Not just Jerusalem of Gold

May 16, 2007 - 4:06 PM by Avi

Many cities have parades, but in my city, the entire world celebrates. Last night, I attended the annual Jerusalem parade. Reminding me of a local town festival, with ancient tractors chugging down King George Street, downtown Jerusalem’s main thoroughfare, and an oddly-placed group of Messianic Jews rather than a gala parade celebrating Israel’s capital, I was a bit disappointed at this annual event.

But, this was made up for, by the televised gala concert held at Gan Sacher. While all of my friends seemed to be busy (boo on them!), I trekked down to the park all by myself. Made up of a colorful array of faces – from secular, skimpily dressed Russians to yeshiva students in white shirts and suede kippot and modestly-dressed married women, with their hair covered, the concert represented all that is good about Jerusalem. Watching teenagers of all persuasions and from all over Israel sing along to classical Israeli folksongs (Yehoram Gaon singing ‘Al Pisgat Har HaTzofim’ On the Top of Mt. Scopus!) and folkdancing to classic songs made me proud of Israeli patriotism and my city and home. With all the negative press and scandals going around, it’s nice to know that Israelis still hold Jerusalem dear to their hearts. Of course, nothing could beat the rapid rhymic cheering from the Idan Reichel Project or HaDag HaNachash all singing about Jerusalem. I didn’t even realize there were that many songs about Jerusalem – raised in America, where the only song that seems to matter is Naomi Shemer’s Yerushalem shel Zahav, I was embarrassed that I was unable to sing along to most of these songs.

Yet, when Ninet Tayeb, one of Israel’s newest pop sensations (winner of Kochav Nolad, Tayeb was a popular contestant when she auditioned while still in the army), came on stage at the end, singing Shemer’s hit, Jerusalem of Gold, I caught myself instinctively joining the crowd in sync while watching the flag wave. I am not one to normally sing along at concerts – preferring to remain silent and stiff, while engaging in introspective contemplation, but seeing crowds of Israelis – religious and secular, young and old – celebrating Jerusalem, my adopted city, I could not help but feel hopeful about Israel’s future.