Listening to the beautiful lyrics of “Jerusalem of Gold” written by the late Israeli folk singer Naomi Shemer, you might not suspect it to be anything but a tribute to the famous city of Jerusalem. However unapparent in the lyrics, this song was actually once used as a second anthem for right wing expansionist policies in Israel.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Hewitt’s Upper School Choir director, Mr. Denver, was introduced to the song by a student’s parent 15 years ago. He chose to add it to the choir’s repertoire for Hewitt’s annual Thanksgiving Assembly since Chanukah and Thanksgiving overlap this year. This song was immediately popular amongst choir members; as they sang it constantly around school, one of Hewitt’s Upper School history teachers, Ms. Gallin, took notice and immediately recounted the song’s history.
When I asked her if there were any potential issues with singing this song at the Thanksgiving concert, she explained that the song is not a religious problem and that the students are would not be imposing on Judaism in any way by singing it. “It’s more political. The song was written weeks before the Six-Day War in June 1967, when there was great and legitimate fear that Israel was going to be destroyed by invading armies. There have been a number of wars in Israel between Israel and Arab countries that surround it since Israel’s founding in 1948.”
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Before the war started on June 5th in 1967, there were a number of attacks against Israel by Palestinian guerrilla groups based in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Israel responded with a strike on the village of Samu and an air battle against Syria that inevitably wounded and killed many. Later, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt created an alliance against Israel. When Israel became aware of this alliance, it launched an air assault on these countries. Thus, Israel succeeded in capturing the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Golan Heights, and the city of Jerusalem.
Ms. Gallin continued, “I was surprised because I knew the author of the song, Naomi Shemer, had become a representative in her songs of the far right wing settler movement in Israel. I thought that having students sing even part of that song could be mistakenly interpreted as support for that political position.”
Although this song has a great deal of historical context, I wondered how those without this context would respond to the performance. To this, Tajae Williams ’16 explained, “Not knowing anything about the history of the song, I wouldn’t really care [if the choir sang it], and I don’t think a lot of others would either.” Olivia Tracey ’16, a member of the choir, “I was really disappointed that we didn’t get to sing the song at first, just because we didn’t know the historical context for the song. I liked the lyrics of the song but wouldn’t want to offend anyone. Now, we know the context, so it is actually better not to perform it.”
Likewise, Mr. Denver stated, “There was never any controversy about performing this song. [But] I wouldn’t want to perform a song that could possibly offend anyone.” Therefore, Mr. Denver has decided to take another approach for the Thanksgiving Assembly; the Upper School Choir will instead perform Stephen Schwartz’s “Meadowlark,” a favorite among Hewitt students.