Dr. Eli Sperling, April 15, 2025, for CIE © Center for Israel Education, 2025 Israeli music offers a powerful lens through which we can understand the country’s cultural and political evolution, serving as both a…
Gerda Luft’s, “Cultural Life in Palestine,” is representative of the dozens of excellent analyses of Jewish life and politics in Palestine/Israel and the world located in the annual Palestine Yearbooks, later the Israel Yearbook, published from 1945 forward.
The first version of the Jewish National Library was founded in 1892 in Jerusalem, five years before the First Zionist Congress met; its location evolved to Mount Scopus in Jerusalem during the British Mandate and then after the 1948 war, the library’s books were moved to the Rehavia section of Jerusalem, and then in 1960 to Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University. As a visiting graduate student from The University of Michigan in the summer of 1971, I walked into the mediocrely lit yet vast reading room of the Library.
In this new world of social distancing and staying at home, life can slip into a monotonous routine, but there are good ways to liven up your time at home. One is by watching captivating television. But even that can become stale. How many times can you watch Love Is Blind, Tiger King or The Office? Instead, try streaming shows that deal with Israel. The past twenty years have seen an onslaught of exciting, mesmerizing and thrilling productions that offer insights into the nuances of Israel’s history and culture.
Contemporary Israeli music has long and varied roots. It is rich and dynamically innovative. Instrumental and vocal streams reflect Jewish and Israeli history. Engage your senses in diversely eclectic flavors. Listen wherever you are—links to free online sources; stream Israeli music from many genres and eras.
The public and the judges have decided: Eden Alene, a 19-year-old native of Jerusalem, will represent Israel at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Holland, May 12-16. Alene is the first Israeli of Ethiopian descent to be chosen for this honor. She wowed the audience and all-star panel of judges in the reality show “The Next Star to Eurovision.”
Two sophomore albums from Israeli musicians have received nominations for the upcoming 62nd annual Grammy Awards. The Anat Cohen Tentet, fronted by Israeli jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for “Triple Helix.” Southern Avenue, a Memphis-based soul/blues/R&B band cofounded by Israeli guitarist Ori Naftaly, received a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Blues Album category for “Keep On.”
Lag B’omer is celebrated Wednesday evening, May 22-23. The Omer is the Hebrew term for the 49-day period between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This period commemorates the Spring harvest, and at the end, the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people.
Aveva Dese, an Ethiopian-Israeli singer & songwriter, is a rising star in Israel’s music scene. Many of her songs are in Amharic (official language of Ethiopia) and represent a greater trend of Israeli musicians performing in various diasporic-Jewish languages spoken by members of their families and communities.
By Dr. Eli Sperling Representative of a greater resurgence of Judeo-Arabic music in Israel, the piyyut movement is continuing to spread throughout religious and secular segments of Israeli culture and society. Piyyut, the Hebrew word…
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