ירושלם | Yerushalayim | Jerusalem (1912)
Artist: Abraham Zvi Idelsohn (1882-1938)
Lyrics: Translated from Yiddish
Tune: Folk Tune (Jewish)
The Hebrew text was published in the book Havatselet Ha-Sharon: kovets shire 'am bene yisrael (Warsaw, 1895). It is an adaptation of the Yiddish song "In der shtot yerushalayim" ["In the City of Jerusalem"] and was known by the early Zionists already at the end of the nineteenth century.
In the Table of Contents to Sefer Ha-Shirim, Idelsohn wrote that the text is a translation from "jargonit" [a dialect], a derogatory term he used for the Yiddish language, and the melody is "Polish", the term he used for Yiddish melodies.
“Yerushalayim” talks about the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, expressing the hope that one day soon God will bring the Jewish people back to Jerusalem.
The melody, whose source is Yiddish or Hasidic, is in a minor key.
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