I think you need to think about the text.  I like the first breath mark.  In English it's next year we will sit on our Mirpeset - it's like an enclosed porch common in Israel.

Then you breathe to say "and we will count migrating birds."

The other way is ok:  Next year (breath) we will sit on our porch and count (breath) migrating birds.

Most people breathe after Hamirpeset.

Good luck!

Naomi Cohen

Music director, SAR Academy - Orthodox Yeshiva

If the song were in English, you would look for the natural phrasing. The same holds even though the song is in Hebrew. (nispor, by the way, is a single word: "we will count".) 

 

Here are how the breath marks fall in the translation of the examples:

 

Next year we will sit on the balcony' and count migrating birds.

 

versus

 

Next year' we will sit on the balcony and count' migrating birds.

 

Faedra Weiss

Bashana is a popular song in Israel, pretty much familiar throughout the general population, and not immediately identified with choral repertoire.  You can inform your decision-making process by listening to the way Israeli singers (professional and non) approach the issues you face.  My guess is that youtube and iTunes will give you a plethora of options. While these arrangements may be radically different from the octavo versions known to us in the choral ed/performance community, they give us a window into the vibrant life of a beautiful song in its original environment. 

 

And btw, maybe brace yourself for a surprise.  In Israel, the song is often associated with community band repertoire, played at a fast tempo with tubas providing oompah bass.  I'm not suggesting that you superimpose an oompah tempo on the arrangement you're conducting.  But at the tempo most frequently used in Israeli performances, these problems of breath and phrasing settle themselves.  At the faster tempo, it is physically awkward (nearly impossible, in fact) to breathe between successive eighth notes.

 

But don't take my word for it.  I am just a dude in Chicago.  Go to Israeli resources more closely connected to the original material.

 

Paul Caldwell

www.caldwellandivory.com   

Naomi Cohen and Faedra Weiss are absolutely correct.  One additional factoid, the Hebrew 'v'  means 'and', so taking a breath before v'nispor  is logical as well.

Cantor Janice Roger

Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation