MOTOR COACH TOURS
AIR AND CRUISE TRAVEL

"VAN GOGH" AT DIA

$59

Apr. 8 & 30; May 12 & 21 (Dinner)

Cyber Spot reviews and Web site addresses are now on JN Online:

www.detroitjewishnews.corn

"MAMA MIA" TORONTO

July 14-16; Aug. 11-13 (Tour, 2 Nts. Hotel, Play). $339

(NEW HIT MUSICAL FROM LONDON)

"AIDA" N.Y (NEW BROADWAY HIT!)

July 26 - 30 (Meals, Tours, Cruise, Show)

$699

Content
Design
Ease of Use

SHAW FEST. (Call For Plays & Schedule)
FR $239
.
July 8-9 Thru Oct.

"THE LION KING" - TORONTO
$354
Oct. - Dec. (2 Nts. Hotel, Show, Tour)

"ITZHAK PERLMAN" - FLINT-WHITING AUDITORIUM

Apr. 11 (Dinner)

$99

WASH., D.C. (& Smithsonian Craft Show)
$453
Apr. 27 - 30 (Meals, Hotel, Tour)

`Jerusalem
Of Gold'

HONG KONG OR BEIJING BEST VALUE!
7 DAYS/5 NTS.

FR $848 Until Mar.12 FR $918 Apr.1- May
Incl. Air From Det. & Hotel (Week-end Surcharges Apply)

CALL FOR MORE TRIPS & FLYERS

All rates P.O. Dbl. except where noted.

BERKLEY TOURS AND TRAVEL

248-865-8890 • 1-800-875-8687

erusalem of gt

HURRY!

YERUSHALAYIM SHEL ZAHAV

Limited

IMITAIM,R,

Time
Offer

FREE
DIGITAL PHONE

FREE
NIGHTS

FREE
WEEKENDS

FREE
LONG DISTANCE

400 MINUTES
$39.95 A MONTH
ANY QUESTIONS!

PAG E RONE
eritech

Cellular and Paging Services

Crosswinds Plaza • Nest to Kroger
Orchard Lake and Lone Pine
West Bloomfield

248-538-21,00

ARNOLD

THIS SITE IS DEVOTED TO THE SONG
YERUSHALAYIM SHEL ZAHAV -
JERUSALEM OF GOLD_

LINCOLN-MERCURY-MAZDA

Drive East Pay The Least

mamas

PASSION FOR THE ROAD""

LINCOLN

Mercury

0-.)

GIL PRATT

Leasing Manager

Your West Side Specialist
(810) 445-6000

2/4

2000

108

Gratiot Ave. at 12 Mile Road
Roseville, MI 48066
Fax (810) 771-7340

I

JAMES D. BESSER
Special to the JewishNews

is just a song, right?

But "Yerushalayim Shel
Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold")
has captured the collective
imagination of Israel, a land where the
idea of a "capital" means much more
than just a collection of government
buildings.
This not-for-profit English-lan-
guage site tells visitors everything

they could possibly want to know
about the famous song. The text
reads a little like a master's thesis —
which isn't surprising, since the Web
site began as a school project for
Yael Levine Katz, a young Israeli
scholar.
Katz provides a complete history of
the song, which goes back to the
1967 Israel Song Festival.
At the request of then Jerusalem
Mayor Teddy Kollek, most of the
songs had themes tied to Jerusalem.

Naomi Shemer, a young songwriter,
began with a theme from Rabbi
Akiva, who promised his wife "that
if he had the means, he would give
her a 'Jerusalem of gold,'" Katz
writes.
The song was composed and first
performed in the tense days just
before the Six-Day War (June 1967).
The liberation of Jerusalem turned
Shemer's work into an emotional
anthem.
Katz goes on to give a detailed —
footnoted, even — account of the
song's lasting legacy; it is commonly
referred to as Israel's second national
anthem, she says.
A section. on lyrics provides the
words to the song in Hebrew translit-
eration and links to sites where it can
be seen in English. Another section —
"Jewish Sources" — provides a
detailed analysis of Jewish texts that
underlie the concept of a city of gold.
Another section offers links to sites
around the world where visitors can
download MIDI files of the song so
they can listen to it on their comput-
ers.
The last section offers assorted
resources for learning more about the
song and teaching its meaning.
Katz holds a Ph.D. from the
Talmud Department of Bar-Ilan
University in Ramat Gan, Israel. The
site derives, in part, from her lectures
on the "Jerusalem of Gold" theme in
talmudic literature.
Graphically, the site is pretty utili-
tarian. There are no on-site audio clips
of the song — although that may be
because Katz, unlike many
Webmasters, respects copyright laws.
Still, the information here is fasci-
nating and the organization compe-
tent. It's also refreshing to find a
Web site that offers information in
depth, rather than a superficial sam-
pling.
Check it out at:

www.jerusalemofgold.co.il

❑

earn more about Jewish
y through the ages?
eck out this interesting,
rly technical Web site.
ice of the Wise observa-