Song Cycle
The many lives of ‘Jerusalem of Gold,’ an Israeli anthem
By Vox Tablet | 7:00 AM May 10, 2010
CREDIT: Photoillustration by Abigail Miller/Tablet Magazine; photo by David Rubinger
In May 1967, at the annual Israel Music Festival in Jerusalem, a song was born. Singing to a live and radio audience of millions, Shuli Natan debuted “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav,” or “Jerusalem of Gold.” With elegiac music and patriotic lyrics by Naomi Shemer, it immediately won the hearts of many in the audience; three weeks later, after the Six-Day War and the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli rule, the song gained the status of a near-national anthem. On Jerusalem Day, celebrated this year on May 12, it’s inescapable. But the song has its detractors, and it comes with some surprising historical baggage. Tablet Magazine’s Liel Leibovitz tells the story.
Click here to hear the 12 minute story
Produced by Julie Subrin with Daniel Estrin
The many lives of ‘Jerusalem of Gold,’ an Israeli anthem
By Vox Tablet | 7:00 AM May 10, 2010
CREDIT: Photoillustration by Abigail Miller/Tablet Magazine; photo by David Rubinger
In May 1967, at the annual Israel Music Festival in Jerusalem, a song was born. Singing to a live and radio audience of millions, Shuli Natan debuted “Yerushalayim Shel Zahav,” or “Jerusalem of Gold.” With elegiac music and patriotic lyrics by Naomi Shemer, it immediately won the hearts of many in the audience; three weeks later, after the Six-Day War and the unification of Jerusalem under Israeli rule, the song gained the status of a near-national anthem. On Jerusalem Day, celebrated this year on May 12, it’s inescapable. But the song has its detractors, and it comes with some surprising historical baggage. Tablet Magazine’s Liel Leibovitz tells the story.
Click here to hear the 12 minute story
Produced by Julie Subrin with Daniel Estrin
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