Resources · Songs
Israeli songs to learn Hebrew from, and what each one teaches
A song is a text you will happily repeat fifty times, which is exactly what a language needs. Each one below is picked for one thing it teaches. Listen on Spotify or YouTube, read the words on Shironet (it pays the writers), and sing in the car where nobody hears.
Picked and annotated by the teachers of the Israeli Hebrew Institute. Every entry links to the people who made it; nothing here is hosted by us. How this list is put together.
Ani Ohev (I Love)
אני אוהבThe Sixteenth Sheep · words Yehonatan Geffen, music Yitzhak Klepter
Beginnerfree"I love chocolate and cheesecake…" A children's classic that is a list: אֲנִי אוֹהֵב + everything the singer loves, the four seasons included. After one listen you can say what you love in Hebrew.
Swap in your own list. Women say אֲנִי אוֹהֶבֶת.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Ani Ve'ata (You and I)
אני ואתהArik Einstein
Beginnerfree"You and I will change the world." Slow, every word clear, and the future tense in its friendliest form. The Israeli anthem of good intentions.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Etse Li Hashuka (I'll Go to the Market)
אצא לי השוקהfolk song, sung by every kindergarten
BeginnerfreeA trip to the market, one animal per verse and the sound each one makes. Animals, prices, the little לִי Israelis put after verbs.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Hallelujah
הללויהGali Atari & Milk and Honey
BeginnerfreeIsrael's Eurovision winner of 1979 and the simplest chorus in Hebrew. Short lines, repeated, about the world and everyone in it.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Bo'i (Come)
בואיThe Idan Raichel Project
BeginnerIntermediatefree"Come, give me your hand." The imperative to a woman, over and over, with Amharic in the middle. Slow enough to sing from the first listen.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Lu Yehi (Let It Be)
לו יהיNaomi Shemer
IntermediatefreeWritten in the Yom Kippur War and sung ever since. Every wish in Hebrew is built like its title, and every Israeli can finish its first line for you.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Medabrim Besheket (Speaking Quietly)
מדברים בשקטThe Idan Raichel Project
IntermediatefreeA slow love song where the words come one at a time. The present tense of everyday verbs, sung as clearly as you will ever hear them.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Yo Ya
יו יהKaveret
IntermediatefreeThe band Israelis grew up on, asking why about everything. Questions, answers, and wordplay that teaches how Hebrew jokes work.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Modeh Ani (I Give Thanks)
מודה אניOmer Adam
IntermediatefreeA pop hit built on a morning prayer, with a chorus of thank-yous. Modern Israeli pop at its most singable, and the words are gratitude.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Silsulim
סלסוליםStatic & Ben El Tavori
IntermediatefreeWhat was on every Israeli radio in the summer it came out. Fast, repetitive, full of today's slang. Learn the chorus and you sound ten years younger.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold)
ירושלים של זהבNaomi Shemer
IntermediateAdvancedfreeThe song Israel treats as a second anthem. Literary Hebrew, sung slowly, and the one you will be asked to know.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗Shirat Hasticker (The Sticker Song)
שירת הסטיקרHadag Nahash · words David Grossman
AdvancedfreeEvery bumper sticker on Israel's roads, rapped in order. Politics, religion, the army and the slogans of thirty years, in three minutes. Hard, and worth it.
Spotify ↗YouTube ↗Lyrics (Shironet) ↗