by Stan Schroeder<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Jews, we are the beneficiary of two calendars. We are familiar with the secular (Gregorian, named after\u00a0Pope Gregory<\/strong>) calendar that we use in everyday life in the US. We are less familiar with the Hebrew calendar, although we use it for Jewish holidays and\u00a0yahrzeits<\/em>. Like the secular year, the Hebrew year consists of 12 months. Hebrew months are lunar months, beginning with the new moon. The year is adjusted to a solar year by adding an extra month (Adar II) seven times in a 19-year cycle. The Hebrew month of Tammuz started Tuesday, June 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It has another significance that has to do with the yahrzeit of\u00a0Naomi Shemer<\/strong>, the Israeli songwriter who is most famous for writing\u00a0Yerushalayim<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Shel Zahav<\/strong><\/em>(Jerusalem of Gold) in 1967. She wrote another song in 1979,\u00a0Emtza Tammuz<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(Middle of Tammuz<\/em>). In it she writes how sad it is to die in the middle of Tammuz, perhaps thinking of her own possible death. She eventually died of cancer in Tammuz in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naomi Shemer<\/strong>\u00a0(married name) nee\u00a0Naomi Sapir<\/strong>\u00a0was born in Kvutzat Kinneret July 13, 1930. Her parents,\u00a0Rivka and Meir Sapir<\/strong>, were founders of the Kibbutz. Since she was a child she participated in singing and poetry reading evenings. At the age of six, with her mother\u2019s encouragement, Naomi began piano lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Established in 1913, it was known as a kibbutz whose members couldn\u2019t agree on anything. They did agree to send Naomi to learn at musical academies in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv when she became older. A few years later she returned to the Kibbutz where she taught little children music\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1953, she joined the IDF and served in the Nachal Brigade. It contains the prestigious IDF entertainment troupe. After she was discharged, she teamed up with composer\u00a0Yochanan Zarai<\/strong>\u00a0to help write the musical\u00a0Chamesh-Chamesh\u00a0<\/em>(Five Five<\/em>). In 1954 she married actor\u00a0Gideon Shemer\u00a0<\/strong>and in 1956 gave birth to their daughter, Halleli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She was invited to write for the first show of the band\u00a0Batzal Yarok<\/em>\u00a0(Hebrew for Green Onion). This enabled her to start putting her words to her own music. Her first song that she both wrote and composed was\u00a0The Long Path<\/em>\u00a0in 1957 and was a major success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1960, Shemer wrote many songs for Nachal\u2019s entertainment troupe that were all immediate successes. All through the early sixties, Shemer wrote many songs for different groups and musicals, each one broadening her fan base. Around that time Naomi separated from her husband and went with her daughter to Paris. She came back to Israel before 1967 and was married to lawyer\u00a0Mordechai Horowitz<\/strong>. In 1969 she gave birth to their son,\u00a0Ariel Horowitz<\/strong>, who is now an Israeli singer-songwriter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the pinnacles of Shemer\u2019s career was in 1967 when she wrote the song\u00a0Yerushalayim<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Shel Zahav<\/strong><\/em>(Jerusalem of Gold<\/em>). The idea for the song came from Mayor of Jerusalem\u00a0Teddy Kollek<\/strong>, who wanted a special song written about the city hosting the Israel Song Festival that year. The song was an instant success at the festival. Three weeks later the Six Day War broke out, and East Jerusalem and the Old City were recaptured. Shemer then added a new verse to the song describing the situation after the war. In the months after the war the song became a sort of second national anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naomi Shemer won a battle over cancer in the late seventies. At this time she wrote the song\u00a0Emtza Tammuz<\/em>\u00a0(Middle of Tammuz<\/em>) in which she foresaw her death during the Hebrew month of Tammuz. Around 20 years later, the cancer returned, and eventually led to her death June 26, 2004 during the month of Tammuz. She was buried on the Kibbutz where she was born and raised. In accordance with her wishes there was no eulogy at her funeral. Instead several of her songs were sung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statements by prominent Israelis after her death summarized her contributions to Israel and those of us who love the land and its inhabitants.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNaomi Shemer\u2019s Hebrew songs left bookmarks on the country\u2019s history,\u201d said President\u00a0Moshe Katsav<\/strong>. \u201cHer songs expressed an intense love for the country and for the people of Israel. The words of her songs are her legacy, and they will accompany us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Education Minister\u00a0Limor Livnat\u00a0<\/strong>instructed schools around the country to devote part of their studies that day to Shemer\u2019s lifetime work. \u201cWe have had a great privilege that a giant like Naomi Shemer has lived and created in our generation,\u201d Livnat said. \u201cNaomi has left us an immortal legacy of Hebrew works on which many generations of Israelis will be raised,\u201d she said. \u201cThe kingdom of Hebrew song has today lost its queen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Prime Minister\u00a0Shimon Peres\u00a0<\/strong>said Naomi Shemer was a rare example of Israeli consensus. \u201cFew people have been able to unite the nation with their personality, with their actions and creations, and with sadness at their deaths,\u201d Peres said. \u201cShe left us with song, taught us to mourn, and to rejoice as a nation, and as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNaomi Shemer\u2019s death is a great loss,\u201d said actor\u00a0Shaike Levy<\/strong>, who as part of the entertainment troupe performed many of Shemer\u2019s songs. \u201cThere are composers whose creations flow like a river. There are others whose works are like a fountain. But with Naomi Shemer it was like rain, because we all got wet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her closeness to the natural cycles of the Land of Israel, coupled with her deep knowledge of the Bible, its text steeped in natural imagery, made her work so Israeli. Her songs are uniquely part of this marvelous country that is so closely tied both to ancient Israel and to the modern state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n >>>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atzuv Lamut Be\u2019emtza Hatamuz\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Emtza Hatamuz\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Atzuv lamut be\u2019emtza hatamuz Atzuv lamut be\u2019emtza hatamuz<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Middle of Tammuz<\/strong>\u00a0 Naomi Shemer<\/strong>\u00a01979<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Stan Schroeder As Jews, we are the beneficiary of two calendars. We are familiar with the secular (Gregorian, named after\u00a0Pope Gregory) calendar that we use in everyday life in the US. We are less familiar with the Hebrew calendar, although we use it for Jewish holidays and\u00a0yahrzeits. Like the secular year, the Hebrew year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/22"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirami.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
diglei hakayitz nisa\u2019im el al
al rosh\/berosh hatoren tor homeh ve\u2019lo yech\u2019dal
ki al keitzech ve\u2019al k\u2019tzirech heidad nafal
Atzuv lamut be\u2019emtza hatamuz
davka ksheha\u2019afarsekim beshefa
vechol hapri davka tzochek basal
ve\u2019al keitzech ve\u2019al k\u2019tzirech heidad nafal
Atzuv lamut be\u2019emtza hatamuz
aval\/achshav be\u2019emtza hatamuz amut
el bustanei hapri shehityat\u2019mu
heidad achar heidad nafol yipol
ve\u2019al keitzech ve\u2019al k\u2019tzirech ve\u2019al hakol<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s Sad To Die In Mid-Tammuz\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s sad to die in mid-Tammuz
summer flags are carried to and fro
on the ship\u2019s mast, noisy line and it won\u2019t stop
for on your summer and harvest, hurrahs fell
It\u2019s sad to die in mid-Tammuz
exactly when the peaches are plentiful
and just as all the fruit laughs in the basket
and on your summer and harvest, hurrahs fell
It\u2019s sad to die in mid-Tammuz
but now in mid-Tammuz I shall die
to the fruit gardens that were orphaned
hurrahs after hurrahs will surely fall
and on your summer and harvest and on everything
It\u2019s sad to die in mid-Tammuz<\/p>\n\n\n\n