Yehoram Gaon
Encyclopedia
Yehoram Gaon (informally, Yoram Gaon) (born December 28, 1939) is a Jewish Israel
i singer, actor, director, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture.
The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Macedonian father and Turkish
mother, both immigrants to Israel—he became an early inspiration of "solidarity and pride" for the Sephardic community.
in 1889, and immigrated to British mandate
Palestine, where members of his family had lived for five generations. He was a school master and Hebrew teacher in areas that included Jerusalem, Buenos Aires
, and Izmir, Turkey. He was also a poet and a scholar of Ladino
. In Turkey, he met and married Sara Hakim, returning with her to Jerusalem.
Yehoram enlisted in the IDF
in 1957. In the military, he joined the Nahal
entertainment troupe, beginning a career in the performing arts
that would eventually bring him fame as both a singer and actor.
entertainment troupe during his army time, Gaon joined the "Yarkon Bridge Trio" , performing with two other performers who also became stars in Israeli popular culture: Arik Einstein
and the late Beni Amdursky..
He was in the original singing group "HaTarnegolim" ("The Chickens"), founded in 1960 by Naomi Polani
.
Gaon's growing reputation soon attracted the attention of leading Israeli composers and song writers. He became well known for his rendition of Naomi Shemer
's Od Lo Ahavti Dai (lit. I have not Loved Enough Yet). He performed at the Nobel Prize
ceremony of Yitzhak Rabin
, Shimon Peres
and Yasser Arafat
in Oslo
, in 1994. In 2009, Gaon recorded the song "Shir Ha’avoda Vehamlacha" for the organization Pioneers For A Cure
, with the proceeds benefiting The Israel Cancer Association (ICA).
. He left Israel in the early 1960s to study acting at the famous Herbert Berghof Studio in New York, under well-known acting teacher Uta Hagen
, later graduating with honors from the RCA Institute for TV Production.
He returned to Israel to play the starring role in the 1966 stage production of the original Israeli musical comedy Kazablan
, which became an immediate hit, and ran for more than 600 performances. The musical's huge success made this "young Jerusalem-born singer...not only...an overnight singing star, but also a figure of solidarity and pride for people of Sephardic origin, many of whom were entering a theatre for the first time." Gaon later reprised his role in the 1974 film version.
Other notable film performances of his included that of Yonatan Netanyahu in the Israeli film Mivtza Yonatan (Operation Thunderbolt) (1977), as well as other film roles in Siege, Every Bastard a King, The Eagles Attack at Dawn, Joker, The Lover, and No-Way Street. He starred in the autobiographical feature, Ani Yerushalmi (lit. I am a Jerusalemite) (1971).
(1983), an Israeli sitcom. He hosted his own TV show called Shishi BeGaon ("Friday with Gaon") on Israeli Channel One. The show was extremely popular, with a successful run for a number of years. He later hosted a weekend talk show on commercial Channel 2. Since 1997, he has been hosting a radio show on Reshet Bet called as "Gaon on the radio" (גאון ברדיו), in which he talks about the current weekly events and expresses his personal views on the various current weekly events.
Gaon moderated the Israel Broadcasting Authority
documentary series for the Jubilee Year, entitled, T’kuma. In 1998 he resigned from the show, explaining in his letter of resignation that he believed that the series displayed "overly biased pro-Arab views." "Gaon told the producers of the Channel 1 TV series that he could not tolerate one of the episodes, during which Arab terrorists, responsible for killing many Israelis in the 1970s, were seen to be glorified on the show."
The complete work includes biographical information on almost 3000 rabbis, scholars and others in Spain, France, Italy, the Ottoman Empire including the Balkans, and the Middle East and North Africa who visited or immigrated to Israel, sometimes moving there to ensure hey could die in the Holy Land.
in Israel. He also serves as the president of the Arkadash association of the Turkish immigrants in Israel. He has also served as the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem.
He is active in civic affairs, serving as a member of organizations that include the Committee for the Advancement of Ladino, Yad Ben-Zvi Fund for Diaspora Research, Adopt a Soldier Fund, The Association for Soldiers Welfare, The Association for Autistic Children, The Fund for Music Therapy and The Academy For the Hebrew Language. He is an advocate for peace who has spoken out on some issues, saying it is impossible to freeze growth in settlements, but on the other hand, "I do not approve of angering the entire world. We’re not living alone [on this planet], and we depend on other countries as well.”
, for Hebrew song.
In 2005, he was voted the 27th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i singer, actor, director, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure. He has also written and edited books on Israeli culture.
The son of Sephardic Jewish parents—a Macedonian father and Turkish
History of the Jews in Turkey
Turkish Jews The history of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey covers the 2,400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Jewish communities in Asia Minor since at least the 5th century BCE and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled from Spain were welcomed to the...
mother, both immigrants to Israel—he became an early inspiration of "solidarity and pride" for the Sephardic community.
Early life
Gaon was born in the Beit Hakerem section of Jerusalem in 1939. His father, Moshe-David Gaon, a well-known historian, was born in SarajevoSarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in 1889, and immigrated to British mandate
British Mandate
British Mandate may refer to:*British Mandate for Palestine*British Mandate of Mesopotamia...
Palestine, where members of his family had lived for five generations. He was a school master and Hebrew teacher in areas that included Jerusalem, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, and Izmir, Turkey. He was also a poet and a scholar of Ladino
Judaeo-Spanish
Judaeo-Spanish , in Israel commonly referred to as Ladino, and known locally as Judezmo, Djudeo-Espanyol, Djudezmo, Djudeo-Kasteyano, Spaniolit and other names, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish...
. In Turkey, he met and married Sara Hakim, returning with her to Jerusalem.
Yehoram enlisted in the IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in 1957. In the military, he joined the Nahal
Nahal
Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
entertainment troupe, beginning a career in the performing arts
Performing arts
The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...
that would eventually bring him fame as both a singer and actor.
Family
Gaon has two children from his former marriage to Orna Goldfarb: Moshe-David (named after his father) and Hila. His three brothers include Yigal, Kalila Armon, and the late businessman and industrialist Benjamin "Benny" Gaon, who died in 2008 at the age of 73.Singer
After performing in the Nahal BrigadeNahal
Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
entertainment troupe during his army time, Gaon joined the "Yarkon Bridge Trio" , performing with two other performers who also became stars in Israeli popular culture: Arik Einstein
Arik Einstein
Arik Einstein is an Israeli singer-songwriter.Einstein was a vocalist for Batzal Yarok , Shleeshiyat Gesher Hayarkon and Hahalonot Hagvohim . His collaboration with Shalom Hanoch and the Churchills planted the seeds for the first Israeli rock albums...
and the late Beni Amdursky..
He was in the original singing group "HaTarnegolim" ("The Chickens"), founded in 1960 by Naomi Polani
Naomi Polani
Naomi Polani is an Israeli musical director, theater director, singer, producer, actress, and dancer.-Music career:...
.
Gaon's growing reputation soon attracted the attention of leading Israeli composers and song writers. He became well known for his rendition of Naomi Shemer
Naomi Shemer
Naomi Shemer was a leading Israeli songwriter hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry."-Biography:Naomi Sapir was born on Kvutzat Kinneret, a kibbutz her parents had helped found, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In the 1950s she served in the Israeli Defense Force's Nahal...
's Od Lo Ahavti Dai (lit. I have not Loved Enough Yet). He performed at the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
ceremony of Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin
' was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
, Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
and Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, in 1994. In 2009, Gaon recorded the song "Shir Ha’avoda Vehamlacha" for the organization Pioneers For A Cure
Pioneers For A Cure
Pioneers For A Cure - Songs To Fight Cancer was started in 2008 to raise funds in support of organizations pioneering new methods of cancer treatment and research. The organization began with ‘The Postcard Project,’ gathering many Jewish musical artists to record the music of the pioneers of Israel...
, with the proceeds benefiting The Israel Cancer Association (ICA).
Actor
Gaon appeared with the Israel Cameri Theatre in productions that included "Chips with Everything", "Vitzek," and "Kinneret Kinneret," by the National Laureate, Nathan AltermanNathan Alterman
Nathan Alterman was an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator who – though never holding any elected office – was highly influential in Socialist Zionist politics, both before and after the establishment of the State of Israel.-Biography:...
. He left Israel in the early 1960s to study acting at the famous Herbert Berghof Studio in New York, under well-known acting teacher Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen
Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-born American actress and drama teacher. She originated the role of Martha in the 1963 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee...
, later graduating with honors from the RCA Institute for TV Production.
He returned to Israel to play the starring role in the 1966 stage production of the original Israeli musical comedy Kazablan
Kazablan
Kazablan is an early Israeli Hebrew language play, staged first as a 1954 drama followed by a 1964 screen adaptation, later as a 1966 musical comedy, and still later produced as a 1974 musical comedy film...
, which became an immediate hit, and ran for more than 600 performances. The musical's huge success made this "young Jerusalem-born singer...not only...an overnight singing star, but also a figure of solidarity and pride for people of Sephardic origin, many of whom were entering a theatre for the first time." Gaon later reprised his role in the 1974 film version.
Other notable film performances of his included that of Yonatan Netanyahu in the Israeli film Mivtza Yonatan (Operation Thunderbolt) (1977), as well as other film roles in Siege, Every Bastard a King, The Eagles Attack at Dawn, Joker, The Lover, and No-Way Street. He starred in the autobiographical feature, Ani Yerushalmi (lit. I am a Jerusalemite) (1971).
TV and radio
He starred in several other TV series, including Krovim KrovimKrovim Krovim
Krovim Krovim is an Israeli television sitcom created by Ephraim Sidon and B. Michael. The series which originally aired on the Israeli Educational Television channel in the years 1983 - 1986 is known as the first Israeli sitcom....
(1983), an Israeli sitcom. He hosted his own TV show called Shishi BeGaon ("Friday with Gaon") on Israeli Channel One. The show was extremely popular, with a successful run for a number of years. He later hosted a weekend talk show on commercial Channel 2. Since 1997, he has been hosting a radio show on Reshet Bet called as "Gaon on the radio" (גאון ברדיו), in which he talks about the current weekly events and expresses his personal views on the various current weekly events.
Gaon moderated the Israel Broadcasting Authority
Israel Broadcasting Authority
Israel Broadcasting Authority is Israel's state broadcasting network.It grew out of the radio station Kol Yisrael, which made its first broadcast as an independent station on . The name of the organisation operating Kol Yisrael was changed to Israel Broadcasting Service in 1951...
documentary series for the Jubilee Year, entitled, T’kuma. In 1998 he resigned from the show, explaining in his letter of resignation that he believed that the series displayed "overly biased pro-Arab views." "Gaon told the producers of the Channel 1 TV series that he could not tolerate one of the episodes, during which Arab terrorists, responsible for killing many Israelis in the 1970s, were seen to be glorified on the show."
Author and editor
"In The Middle Of The Road" is a book written by Gaon that includes poems, family stories and photos. He edited s "Spices from Spain", a collection of Ladino quotes (with Hebrew translations) passed down to him by his father, a well-known historian. He also published a second edition of "Eastern Jews in Israel," an encyclopedic work originally published by his father.The complete work includes biographical information on almost 3000 rabbis, scholars and others in Spain, France, Italy, the Ottoman Empire including the Balkans, and the Middle East and North Africa who visited or immigrated to Israel, sometimes moving there to ensure hey could die in the Holy Land.
Activist and civic leader
In 1993 he was elected to the Jerusalem Municipal Council, with the portfolio for Cultural Affairs and Special Education Needs, serving until 2002. He is the Honorary Consul of ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
in Israel. He also serves as the president of the Arkadash association of the Turkish immigrants in Israel. He has also served as the Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem.
He is active in civic affairs, serving as a member of organizations that include the Committee for the Advancement of Ladino, Yad Ben-Zvi Fund for Diaspora Research, Adopt a Soldier Fund, The Association for Soldiers Welfare, The Association for Autistic Children, The Fund for Music Therapy and The Academy For the Hebrew Language. He is an advocate for peace who has spoken out on some issues, saying it is impossible to freeze growth in settlements, but on the other hand, "I do not approve of angering the entire world. We’re not living alone [on this planet], and we depend on other countries as well.”
Philanthropist
Among Gaon's many contributions to Israel's cultural resources include the Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Studies at Ben Gurion University, which he and his brother Benny founded in memory of their father. In December 2010, he donated books to launch the "Sarah Hakim Gaon Library" for Arkadash, in memory of his mother.Awards
In 2004, Gaon was awarded the Israel PrizeIsrael Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, for Hebrew song.
In 2005, he was voted the 27th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.