"Shmuel Cohen died in 1940. He was the musical Composer of the National Anthem of the Jewish People, the Hatikvah. Cynics say he was merely the adapter of a Romanian folk song.
It is almost 130 years since Cohen's music came forward. The Hatikvah is the globally recognized and beloved music of the National Anthem of Modern Israel.
Cohen was buried, very modestly, in Rishon LeZion's Old Cemetery. He was not a wealthy man. In 1940, Cohen was not even a famous man.
It was not until near his death that Cohen penned his autobiography. He titled it Stempenu, after the famous Klezmer violinist Shalom Aleichem created in his book by the same name. Cohen acknowledged the truth. He recognized what he thought was a minor composition had, in fact, pierced the soul of Jewry everywhere."
