Naomi Shemer (Hebrew: × ×¢×ž×™ שמר‎; July 13, 1930-2004) was a leading Israeli songwriter hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song."
Naomi Shemer (Sapir) was born on Kvutzat Kinneret, a kibbutz her parents had helped found, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In the 1950s she served in the Israeli Defense Force's Nahal entertainment troupe, and studied music at the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem. She married Mordechai Horowitz and had two children, Lali and Ariel.
Shemer continued to write and perform until her death. She died of cancer in 2004 at the age of 73. "Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ×™×¨×•×©×œ×™× ×©×œ זהב‎, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. The original song described the Jewish people's 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's unification under Jewish control.
Naomi Shemer wrote the original song for the Israeli Music Festival on May 15, 1967, the night after Israel's 19th Independence Day. She chose the then-unknown Shuli Nathan to sing the song. At that.