Inspiration from Zion: This is a Love Story

When IDF Paratroopers gained the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six Day War the song “Jerusalem of Gold” burst from their lips. It was a natural expression of 2000 years of yearning for that moment, an expression of joy that the heart of Zion was finally returned to the Nation of Israel.

They were the physical embodiment of a miracle. Can you imagine that feeling?

Although the State of Israel was officially re-established in 1948, it was the moment when Jewish sovereignty was regained in the holiest place on earth for the Nation of Israel that we were a people truly reborn.

After the reunification of Jerusalem, Naomi Shemer felt that her song of yearning was no longer fitting so she created a new ending for the song, turning it into a song of triumph for the Nation that finally returned!

JERUSALEM OF GOLD
by Naomi Shemer

Mountain air, clear as wine
And the scent of pines
Is carried on the twilight breeze
With the sound of bells.

And the tree and stone lie comatose
Captive in her dream,
The city that sits alone
And in her heart, a wall.

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light
I am a violin for all your songs.

How the cisterns have dried
The market-place is empty
And no one attends the Temple Mount,
In the Old City.

And in the caves that are in the rock
Winds are howling
And no one descends to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho.

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light
I am a violin for all your songs.

But as I come to sing to you today,
And to adorn you with crowns
I am smaller than the youngest of your children
And from the least amongst the poets.

For your name scorches the lips
Like the kiss of a seraph
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
She that is all gold…

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze, and of light
I am a violin for all your songs.

We have returned to the cisterns
To the market and to the market-place
A shofar calls out [for prayers] on the Temple Mount
In the Old City.

And in the caves that are in the rock
Thousands of suns shine
We will once again descend to the Dead Sea
By way of Jericho!

Jerusalem of gold, and of bronze and of light
I am a violin for all your songs.