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Jerusalem of Gold
The most famous Jerusalem song
Jerusalem of Gold is the unofficial anthem of Israel and probably the most famous Jerusalem song.
It was written by Naomi Shemer in 1967 and the song’s history plays a big part in its emotional impact.
Naomi wrote Jerusalem of Gold – in Hebrew, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav – for the Israel Music Festival of 1967, which took place the day after Israel’s 19th Independence Day celebrations. The melody was inspired by a Basque lullaby, but the lyrics describe the Jewish people’s longing for the holy city of Jerusalem.
Oil painting: Jerusalem neighborhoods from the ramparts of the Old City
At the time, Jerusalem was torn apart by war. The Old City was entirely in Jordanian hands, and Jordanian soldiers walked Jerusalem’s ramparts, firing daily at the Israeli homes at the foot of the walls. So despite Israel’s independence, the longing for Jerusalem and its holy cites remained a painful dream for most Jews.
The song was first performed a few days before the music festival, when Naomi sang it for Israeli troops. Almost overnight, Jerusalem of Gold became the unofficial hymn of the Israel Defense Forces.
Three weeks after the debut of the song at the music festival, the Six Day war broke out. On June 7, IDF paratroopers liberated the Old City of Jerusalem and were the first Jews to approach the Western Wall – Judaism’s holiest place of worship – in 19 years. They prayed, they cried … they sang Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.
When Naomi Shemer heard the soldiers had sung her song at this historic moment, she wrote an additional verse, recalling the blasts of the shofar from the Temple Mount that heralded the liberation of Jerusalem.
Since then, many artists have recorded the song, in Hebrew as well as other languages. Artists who have performed Jerusalem of Gold include, among many others:
Shuly Nathan – who sang the song for Naomi at the Israel Music Festival in 1967
Ofra Haza – this has perhaps become the definitive rendition of Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Ofra performed the song at Israel’s 50th Independence Day ceremony in 1998, on Mount Scopus.
Her classic recording of it is available on Disc 3 of her Greatest Hits collection. You can find the mp3 download of the song itself here.
Demis Roussos
Rita Zarai, with French actor Patrick Bruel
Phish – the song appears as the last few verses at the end of Demand, the last song on the album Hoist. Phish only sing the first three verses of Jerusalem of Gold, leaving out the last verse. You can find the mp3 download of Demandhere.
Here is a video of Israeli troubadour Hezy Levy, performing Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Please click on the play arrow on the toolbar below the video, not the one on the screen.
Ask any Israeli – we all have our favorite memories associated with this song. Mine is of an early summer evening I spent sitting under a tree on Mount Scopus with several other fellow students from Hebrew University, all of us singing this song while someone played the guitar and the sun set over the Old City.
Schindler’s List
Because the song is so much part of the Israeli national psyche, the movie Schindler’s List had to modified for Israeli audiences.
It is featured at the end of Schindler’s List, as the song to which the remaining Jews leave the camp at the end of the war and walk over the hill to freedom.
Israeli audiences were very disturbed by this. The song is totally unrelated to the Holocaust and for Israelis – to whom it is indelibly tied to the Six Day war – its use made the end of the movie disconcerting and silly, rather than triumphant.
After an initial flop, the movie was re-released in Israel with a different soundtrack, which replaced Jerusalem of Gold with the Hanah Senesh song, Eli Eli.
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