Naomi Shemer was born in 1930 in Kvutzat Kinneret, one of the socialist communities located at the shores of the Kinneret. She started playing the piano at the age of six and began writing songs in her 20s.
In 1967, then Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kolek asked Shemer to write a song about the city. Several weeks after "Jerusalem of Gold" was first performed, the Six-Day War broke out, and the song became the war's anthem.
The Yom Kippur war of 1973 led Shemer to write another big hit, "Lu Yehi." Originally conceived as a Hebrew version of the Beatles' "Let it be," Shemer's husband persuaded her that the Hebrew words deserved a "more Israeli tune," and thus the blue-and-white song was born.
Shemer continued to produce lyric, personal, intimate songs of the land of Israel, reflecting the individual's perspectives and doubts, rather than the group collective experience of earlier songwriters. She was awarded the Israel Prize for Hebrew song in 1983.
Naomi Shemer died Saturday morning in Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital at the age of 74 and will be laid to rest later today.
Imshin and Alisa and Shai have more.
Update: My favorite Naomi Shemer song (a hard choice, so many of them are so beautiful).
