Jerusalem of Gold

Perforation type: 14 ¼x14 ¼

Subject:

5 shekels. The issue is dedicated to the song "Golden Jerusalem"*.

On the stamp a violin is depicted - in the song with it the poet and the singer are compared. The violin symbolically shows the main symbols of the city, one of which is the Montefiore mill.

Perforation: Harrow   Perforation type: 14 ¼x14 ¼

Subject:

10 shekels (the souvenir sheet went on sale for 15 shekels).

The stamp on the sheet repeats the main stamp of the issue.

Additional:

"Jerusalem of Gold" (Hebrew: ירושלים של זהב‎, Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) is an Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer.
It is also the unofficial national anthem of Israel, often contrasted with the official anthem Hatikva. The original song described the Jewish people's 2,000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's re-unification.

Naomi Shemer wrote the original song for the Israeli Song Festival (it was not in competition but had been commissioned by the Mayor, Teddy Kollek), held on 15 May 1967, the night after Israel's nineteenth Independence Day.
She chose the then-unknown Shuli Nathan to sing the song.

Some of the song's melody is based on a Basque lullaby, Pello Joxepe[3] (Pello is a typical basque name, but it can also mean Foolish Joseph), composed by Juan Francisco Petriarena 'Xenpelar' (1835–1869). Shemer heard a rendition by singer/songwriter Paco Ibáñez, who visited Israel in 1962 and performed the song to a group that included Shemer and Nehama Hendel.
She later acknowledged hearing Hendel perform Pello Joxepe in the mid-1960s, and that she had unconsciously based some of the melody on the lullaby. Shemer felt very bad when she found that it was similar to Pello Joxepe, but when Ibáñez was asked how he felt about the issue, he replied he was "glad it helped in some way", and that he was not angry, nor did he perceive it as plagiarism.

At that time, the Old City was still controlled by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and under its sovereignty rule. Jews had been banned from the Old City and the rest of Jerusalem east of it, losing their homes and possessions and becoming refugees. All Jews were barred from either returning or entering the areas under Jordanian control, and many holy sites were desecrated and damaged during that period. Only three weeks after the song was published, the Six-Day War broke out, and the song became a morale-boosting battle cry of the Israel Defense Forces. Shemer herself sang it for the troops before the war and the festival, making them among the first in the world to hear it.

On 7 June, the IDF wrested eastern Jerusalem and the Old City from the Jordanians. When Shemer heard the paratroopers singing "Jerusalem of Gold" at the Western Wall, she wrote the final verse, countering the phrases of lamentation in the second verse. The line about shofars sounding from the Temple Mount is a reference to an event that actually took place on that day.

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This information has been taken from Wikipedia
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**The Moses Montefiore Windmill or Jaffa Gate Windmill is a landmark windmill in Jerusalem, Israel. Built in the Yemin Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem in 1857, which was then in Ottoman-ruled Palestine, it is 59 feet (18 m) high, and at that time the windmill was an ultra-modern one for grinding grain into flour. It would continue to be used until steam-powered mills made it obsolete.

The windmill was funded by Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore who donated large sums of money to promote industry, education and health. Montefiore left an indelible mark on the Jerusalem landscape with the windmill in Yemin Moshe, named after him, which was the first Jewish neighborhood built outside the Old City walls. The funding came from the estate of an American Jew, Judah Touro, who appointed Montefiore executor of his will. The project, bearing the hallmarks of nineteenth century artisanal revival, aimed to promote productive enterprise in the Yishuv. With Montefiore's funding, the windmill and adjacent cottages and almshouses opposite the Old City were able to be built. The mill was built by Messrs Holman Brothers, the Canterbury, Kent millwrights. The stone for the tower was quarried locally. The tower has walls 3 feet (910 mm) thick at the base and is almost 50 feet (15.24 m) high. During construction of the mill, the parts were landed at Jaffa with great difficulty as there were no suitable facilities for landing the heavy machinery. Transport of the various pieces to Jerusalem was by camel. As originally built, the mill had a Kentish style cap and four Patent sails. It was winded by a fantail. The mill drove two pairs of millstones, flour dressers, wheat cleaners and other machinery.

In a book published in 1933 two anecdotes are told surrounding the windmill's construction. The first is that there was much opposition from among the local millers to the windmill, who looked upon it with the evil eye, sending their head man to curse it. Predictions were made that the mill would be washed away during the rainy season, and after it survived intact, it was declared to be the work of Satan. The second is that the Arabs developed a taste for the lubricating oil and would lick the bearings to get at it, prompting fear that the mill would burn down due to bearings running dry. A solution was found by placing a leg of pork in the oil barrel and the Arabs were said to have lost their taste for oil after that.

These activities were part of a broader program to enable the Jews of Palestine to become self supporting in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish homeland. In addition to the windmill (to provide cheap flour to poor Jews), he built a printing press and textile factory, and helped to finance several agricultural colonies. He also attempted to acquire land for Jewish cultivation, but was hampered by Ottoman restrictions on land sale to non-Muslims.

The mill was not a success due to a lack of wind. The mill had ceased to work by 1891, and after that was used as a studio and a house. Another windmill stood at Rehia, and was of similar appearance, probably being modelled on the Moses Montefiore Mill.

Today, the Moses Montefiore Windmill is a museum dedicated to both the life and word of Moses Montefiore. Next to the windmill they have a reconstruction of Montefiore's carriage.

Size (of sheet, booklet) mm: 139x84