http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doltSOnwt64
Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. The original song described the Jewish people's 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's unification under Israeli occupation.
Naomi Shemer wrote the original song for the Israeli Music Festival on 15 May 1967, the night after Israel's nineteenth Independence Day. She chose the then-unknown Shuli Nathan to sing the song. At that time, the Old City was under Jordanian rule; Jews had been barred from entering, and many holy sites had been desecrated. Only three weeks after the song was published, the Six-Day War broke out. The song was the battle cry and morale booster of the Israeli troops. Shemer even sang it for them before the war and festival, making them among the first in the world to hear it. On 7 June, the Israel Defense Forces captured the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians. When Shemer heard the paratroopers singing "Jerusalem of Gold" at the Western Wall, she wrote a final verse, reversing the phrases of lamentation found in the second verse. The line about shofars sounding from the Temple Mount is a reference to an event that actually took place on 7 June. the lyrics:
As clear as wine, the wind is flying Among the dreamy pines As evening light is slowly dying And a lonely bell still chimes, So many songs, so many stories The stony hills recall ... Around her heart my city carries A lonely ancient wall.
Yerushalaim all of gold Yerushalaim, bronze and light Within my heart I shall treasure Your song and sight.
Alas, the dry wells and fountains, Forgotten market-day The sound of horn from Temple's mountain No longer calls to pray, The rocky caves at night are haunted By sounds of long ago When we were going to the Jordan By way of Jericho.
Yerushalaim all of gold Yerushalaim, bronze and light Within my heart I shall treasure Your song and sight.
But when I come to count your praises And sing Hallel to you With pretty rhymes I dare not crown you As other poets do, Upon my lips is always burning Your name, so dear, so old: If I forget Yerushalaim Of bronze and light and gold ...
Yerushalaim all of gold Yerushalaim, bronze and light Within my heart I shall treasure Your song and sight.
Back to the wells and to the fountains Within the ancient walls The sound of horn from Temple's mountain Again so loudly calls, From rocky caves, this very morning A thousand suns will glow And we shall go down to the Jordan By way of Jericho.
Yerushalaim all of gold Yerushalaim, bronze and light Within my heart I shall treasure Your song and sight.
|