1.
Hebrew language
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Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
2.
Tel Aviv
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Tel Aviv-Yafo is a major city in Israel, located on the countrys Mediterranean coastline. It is the center and the technology hub of Israel, with a population of 432,892. Tel Aviv is the largest city in the Gush Dan region of Israel, Tel Aviv is also a focal point in the high-tech concentration known as the Silicon Wadi. Tel Aviv is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, headed by Ron Huldai, Tel Aviv is a global city, and is the thirty eighth most important financial center in the world. Tel Aviv is known to have the third-largest economy of any city in the Middle East after Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City, the city receives over a million international visitors annually. Known as The City that Never Sleeps and a party capital, it has a lively nightlife, the city was founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa. It is named after the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzls 1902 novel, Altneuland, the modern citys first neighbourhoods had already been established in 1886, the first being Neve Tzedek. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffas, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Avivs White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzls Altneuland, translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. The name was chosen in 1910 from several suggestions, including Herzliya and it was found fitting as it embraced the idea of a renaissance in the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for spring, symbolizing renewal, and tel is a man-made mound accumulating layers of civilization built one over the other and symbolizing the ancient. Although founded in 1909 as a settlement on the sand dunes North of Jaffa. The marketing pamphlets advocating for its establishment in 1906, wrote, In this city we will build the streets so they have roads and sidewalks and electric lights. Every house will have water wells that will flow through pipes as in every modern European city. Since 1886, Jewish settlers had founded new neighborhoods outside Jaffa on the current territory of Tel Aviv, the first was Neve Tzedek, built on lands owned by Aharon Chelouche and inhabited primarily by Mizrahi Jews. Other neighborhoods were Neve Shalom, Yafa Nof, Achva, Ohel Moshe, Kerem HaTeimanim, once Tel Aviv received city status in the 1920s, those neighborhoods joined the newly formed municipality, now becoming separated from Jaffa. The Second Aliyah led to further expansion, in 1906, a group of Jews, among them residents of Jaffa, followed the initiative of Akiva Aryeh Weiss and banded together to form the Ahuzat Bayit society. The societys goal was to form a Hebrew urban centre in an environment, planned according to the rules of aesthetics
3.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
4.
Music of Israel
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The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements that would define the national spirit. In addition to creating an Israeli style and sound, Israels musicians have made significant contributions to classical, jazz, pop rock and other international music genres. Since the 1970s, there has been a flowering of musical diversity, with Israeli rock, folk and jazz musicians creating and performing extensively, many of the worlds top classical musicians are Israelis or Israeli expatriates. The works of Israeli classical composers have been performed by leading orchestras worldwide, Music in Israel is an integral part of national identity. Beginning in the days of the pioneers, Hebrew songs and public singalongs were encouraged and supported by the establishment, public singalongs were a common pastime, and were for them a force in defining their identity, wrote Nathan Shahar. This view of music as nation-building continues to this day and we are in the midst of creating a culture, says Nahum Heyman, one of Israels leading music composers and music historians. Jewish immigrants from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere brought with them their musical traditions, many of the Zionist immigrants who arrived before 1935 came from Russia. They brought with them the folk tunes and musical style of Russia, Songs in the early days were often contrafacta – Russian folk tunes with translated or new lyrics in Hebrew. An example is Shir Hamitpachat, a Polish song by Jerzy Petersburski with Hebrew lyrics by the Israeli poet and these Russian-style tunes are generally in a minor key, and often accompanied by accordion, or by guitar imitating the sound of the balalaika. Klezmer music was brought to the country by the immigrants of the early 20th century. Many Hassidic and klezmer melodies found their way into the canon of Israeli folk music, with lyrics translated from the Yiddish, or new Hebrew words. S. Among the leaders in Israeli music are singers and bands such as, Etti Ankri, David DOr, Aviv Gefen, Rita, Shlomo Artzi, HaYehudim, Ivri Lider, and Dana International. Other pop stars include Ninet Tayeb, Harel Skaat and Shiri Maimon – all winners of the Israeli talent search TV show Kokhav Nolad, Maimon represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, and reached top 4 out of over 25 countries, with her ballad Hasheket Shenishar. In 2013, there were collaborations between older Israeli singers and young artists. Corinne Elal, Arik Einstein, Chava Alberstein, Yehoram Gaon, Allon Olearchik, the earliest composers of Hebrew folk music were influenced by the sounds of the local Arab music. Later, Oriental musical traditions were brought by Jewish immigrants from Other Middle Eastern countries – from Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, the singers add Arab-style melismatic ornamentation, and often sing in a nasal tone, similar to Arab music. The melodies are often modal, swinging between major and minor, and diction is guttural, while Arab music is traditionally homophonic, based on melodic patterns called maqamat, Muzika Mizrahit is closer to Greek music, has harmonic accompaniment and usually uses a western, 12-tone scale
5.
Ehud Manor
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Ehud Manor was an Israeli songwriter, translator, and radio and TV personality. Ehud Weiner was born in Binyamina and he had two brothers, Zvi and Yehuda. He was married to actress Ofra Fuchs for 40 years, together, a fallen soldier in War of Attrition in 1968. Ehuds other brother, Zeev, committed suicide in 2003 as a result of financial trouble, Ehud Manor, who had been a heavy smoker earlier in his life, was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 2000s. Although he recovered, the cancer treatment weakened his heart, and he died suddenly on April 12,2005, aged 63, Ehud Manor began working for Israel radio in the 1960s as a musical editor. He changed his surname to Manor as it was customary at the time for radio announcers to adopt Hebrew names. During his career, he wrote over 1,250 Hebrew songs, including Ein Li Eretz Acheret, Brit Olam, BaShanah HaBaah which became a standard, Zo Yalduti HaShniya. The latter was written in memory of his brother, who was killed during his service in 1968. Also a successful translator, Manor translated more than 600 works into Hebrew, including such Broadway hits as Cabaret, in addition, he translated Barney songs into Hebrew for the Israeli coproduction Hachaverim Shel Barney. In 1998, Manor was awarded the Israel Prize for Hebrew song, the prize committee noted that For the past 30 years, he has expressed our mood through the hundreds of songs he has written together with the finest composers. The man who declared that he had no country is the laureate of the Israel Prize. Shortly before he died, Manor was chosen to receive a doctorate from Bar-Ilan University in recognition of his prolific activity in the field of Hebrew music. Manors songs are the most played on Israeli radio, list of Israel Prize recipients Music of Israel Culture of Israel The Official Ehud Manor Site Obituary in Haaretz
6.
Noam Sheriff
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Noam Sheriff is an Israeli composer, conductor and arranger. Sheriff is one of Israel’s most versatile and world-renowned musicians and he has been the music director of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra. Noam Sheriff studied composition in Tel Aviv with Paul Ben-Haim and in Berlin with Boris Blacher, conducting in Salzburg with Igor Markevitch, and philosophy at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. In Noam Sheriff’s music one finds a solution to the fusion of East and West, of musical elements from ancient Mediterranean cultures. Among his most significant works are the three scale vocal compositions that form a trilogy, mechaye Hamethim which was premiered in Amsterdam by the IPO in 1987, based on the Jewish East-European traditional music as well as on the ancient oriental Jewish themes of the Samaritans. Sephardic Passion, which was premiered in Toledo, Spain, by the IPO, Zubin Mehta, psalms of Jerusalem was premiered in 1995 in Jerusalem to open the 3000 year celebrations of that city with its four choirs around the hall singing in Hebrew and Latin. Sheriffs newest vocal work, Genesis, was commissioned and premiered by the Israel Philharmonic, and Sheriff recently completed an opera called Hagolem. Noam Sheriff regularly conducts both his compositions and other works of the repertoire all over the world. Between 1989 and 1995 he was the Music Director of the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le-Zion which, under his leadership, achieved success unprecedented in Israeli musical history. Since January 2002 he has been the Music Director of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, in April 2004 he was nominated Music Director of the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra. Since 1963 Noam Sheriff has been teaching composition and conducting and he has taught at such institutes as the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Universities as well as the Musikhochschule in Cologne and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Over the years he has directed many music festivals in Israel as well as various television, since 1990 Noam Sheriff has been professor of composition and conducting at the Tel Aviv Universitys Rubin Academy of Music and, in the years 1998–2000 its Director. In 1991, Sheriff won the Acum Prize, for his lifes work, in 2003, he was awarded the EMET Prize, for music. In 2011, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for music and he has also been nominated as one of the 50 most influential figures in Israeli music. Noam Sheriffs works are published by IMI and by C. F. Peters Edition, festival Prelude,1957 Heptaprism, Ballet,1965 Israel-Suite,1967 May Ko Mashma Lan
7.
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
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The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, formerly Palestine Orchestra, is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was founded as the Palestine Orchestra by violinist Bronisław Huberman in 1936 and its inaugural concert took place in Tel Aviv on December 26,1936, and was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. Its first principal conductor was William Steinberg and its general manager between 1938 and 1945 was Leo Kestenberg, like many of its members, he was a German Jew forced out by the Nazi rise to power and persecution of Jews. During the Second World War the orchestra performed 140 times before Allied soldiers, at the end of the war it performed in recently liberated Belgium. In 1948, after the creation of the State of Israel, in 1958, the IPO was awarded the Israel Prize, in music, being the first year in which the Prize was awarded to an organization. Bernstein maintained close ties with the orchestra from 1947, and in 1988, the IPO bestowed on him the title of Laureate Conductor, Mehta has served as the IPOs Music Advisor since 1968. The IPO did not have a music director, but instead music advisors, until 1977. In 1981, his title was elevated to Music Director for Life, kurt Masur is the IPOs Honorary Guest Conductor, a title granted to him in 1992. Gianandrea Noseda is Principal Guest Conductor, a role previously occupied by Yoel Levi, with Mehta, the IPO has made a number of recordings for Decca. Under the baton of Bernstein, the IPO also recorded his works, the IPO has also collaborated with Japanese composer Yoko Kanno in the soundtrack of the anime Macross Plus. As of 2006, the composers works have been most frequently performed by the IPO were Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn. The initial concerts of the Palestine Orchestra in December 1936, conducted by Toscanini, the Secretary-General of the orchestra is Avi Shoshani. The IPO has a subscriber base numbering 26,000, commentators have noted the musically conservative tastes of the subscriber base, although the IPO is dedicated to performing new works by Israeli composers, such as Avner Dorman. Zubin Mehta Jean Martinon Bernardino Molinari Paul Paray Leonard Bernstein William Steinberg The orchestras performance in London on September 1,2011 was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters, the concert was part of the BBC Proms. The radio broadcast was interrupted, but the concert was broadcast again a few days later, the orchestras secretary-general Avi Shoshani declared to Londons The Times newspaper that the orchestra was unlikely to ever perform in the UK again. Nobody was prosecuted for the disruptions, partly because the management of the Royal Albert Hall, american Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is a non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining the financial future of the Israel Philharmonic. AFIPO seeks to broaden the reach of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the monies raised by AFIPO are directed towards a fund which assists with the operational support of the orchestra and its musical education programs throughout Israel
