June 12, 2007, - 11:48 pm
Videos of the Day: Jerusalem of Gold
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One of my favorite songs is “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav”–“Jerusalem of Gold”–which is also beautiful in English. The song, by the late Naomi Shemer, was an Israeli hit in 1967 not much before Jerusalem was liberated from Muslim occupation, 40 years ago last week. The song has great meaning to Jews all over the world, including me. The lyrics are at the end of this post.
The best English version I’ve heard is this one, below, sung by 17-year-old Israeli singing sensation Liel Kolet (who was 15 at the time of the video) and Klaus Meine, the German lead singer of the rock group “The Scorpions” (who sang the hit song, “Rock You Like a Hurricane”). Yes, Muslims, Meine is pro-Israel, so you can now add him and “The Scorpions” to your boycott list. If Kolet looks like an Arab to you, that’s because her family was among the many Jewish families kicked out of Arab countries. But, unlike the constant whine about the Palestinians, you never hear about these refugees. (“Yerushalayim” is Jerusalem.) . . .
Here’s another great version of “Jerusalem of Gold” in its original Hebrew, performed by the late Ofra Haza, yet another Jew whose parents were refugees from Arab countries. She was a Yemenite Jew and Israeli, who lived in poverty with 8 siblings before she became an Israeli and worldwide singing star. Her singing voice was beautiful. (Tragically, she died of AIDS–caught from her husband, a drug addict–at the age of 42 in 2000.) . . .
Here’s my favorite video/set of pics of Jerusalem United, a Jewish City for 3,319 years, set to “Jerusalem of Gold”:
And finally, here’s another touching version of “Jerusalem of Gold,” as sung by the Moscow Male Jewish Cappella:
“Jerusalem of Gold” by Naomi Shemer (English Lyrics from the International Wall of Prayer)
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.
Yerushalayim all of gold
Yerushalayim, 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.
Yerushalayim all of gold
Yerushalayim, 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 Yerushalayim
Of bronze and light and gold …
Yerushalayim all of gold
Yerushalayim, 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.
Yerushalayim all of gold
Yerushalayim, bronze and light
Within my heart I shall treasure
Your song and sight.
* Hallel is a Jewish prayer said on special holidays.
Tags: AIDS, Debbie Schlussel One, Israel, Jerusalem, Jewish City, Klaus Meine, lead singer, lead singer of the rock group, Liel Kolet, Naomi Shemer, The Scorpions
The Israeli Mint has a Naomi Shemer coin through EuroCollections. I get a lot of coins from them, they are a pretty good company. http://www.eurocollections.com/catalog/?product=1746
steve ventry on June 13, 2007 at 1:27 am