Till Israels Självständighetsdag 2018

Med anledning av Israels sjuttioårsdag,

som just nu pågår i Jerusalem under
sjuttio timmar: 

Här sjunger den tyvärr tidigt bortgångna
Ofra Haza 

Yerushalayim Shel Zahav
(Det gyllene Jerusalem),
sången som blev symbolen för
stadens befrielse och återförening 1967
efter över tvåtusen års 

främmande ockupation:

"Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב‎, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav)

is a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967.

The original song described the Jewish people's 2000-year

longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse

after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's

unification under Israeli control.

At that time, the Old City was under Jordanian rule;

Jews had been barred from entering, and many holy

sites had been desecrated. Only three weeks after the

song was published, the Six-Day War broke out. The song

was the battle cry and morale booster of the Israeli troops.

Shemer even sang it for them before the war and festival,

making them among the first in the world to hear it.

On 7 June, the Israel Defense Forces captured the eastern

part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians.

When Shemer heard the paratroopers singing "Jerusalem

of Gold" at the Western Wall, she wrote a final verse, reversing

the phrases of lamentation found in the second verse.

The line about shofars sounding from the Temple Mount

is a reference to an event that actually took

place on 7 June.