Sam Glaser – Dancing in Jerusalem

Sam Glaser sings Dancing in Jerusalem from his album The Promise. Filmed on location in Israel by Shoot East Productions January 2014. Words and Music by Sam Glaser, ©2012 Glaser Musicworks. www.samglaser.com

Dancing in Jerusalem

This was the last song written for the album. I needed that groovy, let’s all make aliyah theme song that would describe the various major redemption moments of the past century. The opening line quotes the Ethiopian Crown Prince Ahmad when he finally gave permission for the Jews to leave. My heart is Dancing in Jerusalem. Now I just got to get my whole body there!

“God will fulfill your heart’s desire
Take you to the place you want to go”
Keep dreaming of the land of your history
And you’re walking the streets before you know

On wings of eagles they took to the sky
Not sure how this magic carpet would fly
Then cries of joy at the first Shalom
50,000 Yemenites coming home

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Next came Ezra and Nechemia
Redeeming our brothers of Babylon
2000 years in the shuq of Bagdad
Soon every last soul would come along

Though it seemed impossible to achieve
Morocco’s Jews were the next to leave
They’re a pillar of the temple of Solomon
Hear the sound of French ringing through Zion

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Soon we’ll be dancing in Jerusalem
The whole world dancing in Jerusalem

V’lirushalayim ir’cha
B’rachamim tashuv
V’tishkon b’tocha
Ka’asher dibarta

Beta Israel watched in awe
From the tribe of Dan in Ethiopia
Slipping through the border of the Sudan
They crossed the desert to reach their land

We marched for the rights of refusnikim
To help them realize their aliyah dream
After 70 years of a living hell
See the celebration when that curtain fell

My heart is dancing in Jerusalem

Soon we’ll be dancing in Jerusalem
The whole world dancing in Jerusalem
Your heart is dancing in Jerusalem
Time to come home to Jerusalem

Verse 1 depicts aliyah from Yemen, verse 2 from Iraq and Morocco, verse 3 Ethiopia and the former USSR.
“And to Jerusalem, Your city, may You return in compassion, and may You rest within it, as you have spoken.”
–Liturgy