Six-Day War veteran donates Naomi Shemer’s reply: ‘For those who say they’d rather die than enlist’

On June 6, 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli soldier Aharon Bar-Oz wrote to songwriter Naomi Shemer. His message, written on behalf of his reconnaissance unit, expressed his admiration for her song "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold), which had become an integral part of their lives as they fought and won. Bar-Oz, who was wounded in the war, noted that he wrote the letter on a soldier's back, as there were no tables or chairs available.

He sent the postcard to Shemer's hometown, Kvutzat Kinneret, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Nine days later, Shemer responded from Tel Aviv, expressing her pleasure that her song had helped Bar-Oz and his unit. She also mentioned that she was glad to be able to help him from afar through the power of song. The postcard, which preserved their emotional exchange, was displayed in the National Library's permanent exhibition for three years.

Recently, a visitor at the library's visitor center recognized Bar-Oz's handwriting as her father's, identifying him as the long-anonymous soldier. This discovery led the library to contact his family and encourage them to deposit Shemer's handwritten reply in the National Library as well. Bar-Oz's daughter, Inbar, shared the news with the guide leading the tour.

She explained that her father had preserved Shemer's reply for nearly six decades and now wanted it to be preserved for future generations at the National Library. "Jerusalem of Gold," written by Shemer at the request of Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek, became a national symbol almost immediately after Jerusalem was reunified, just three weeks before the Six-Day War.