July 13 1930 – 17 Tammuz 5690
Meyer and Rivka Sapir gave birth to a daughter in Kvutzat Kinneret, calling her Naomi. The child who grew up to become Israel’s most popular poet and song-writer was known as Naomi Shemer, her name from her first marriage to actor Gidon Shemer. Her many songs became the soundtrack for Israel’s first thirty years of existence, but the most famous is definitely Jerusalem of Gold, written just prior to the Six Day War. Classics such as The Eucalyptus Grove, Let It Be (Lu Yehi) and Rabbi Nahman of Braslav’s Song of the Grass are all hers, but she also produced a slew of well-loved children’s songs. Shemer died on July 26 2004 (7 Tammuz 5764).