Please join us on Yom Yerushalayim, Monday, May 26th for presentation with Dr. Ira Epstein. Dr. Epstein will discuss Naomi Shemer's famous and iconic song "Jerusalem of Gold." Please register below to receive to the door access code.
Sponsorship welcome, to benefit the Rabbi's Discretionary Fund.

Jerusalem of Gold: The birth and development of a song

​This spring marks the 58th anniversary of Yerushalayim Shel Zahav, composed by Naomi Shemer for the Israeli Music Festival on May 15th, 1967. Discover how the song grew from an initial two verse version to its present four verses. Learn about the development and meaning of the song’s text and its many historical, Talmudic and biblical allusions. Hear about Shemer’s startling death bed confession to Gil Aldema that her song “Jerusalem of Gold” was derived from the melody of a Basque lullaby. This lecture will present archived recordings and videos of the song and will examine the question of plagiarism in music.

Dr. Ira Epstein served as professor and chairperson of the Communication Skills Department at LaGuardiaCommunity College, C.U.N.Y and directed the college's Technology Learning Center. In addition to his academic life, he worked as a musician performing in the Catskills, recorded with Tayku, a hebrew jazz/rock ensemble, taught music to children in summer camps and toured with Theodore Bikel and Herschel Bernardi in the 70's as part of a UJA program. Most recently he has been lecturing to adults on comedy and music and the music of Israel and he continues to speak at universities, synagogues, senior centers, retirement communities, JCC’s, libraries, Road Scholar programs and at meetings of national organizations such as The National Council of Jewish Women, Hadassah and B'nai Brith. He earned his BA and MA from Brooklyn College, CUNY and his Ph.D. from Fordham University.