Re: Yerushalayim shel zahav and off-topic

[Sylvia Schildt <creativa...>]

I have been lurking around the yerushalayim shel zahav discussion for some
time now and find it somewhat silly.

given as i am to fairness as any, i must point out a few things:

1. lighten up guys - there is such a thing as poetic license.

2. the Jewish population of Yerushalayim is 4 times more than any other
group.  So when the Jews ain't there it's empty. Any stall merchant would
tell you that when 75% of your public is absent it's empty

3. Whatever your politics, Yerushalayim shel zahav is a Jewish city and has
been so at least spiritually since time immemorial. Should we, in the spirit
of political correctness start saying, "Next year in Jerusalem and for the
Arabs too (or with Arafet's consent)????"


Which brings me to the off-topic part. As a .lifelong socialist -
Forvertz/Arbeter Ring/Norman Thomas brand, I have been deeply troubled
lately by the left.  It has abandoned the kind of broader vision of a
better, fairer world  evidenced for instance in the body of great Yiddish
Bundist songs - for knee-jerk politics which feels pity for slime like
Arafat and his cronies who exploit (remember that word?) their own people
shamelessly over a democracy which is not without flaws, but fairer by far.


Sylvia Schildt



on 10/1/02 6:09 AM, Ryna Kedar - Mekatleget for music lib. at
ryna_k (at) tzion(dot)tel-aviv(dot)gov(dot)il wrote:

> On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Ari Davidow wrote:
> 
> " 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 believe there is another explanation. The verse with the "empty market
> place" was written before the 6 Day war. After the war and our "return" to
> the market place, she wrote a verse to replace the original one and this
> is the verse that is sung today.
> Chazarnu el borot hamayim, lashuk velakikar...
> (We have returned to the water cisterns, to the marketplace and the
> square...)
> 
> Hope this clears matters up somewhat.
> 
> Ryna Kedar
> Head, Acquisitions & Cataloging Division
> The Felicja Blumental Music Center & Library
> Tel-Aviv, Israel
> 
> 

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