Re: Yerushalayim shel zahav

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

For 35 years this song, 'Yerushalayim shel zahav', has been one of the most
recognized, most widely sung, most beloved, and most widely respected in the
Jewish community world wide. Current politics aside, one could say, that
other than Hatikvah, (and possibly some very much older folk or holiday
favorite), this song was THE representative song of Jewish sentiment world
wide. (There are, of course, as there have always been, diverent political
and religious views within the Jewish community AND always will be, but in
this case, I believe those to be a small minority). 

Many American/Western Jews may not have known completely, or didn't
understand completely the entirety of the verses of this song, but they knew
and sang the refrain. I would say one could compare it to becoming a Jewish
national "hymn" in some respects, in the old-fashioned meaning of a unifying
'hymn'. Very often this type of phenomenon takes place outside the realm of
politics, but rather in the world of the heart and in community/identity
formation. I have seen Jewish groups and communities all over the world, 
large and small, young and old, in religious settings and secular, sing this
song with an emotional fervor not held for any other. At least in the time
frame of the late 20th century, this was one of the most important Jewish
songs, if not THE most important Jewish song. The fact of that phenomenon
will not be diminished by retrospective reinterpretations, assignments or
political overlays that occur in this new century. 

Judy


Ari Davidow wrote:
> 
> Without wanting to get in a big discussion about this--I can represent what I 
> have been told about objections to "Jerusalem of Gold," but am not a primary 
> source, and apparently no one else on the list is--but this issue is not with 
> the "Hashiveynu." Rather, I have been told that when Shemer describes the 
> markets in the Old City as "empty" there is a problem. The markets were empty 
> of Jews (gee, wonder how that happened), but certainly in no other sense 
> "empty". In that sense, the poem is seen by some as dehumanizing those who 
> were teeming in the markets--the Arabs--but who weren't Jewish.
> 
> I hope I have represented this reasonably. Please don't press me on it, as I 
> agree, partially, with the premise (well, yes, it is rather unfortunate to 
> refer to the Old City markets as empty when they aren't), but can probably 
> also be heard to have some problems with the disingenuousness of the argument 
> (already pointed out--how did we get there and who is taking responsibility?).
> 
> So, no, hard as it is to believe, I don't think this is a theological thing 
> :-).
> 
> ari
> 
> At 02:47 AM 9/24/2002 +0000, you wrote:
> >I don't mean or intend to get sidetracked into a discussion of settlements,
> >etc.--surely not the place--but I do want to note, in re Lori's comment on
> >(by comparison) "Al Kol Eyle," that "the last line of the chorus--"return us
> >and we will be returned...to the good land"--expresses a core traditional
> >Jewish value, iterated and reiterated (as Shlomo Riskin used to say)
> >throughout the liturgy--including (Jewish calendar-wise) both the High
> >Holidays liturgy and the Regalim (e.g., Sukkot) liturgy.  Obviously some may
> >find support in that lyric for a particular political position--which really
> >means a particular priority--that not all share, but I'm not sure what Lori
> >means by the "original more general [meaning]."
> >
> >Naomi Shemer may have appropriated the "Hashiveinu" line from Eits Chayim
> >and Tanach and conjoined it to "the good land"--in the original context it
> >refers to a more general "returning" (teshuvah) to G*d), so maybe that's
> >what Lori means; but that Jews should return to the Land of Israel is,
> >again, a core traditional value--not a political spin.
> >
> >--Robert Cohen
> >
> >
> >
> >_________________________________________________________________
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> >
> 

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