Yerushalaim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) - Ofra Haza [Live Performance 1998]

Ofra's performance on the Israeli Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) April 30 1998, at Israel’s 50th anniversary show "Jubilee Bells". She also recorded this song in studio, and it was released on her posthumous Greatest Hits album in 2000. This was her last public performance before her death.
The first 3 verses of this song were written by Naomi Shemer and sung by Shuli Natan at the Israeli Music Festival on May 15 1967, shortly before the Six Day War. The lyrics weave together biblical references as well as traditional Jewish poetry and themes, dealing with exile and longing for Jerusalem.
Only 3 weeks later, the Israeli Defense Forces captured the eastern part of Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians. Under the period of Jordanian rule, Jews had been barred from entering Jerusalem and many holy sites had been desecrated, trashed or used as animal pens. At that time of Jerusalem's liberation, Shemer wrote the final verse. When the Old City was liberated, shofars indeed blew from the Temple Mount, which is part of what inspired Shemer to write the line about shofars sounding from the mountain top. Shemer said she had thought of the 2,000 years the Jews were absent from Israel, and not the 19 years since the declaration of Israeli independence.
Interestingly, "Jerusalem of Gold" was also a special piece of jewelery mentioned in a famous legend about Rabbi Akiva. Shemer had this in mind when she wrote the song.
The song was popularly sung by Shuli Natan and was once considered by the Knesset as a possible replacement to „Hatikva”, Israel's national anthem, but it was never passed.
Intro: "Im Nin'alu" from "Yemenite Songs" (1984) and "Kirya" from "Kirya" (1992)
Directed by Zedi Zarfati.
Produced by Shuki Weiss.
Lyrics (English translation):
0:00 Intro
Even if the doors of the wealthy are locked,
The doors of Heaven will never be locked
The Creator reigns supreme
And He is higher than the angels
Who will let me fly?
Who will let me fly?
Who will let me fly
Someday, someday
Above your landscapes?
City, beauty of God
4:00 Yerushalaim Shel Zahav
The mountain air is clear as water
The scent of pines around
Is carried on the breeze of twilight
And tinkling bells resound
The trees and stones there softly slumber
A dream enfolds them all
So solitary lies the city
And at its heart, a wall
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
The wells are filled again with water
The square with joyous crowd
On the Temple Mount within the City
The shofar rings out loud
Within the caverns in the mountains
A thousand suns will glow
We'll take the road to the Dead Sea together
That runs through Jericho
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
But as I sing to you, my city
And you with crowns adorn
I am the least of all your children
Of all the poets born
Your name will scorch my lips forever
Like a seraph's* kiss, I'm told
If I forget thee, golden city
Jerusalem of gold
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
Jerusalem of gold
And of light and of bronze
I am the lute for all your songs
* A seraph is an angelic being, regarded in traditional Christian and Jewish angelology as belonging to the highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardour and purity.