutionary movement alongside “L’Internationale.” While other political movements promoted their anthems, by 1879, “La Marseillaise” was restored as France’s national anthem. —Aharon Varady

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“Lamnatseaḥ Shir” composed by Moses Ensheim, and its accompanying paraliturgical French translation by Isaïah Berr Bing, was first published in 1792 when it was sung in the synagogue of the Jewish community of Metz in celebration of the victory of the French Revolution and their emancipation as full citizens of France in 1791. Ronald Schechter, in “Translating the Marseillaise: Biblical Republicanism and the Emancipation of Jews in Revolutionary France” (Past and Present, 143, 1994), pp. 108-135, explains:

On 21 October 1792 the Jews of Metz joined their Gentile compatriots in celebrating a republican victory. Emancipated by the Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante) only one year previously, the newcomers to French citizenship took the occasion of a civic festival to celebrate their recently won freedom. Testimony to this public show of Jewish patriotic zeal is an extraordinary document, a Hebrew version of the “Marseillaise,” which the “citizens professing the faith of Moses” sang to republican soldiers in the synagogue of Metz. There was nothing blasphemous in the patriotic hymn, and indeed the Jews were following an ancient tradition by praying for the land to which they had been dispersed. For the period of the Revolution, however, it was an unique event, and as such provides the historian with a rare opportunity to glimpse into the world of French Jewry on the morrow of its emancipation. One sees in the Hebrew “Marseillaise” a Jewish attempt to understand the staggering events of Revolution and emancipation, to comprehend the historical situation in which they suddenly found themselves, to articulate their relationship to the nation and to sacralize the Revolutionary values of their patrie. By placing the Hebrew battle hymn and its French translation in the context of Revolutionary demands vis-à-vis the newly emancipated Jews, one perceives the power of republican ideas such as indivisibility, fraternity, and regeneration to penetrate even into the long-isolated world of orthodox Jewry, and the attempt of a traditional people to embrace the values of its liberators without losing its ancient identity. By singing a Hebrew version of the republican hymn, the Jews of Metz found a “traditional” means of identifying with France’s struggles, of integrating themselves mentally into the French nation, in short, of picturing themselves as Frenchmen.

Here we have transcribed for the first time, the full Hebrew text of Lamnatseaḥ Shir as published in 1792, along with Isaïah Berr Bing’s adapted translation in French. To note, seven of Ensheim’s thirty-one stanzas were left untranslated by Bing. A full English translation of Bing’s French was first made by Dr. Schechter and published in his article linked above. In that same article, many references to the Hebrew verses provided a partial translation, about 3/5 of the whole, which we then completed with the permission and approval of Dr. Schechter. (Thank you!) Using these English translations as my guide, I have set Isaïah Berr Bing’s translation side-by-side with Moses Ensheim’s Hebrew. I have also noted biblical references in addition to the many that Dr. Schechter first noted in his article.

Many thanks to Nir Krakauer and Ari Adler for their corrections and improvements to our translation of “Lamnatseaḥ Shir.” The page images from which this transcription was derived was made from a volume held in the collection of the HUC-JIR Klau library in Cincinnati. (Thank you!) If you recognize an additional biblical reference or find any significant errors in this transcription or translation, please leave a comment or contact us. –Aharon Varady

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