On June 7, 1967, the 28^th of Iyar, 5727, Israeli troops gained control of the Old City of Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian control since 1948. In celebration of that event, Yom Yerushalayim was created, a new Jewish sacred day. But like all our sacred times, Yom Yerushalayim urges us to punctuate our celebration with questions, and to frame our joy with uncertainty. Yom Yerushalayim falls this year on Tuesday evening and Wednesday, May 15-16. As we celebrate this 40^th Yom Yerushalayim, in a time when we continue to search for the meaning of conquest and the road to peace, we invite you to spend a few minutes thinking about the words of Yerushalayim Shel Zahav – "Jerusalem of Gold," the beautiful song written by Naomi Shemer, zikhrona livrakha, shortly before the Six Day War.

The poet wrote:

Yerushalayim shel zahav, v'shel nechoshet v'shel or,

Ha-lo l'khol shirayikh ani kinor.

Jerusalem of gold, of copper and of light,

Am I not a violin to all of your songs?

Jerusalem of gold. A city - a metal - that stands as a gleaming symbol of value, of wealth, of nobility. But it is also a soft metal, malleable, workable. It can easily be shaped to conform to our imagination. Dentists say that even with all the sophisticated, high-tech ceramics and plastics that have been developed in all the laboratories of the world, there is nothing like gold to mimic a tooth. It endures, and wears down, more like a real tooth than anything else. Jerusalem is the city that we chew with, slowly, deliberately, so that we can more easily digest the nourishment of our past. But teeth, we know, can also bite, and so we must take care not to bite or to be bitten. That was just one of the tragic mistakes that our ancestors made. They took the gold that had adorned the wrists and ears and necks of their daughters, and threw it into the fire, and out came a calf that nearly devoured them. How easily a thing of beauty and joy can become a source of shame.

Jerusalem of copper. If gold is the most valuable of metals, then copper is among the least. Gold coins are the currency of the wealthy, while copper coins are tossed with hardly a thought into a beggar's hand. Miners endure tremendous hardships, working tirelessly to find a few gold nuggets, while busy people scurry past copper coins on the street, not bothering to break their stride to pick them up. How can a city be at once so noble and so common? What can we learn from her blend of great value and commonness? And what of the fact that the same metal from which the simplest coins are struck is also a superb conductor of electricity. Our homes, our cities and our world are linked by countless miles of copper wire, powering our every need and providing us with a connection to the great generating stations. Is this too the role of Jerusalem? To keep us wired so that the energy flows through us?

Jerusalem of light. She is a city that makes it possible to see other places, other things. But every artist knows that the quality of the light affects the way we see the world. What kind of light does Jerusalem provide? Is it a bright, steady beam that illumines our world? Or a flickering glow that barely reveals its own presence in the darkness? Does it comfort us with its warmth, or blind us with harsh glare? Does it allow us to see the colors of the world as they truly are, or does it distort our perception? There are so many different kinds of light.

Am I not a violin to all of your songs? The city sings, and we are the accompaniment. How do the violin and the songs fit together? Does the poet compose lyrics and give them to the composer as inspiration for the melody? Or does the violin's pure tone come first, calling forth the words from the poet's soul? This tension has always existed, between every writer of lyrics and composer of tunes. If the two cannot agree then the song will grate on the ears and fill the listener with unease. But if lyricist and composer work together in a loving partnership that allows discovery, anger, reconciliation and mutuality, the result will be the sweetest imaginable harmony.

May this Yom Yerushalayim be a time for celebration and rejoicing, and may it lead us all to ponder the meaning of Jerusalem, her songs, and her place in our lives.