Jerusalem of Gold (Song, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav)

One of the peak moments in Shemer's musical career was in 1967 when she wrote the song Jerusalem of Gold ("Yerushalayim Shel Zahav"). The song originated when Teddy Kollek, the Mayor of Jerusalem, decided to commission a special song about Jerusalem for the Song Festival held that year at the International Convention Center building, but not as part of the song competition itself. The song achieved great success at the festival, and the audience's response reverberated with enthusiasm for the song. For the performance of the song, a young and relatively unknown singer named Shuli Nathan was chosen, a decision made by Shemer based on the recommendation of her daughter, Lali, because Nathan's clear soprano voice appealed to her.

Three weeks after the debut of the song at the festival, the Six-Day War erupted, and following it - Jerusalem was united under the Israeli control. Following this, Shemer added a new verse to the song in which she described the situation before and after the war. In contrast to "Eicha Yavshu Borot Hamayim" (How the Wellsprings Have Dried Up) and "Ve'ein Poqed et Har Habayit" (And No One Tends to the Temple Mount), the new verse declared "Chazarnu El Borot Hamayim" (We Have Returned to the Wellsprings) and "Shofar Kore Be'Har Habayit" (A Shofar Blows on the Temple Mount). In the months following the war and in the years between the conflicts, the song achieved a great renown and became a sort of secondary anthem, with some even calling for it to become the new national anthem.^[9][10]

Since "Jerusalem of Gold," Shemer has become in the eyes of many - although not necessarily in her own eyes - the "national songwriter" believed to reflect the spiritual values and expressions in Israel through her melodies.

Shemer did her own songwriting and composing, set famous poems to music, such as those of the Israeli poet, Rachel, and the American Walt Whitman. She also translated and adapted popular songs into Hebrew, such "Lu Yehi", an adaptation of the Beatles song "Let It Be" in 1973.^[10]

In May 2005, the newspaper Haaretz reported that Shemer admitted in a letter to Gil Aldema that she heard a song with an old Basque folk music ("Pello Joxepe," performed by Paco Ibáñez) and unconsciously drew inspiration from it when composing the melody for "Jerusalem of Gold".^[11][12] During her lifetime, Shemer denied plagiarism allegations and described the Basque melody's intrusion into her song as an "unfortunate accident". She claimed that it caused her great distress, even contributing to her illness. Hebrew song researcher Eliyahu Hacohen did not see plagiarism in the melody of "Jerusalem of Gold" but rather an accepted influence in songwriting. Regarding Shemer's response, he said, "In my opinion, Naomi attributes too much weight to the influence of the Basque song in her creation, and it probably bothered her all these years, and when she was already in a difficult situation, she said to herself, 'I'll speak out, and it will benefit me'".^[13] In other words, he believed that Shemer's expression in the letter was primarily an emotional outlet.

Naomi Shemer performed the song herself, and later, many other singers recorded it, including Ofra Haza, Yafa Yarkoni, Ran Eliran, and more. According to ACUM (the Israeli copyright association), there are over 300 different versions of the song. It has been translated into many languages, including Esperanto. Notable performances of the song in foreign languages include those by Yafa Yarkoni (Spanish), David Eshet (Yiddish), and others. The song also became a children's song in Osnat Paz's rendition on the record "My Land of Israel". The movie "Schindler's List" concluded with the original version performed by a choir.

From the Six-Day War to Yom Kippur War

Naomi Shemer in Jerusalem, 1967

In the beginning of 1968, she published her first book, "All the Songs", which included 42 of her songs. Only eight of them had been published before in other frameworks. At the same time, she was invited to the United States to receive an honorary degree for "Jerusalem of Gold" from the Women's Organization of Yeshiva University.

The ceremony took place in early March 1968 as part of a festive dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Following the ceremony, she embarked on a tour that lasted several weeks, visiting major cities in the United States and Canada. In each Jewish community she visited, she held a one-hour performance, showcasing her songs while accompanying herself on the piano.

image - Eucalyptus grove named after the poet Naomi Shemer

Between the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, Shemer continued to write songs, including "Anachnu Shneynu Me'oto Hakfar" ("We are both from the Same Village"), "BeHe'achzut HaNahal BeSinai" ("In the Grip of the Nahal in Sinai"), "Lashir Zeh Kmo Lihiyot Yarden" ("To Sing This Is Like Being the Yarden"), "Shvachey Ma'oz" ("In Praise of Ma'oz"), and "Be'eretz Lahad'am" ("In the Land of Thing-That-Never-Happened").

In the program of the Nahal Band, "The Nahlaym Are Coming," which aired in 1967, the song "Valse LeHaganat HaTzomach" ("Waltz for the Defense of Vegetation") was included. Shemer originally wrote the song for the quartet "The Shemer Sisters," but the Nahal Band was the first to record it.

Following a visit to the Nahal strongholds in Sinai in 1968, Shemer wrote the song "BeHe'achzut HaNahal BeSinai" ("In the Nahal Stronghold in Sinai") for the Nahal Band. The song was performed by Miri Aloni in the band's program "BeHichazut HaNahal BaSinai," which aired that year. In 1969, the Central Command Band recorded her song "Anachnu Shneynu Me'otu HaKfar" ("We Are Both from the Same Village"), which she had written three years earlier. In the same year, she composed the song "Pgisha Le'ein Ketz" ("Endless Meeting") for the Shlosharim band. In 1969, she married the lawyer Mordechai Horowitz, and in 1970, their son Ariel Horowitz was born, who became a composer and performer of his own.

For the program of the Navy Band, "Shirat HaYam" ("Song of the Sea"), which aired in 1971, Shemer composed the song "Al Em HaDerech" ("On the Crossroad"), with vocalist Chaya Ard. For the only program of Chava Alberstein that aired in the same year, Shemer wrote the song "Shir Siyum" ("A Finalizing Song"), based on the melody by Manos Hatzidakis. During Hanukkah of that year, Shemer visited the Sinai Peninsula, and inspired by this visit, she wrote the song "Shvahei Me'oz" ("Praise the Stronghold") for the Southern Command Band, with the beginning based on the piyyut "Maoz Tzur".

In 1972, the album "Chavurat Bimot" was released, featuring songs by Shemer that represented the best of her work in the post-Six-Day War period. In addition to the well-known songs, the performance included songs that revealed a less familiar aspect of Shemer, with titles such as "Mar Narkis" (Mr. Narcissus) dealing with chronic bachelors, "Shir Eres LeMikreim Meyuchadim" ("A Bedtime Song for Special Cases"), which is a lullaby for the daughter of divorced parents, "Anashim Yafim" ("Beautiful People"), addressing the glamorous side of high society, and "HaMakshefot" ("The Witches"), about sensationalist journalism.

On that evening, the songs "Arba'im" ("I always went out with younger men... and wore a bikini after the age of twenty") and "Ani Megadelat Ba'al" ("And when I say I raised a husband, they'll send me straight to paradise") were also included. Shemer refrained from including the latter two in her numerous collections over the years. Among the major hits from this performance were "Lashir Zeh Kmo Lihyot Yarden" ("To sing this is like being Yarden") and "Be'eretz Lahad'am" ("In the Land of Thing-That-Never-Happened"), both performed by Miri Aloni.

In the artistic section of the Melody and Song Festival that same year, the HaGashash HaHiver Trio performed with Shemer's song "Yesh Li Chag" ("I Have a Holiday"). Another song by Shemer that was published that year is a translation of Jacques Brel's song "L'amour Est Mort" ("Love is Dead"), performed by Yossi Banai.

Shortly before the Yom Kippur War, Shemer wrote "Lu Yehi" ("May It Be"). Originally, the song was written as a Hebrew version of The Beatles' "Let it be", but when she presented the song to singer Chava Alberstein, her husband, Mordechai Horowitz, who had just returned from reserve duty, told her, "I won't let you waste the song on a foreign melody; this is a Jewish war, and you'll write a Jewish melody for it." Naomi Shemer added a new melody to the lyrics, and the song became one of the war's symbols, especially by the performance of the HaGashash HaHiver Trio and in the rendition by Chava Alberstein, who included the song on an album where it became the title track. The song was performed by many other singers.

From the Mid 70s to the 80s

In the 1970s, Shemer composed songs for many poets, including Nathan Alterman ("Pgisha Le'ein Ketz," "Sapanei Shlomo HaMelech," "Al Em HaDerech," "HaEm HaShlishit"), Shaul Tchernichovsky ("Hoy Artzi Moladeti," "Ba'aliyati Sham Yafati," "Omrim Yeshna Eretz"), Hayim Nahman Bialik ("Kumi Tzei"), Avraham Shlonsky ("Betchul HaShamayim"), and more. She translated songs by Yitzhak Manger ("Al HaDerech Etz Omed"), and based songs on texts from various sources ("Shirat Ha'Asavim" inspired by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, "Akedat Yitzhak" from the Book of Genesis).

For Yehoram Gaon's 1973 album "Ahava Yam Tikhonit" (Mediterranean Love), Shemer composed the song "Kumi Tzei," originally written by Hayim Nahman Bialik.

In 1974, Shemer released a special album of children's songs, which also yielded several big hits such as "Aleph Bet" and "Shlomit Bonah Sukkah." Most of the record's songs were first performed in a children's show presented by Shemer together with Oded Teomi. The song "Shlomit Bonah Sukkah" was originally performed by Ilana Rovina and the Dudaim duo three years earlier. In the same year, Yossi Banai recorded Shemer's song "Sfirat Mlai" (Cargo Counting) for his solo show "Partzuf Shel Tzo'ani" (A Gypsy's Face).

In 1976, Shemer wrote the songs for the musical "Mas'ot Binyamin HaShlishi" (Adventures of Benjamin the Third). Several of the songs gained widespread popularity, including "Perot Chamisha Asar", "Siman She'od Lo Heganu," and "Shirat Ha'asavim" ("The Song of the Grass"). For the "Hebrew Melody Celebration" held that year, she wrote the song "HaChagiga Nigmeret" ("The Celebration Ends"), performed by the Hakol Over Habibi band. Additionally, in the same year, she published the song "Bekol Shana Be'Setav Giora," performed by Ruhama Raz. Shemer wrote this song in memory of Giora Shoham, who was killed in the Yom Kippur War.

In 1976, Yehoram Gaon recorded the song "Od Lo Ahavti Dai," which became a major hit that year. The song was originally written for a television program based on Shemer's songs and was later included in Gaon's album "Od Lo Ahavti Dai," released the same year. Naomi Shemer mentioned in a newspaper interview that she wrote the song when she was ill and thought she wouldn't get up from her sickbed. In defiant response, she quipped, "There are still many things I wanted to do..."^[14]

For a radio program featuring the songs of the poet Shaul Tchernichovsky that aired in the same year, Shemer composed the music for Tchernichovsky's song "Hoi Artzi Moledetee" (Oh my country, my homeland). The song was performed by the Shokolad, Menta, Mastik band in the program, and later, many other artists recorded their own versions of it.

Between 1977 and 1979, Shemer published a personal column in Davar (a Hebrew-language daily newspaper) titled "Shavshevet" (שבשבת).

In 1978, she wrote the song "Chevlei Mashiach", which she performed herself on a television program broadcast on the Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) of the corresponding Jewish year.

In 1979, Nurit Galron recorded the song "Atzuv Lamut Be'emtza Hatamuz", written by Shemer. The song was later included in her album "Symphatia," released three years later. For a television program dedicated to Rivka Michaeli in 1980, she wrote the song "Ein Li Rega Dal", which became one of Michaeli's most well-known songs.

In the same year, she wrote the song "Al Kol Ele" for the television program "Yemei Tishrei," performed by Yossi Banai. Banai also performed the song on his single-show program, "Ani VeSimon VeMuaz Hakatan". In that year, she also composed the song "Asif" with lyrics by Itamar Prat for the band "Batzal Yarok 80."

In 1979, she composed the music for the film "Parashat Winshel" by Avraham Heffner.

In 1981, she released her album "Al Hadvash Ve'al Ha'Okez" (On the Honey and the Sting), which was highly successful and included the songs "Anashim Tovim" (Good People), "Al Kol Ele" (For All These), where the album got its name from its opening lyrics, and the song by Shaul Tchernichovsky, "Omrim Yeshna Eretz," which she composed for the television program "Yemei Kislev" that same year. Additionally, for the television film "El Borot HaMayim" from the same year, she wrote and recorded the song "El Borot HaMayim."

The winners of 1983 Israel prize award ceremony, on the 35th Independence Day of Israel. From right to left - Haim Hefer, Naomi Shemer, and Moshe Wilensky

In January 1983, she won the Jabotinsky Medal for Literature and Research at a ceremony held at the Tel Aviv Museum.

In the same year, Shemer received the Israel Prize for Music of Israel. The judging committee stated: "The Israel Prize for Music of Israel is awarded to Naomi Shemer for her songs, which naturally find their way into the hearts of all, due to their poetic and musical quality, the wonderful integration between lyrics and melody, and the expression they give to the whispers of the people's hearts." In addition, she was awarded an honorary degree from the Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute, as well as an honorary citizenship of Tel Aviv.

In her songs from the late 1970s onwards, there is a noticeable and increasing presence of Jewish and traditional themes. These themes were present in earlier songs as well, such as "Shiro Shel Aba" and "Lo Amut Ki Ehyeh," but they became more pronounced in songs like "Shirat Ha'asavim" or "El Borot HaMayim." Alongside these, there were also prominent nostalgic songs (such as "Bekol Shanah Ba'Stav, Giora") and anthem-like songs in the formula of "Od Lo Ahavti Dai".

Between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, polarization intensified between the Israeli right and left, against the backdrop of the Yom Kippur War, the 1977 political upheaval, the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty involving the Sinai withdrawal, the First Lebanon War, and the outbreak of the Intifada. Shemer's songs remained popular throughout most of this period. In the mid-1980s, the public began to associate her more with the political right, her majestical aura was decreased by eyes of some people, and various public figures and artists criticized and rebuked her sharply.

From the mid-1980s, Shemer's commercial successes diminished. For Yehoram Gaon's album "Simanei Derekh" from 1982, she wrote the title track. For his album "Emtza Haderakh" from 1984, she wrote the song "Lo Tenatzchu Oti". For the show "Hakol Lo Over Chavivi" by the Hakol Over Chavivi band in the same year, she wrote the song "Ha'Ore'ach" (The Guest).

In 1985, the album "Adamah" by Ofra Haza was released. Originally planned to include songs that were a collaborative effort between Haza and Shemer, the album ultimately included only one song by Shemer - "Hithadshut". The rest of the songs were by other veteran composers. In the same year, she wrote the song "Tilbeshi Lavan" for the joint album of the Dudaim and the Parvarim.

For the album "Elef Neshikot" by Yehoram Gaon, released in 1986, Naomi Shemer wrote and composed the songs "Dyokan Imi" and "Kmo Chatzav". In the same year, her song "Kad HaKemach" was performed by the Northern Command Band.

In 1987, Moshe Beker recorded the album "Hafatzim Ishiim", composed entirely of Naomi Shemer's songs. Some of the album's songs, such as "Gag" and "Tut", was extensively played on various radio stations, but the album's sales relatively failed. Shemer attributed its failure to the identification with the political right in Israel, although it's possible that the theatrical nature of Beker's performances contributed to the failure. In 1988, she wrote the song "Or" for Shoshana Damari. The song, included in Damari's album with the same name, enjoyed tremendous success, contributed to Damari's return to the spotlight, and became a popular dance hit.

From the Mid 90s and Forward

In 1991, following a rumor that Naomi Shemer was seriously ill, a tribute evening called "Encore to Naomi Shemer" was held on Channel 1, produced by Dalia Gutman. Many artists participated in the evening, including Chava Alberstein, Nurit Galron, Yehudit Ravitz, and Motti Kirshenbaum. Particularly memorable from the evening was the performance of "Serenada Lach" by Gidi Gov, Muni Moshonov, and Shlomo Baraba, arranged by Yoni Rechter. Later, it became clear that Shemer's illness was not as severe as believed, and the fear of her death was premature. Another tribute evening in her honor took place at the Israel Festival in 1998, under the artistic direction of Adi Renart and with the participation of many other artists.

During this period, Naomi Shemer's commercial successes were rare and sporadic. One notable example was the song "Hakol Patuah", written in honor of the Sea of Galilee during the 1992/3 season when its dam was opened. In 1993, Shemer participated alongside Mickey Kam, Moshe Beker, Chaim Tzinoivitz, and Rina Givon in the video cassette for children "Etzelnu BaPsanter", which was based on her songs.

In this recording, Shemer performed "Hakol Patuah" together with the other participants. A year later, the song was recorded in a Mediterranean version by Leah Lupatin and Ofer Levi, becoming a hit. Shemer expressed regret that the recording was done without informing her, as Ofer Levi made slight mistakes in the notes and lyrics.^[15]

In honor of a program on Channel 1 that aired in October 1993 as a tribute to the singer Beni Amdursky, she wrote the song "Ani Guitara". The program was filmed while the singer was fighting the cancer disease, a battle he unfortunately did not win. On stage, he made an effort to perform as usual, but the disease's sign were apparent on him during that time. Particularly memorable was the emotional performance of the song, which concludes with the words: "I say thank you." At the end, Amdursky thanked Shemer for the song, and she tried unsuccessfully to conceal her emotional turmoil.

In 1995, following the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin , Naomi Shemer translated the song "Ho Rav Hovel" - the song of the American poet Walt Whitman "O Captain! My Captain!" written after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and in his memory, a hundred and thirty years earlier. Naomi Shemer felt that the words were fitting to express her pain and the pain of the people in the period following the assassination. She translated the song to Hebrew, composed it, and it was performed for the first time by the singer Meytal Trabelsi on the anniversary of Rabin's assassination.

Shemer did not settle only for writing and composing; throughout her career, she also performed as a singer. Although she did not stand out for her voice, and her performances were often considered less impressive than those of the ones who performed her songs, it was important for Shemer to connect with her audience and win their affection. From the year 2000 until her passing, she appeared in a performance of her songs titled "Elef Shirim veShir", with arrangements, accompaniment, and musical direction by Rami Harel.^[16] The show was co-directed by Shemer herself and the producer and presenter Dudu Elharar, and it also featured the singing and playing of Ronit Roland. For this performance, she wrote the songs "HaMe'il", "Plugat Yasmin", "HaMenagen", and "Aktualia."

A short time before her passing, Shemer reached out to the producer Dorit Reuveni and informed her that she had a new song called "Ilan", in memory of Ilan Ramon. Dorit Reuveni managed to meet with Shemer, and even persuaded her to try and play the song despite her being very ill. Shemer agreed, and Reuveni recorded the performance for Shemer's final song. The song was premiered in a tribute show for Shemer thirty days after her passing in the Yarkon Park.

After her passing, several "new" songs by Shemer were published. Ariel Zilber recorded "Hakarish" for his album "Anabel," and Ruhama Raz recorded the song "Arvei Nahal," an English folk song that Shemer had translated its lyrics six years earlier (The Parvarim band recorded it for the first time on their album 'Music'), and Raz recorded it for her album 'Pisat Shamayim'.

In 2020, Shemer's song "Farewell" was composed for the first time by Rami Kleinstein and was released as a duet performed by Rami Kleinstein and Tal Sondak as part of Sondak's album "Shiratam".