Mainstream Israeli artists make an album of new music to connect youth to Holocaust
‘Paskol Shlishi’ brings mix of major Israeli musicians together with survivors to inspire 13 original songs about the WWII genocide
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Israeli artists have long written songs about the Holocaust, including Ehud Manor and Avi Toledano, whose “Chai” was sung by Ofra Haza for Israel’s entry in the 1983 Eurovision contest, and Yehuda Poliker, the son of Auschwitz survivors from Greece’s Thessaloniki, whose brooding songs reflected his experience as the second generation to his parents’ trauma.
A new album of 13 songs, “Paskol Shlishi” (Third Soundtrack), written by headlining Israeli musicians, is the latest endeavor that aims to connect the third and fourth generations to the tragedies and lessons of the Holocaust.
“We understood there was an opportunity to still do this with survivors, in order to create an experience that will connect to this generation, the third and fourth generations,” said Moshe Klughaft, a political campaign manager who also dabbles in songwriting and production, and whose own forebears were born into the Holocaust.
Klughaft has put together Holocaust-related songs and albums before. He’s revived Jewish songs from the ghetto with Aviv Geffen, Ninet, Mosh Ben Ari and others, along with the song “My Mother” for pop singer Noa Kirel.
But as he considered producing another Holocaust soundtrack, Klughaft connected with radio station Galgalatz and Zikaron Basalon, an organization that puts together gatherings in homes across Israel where survivors tell their stories to families, friends and neighbors.
“We didn’t know how to do it,” said Klughaft. “How do you take singers in the middle of their careers to write Holocaust songs?”
Zikaron Basalon staff created a plan, gathering a group of musicians at a Herzliya hotel this winter with several survivors and spiritual leaders for an intensive weekend of discussions.
Another meeting took place two months later, dividing the musicians into groups and sending them into hotel rooms that were turned into recording studios.
“We took people from all kinds of musical backgrounds, Mizrahi and Hasidic and rock and pop, all mixed up together, and all styles together, and the things that came out were interesting and brave and so different,” said Klughaft.
They found themselves with 14 songs after just two days, said Klughaft.
“We thought it would it would take years,” he said. “We thought it wouldn’t be ready until next Holocaust Memorial Day.”
The groups of musicians became unlikely but interesting pairings: groovester Guy Mezig with pop singer Harel Skaat; Benaia Barabi with diva Rita. Crooner Sivan Talmor had several solos, such as “The Map of Pain” by Ivri Lider, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor. Tamir Greenberg sang “Why Me?” about those who survived.
The group experience was “one of the best I’ve ever had,” said Yonatan Razel, a pianist and singer whose soulful, religiously based songs have earned him fans across Israeli society.
Razel wrote “The Number Song” with Guy Mezig, Doron Medalie, Harel Skaat, and Tal Kastiel about Mordechai, a 99-year-old survivor who spoke to them about the number stamped on his arm.
Razel’s grandfather jumped off a train that was heading to one of the camps and his family was saved by a Dutch family. Razel’s daughter Chana is named for the non-Jewish Hannah who saved his family.
It was Razel’s grandfather, a cello teacher, who familiarized his grandson with the words uttered by the bibical Jacob in Genesis, words that Razel used in his song “Katonti.”
I am not worthy of all the mercies,
and of all the truth,
which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant
“We grew up with the awareness that we were saved,” said Razel.
Taking that personal history and melding it with the experience of working on the album created special bonds among the artists, and a soundtrack that reflects the mosaic of music and people in Israel, said Razel.
He also sees it as a worthwhile attempt to draw the younger generations of post-Holocaust Israel into the endeavor, without worrying whether or not they’ll get it.
“I’ve learned that when you connect to your own heart, and it’s real, then it will find its way to other hearts,” said Razel. “We did something with artistic truth and Israeli truth and I hope it will reverberate in the Israeli public.”
Israeli singer Rita said that when she usually writes songs, she doesn’t think about what words will emerge.
“With this song, the subject is totally there, you have to know how to tell it,” said Rita in a video clip of the “Paskol Shlishi” sessions created by Channel 12. “You have to know how to tell it so that the listener will know how to hear it, without being alarmed.”
“Something interesting” happened in those hotel room studios, said Shai Tsabari, who brings a Middle Eastern groove to his rock ballads and sang with Kobi Oz, Stav Beger, Alon Edar and Aya Zehava Feiglin on “The Old Man from Berlin.”
“There was something pushing us forward the whole time,” said Tsabari, the son of parents born in Yemen. “The egos that are usually there just didn’t exist. It was if we all understood that it’s not just a song, not simply an attempt to write a hit.”
The project required a different kind of energy, said Tsabari, and a very real goal, aided by the setting created by Zikaron Basalon, the personal stories and the spiritual leaders.
“It felt mythical, like something was whispering in our ears, ‘Let go, this is really important,'” he said.
The musicians who came were those who wanted to be there, said Klughaft. He’s pretty sure the success of this production will lead to other albums and additional voices as well.
The songs will be performed at the official Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony broadcast on Channel 12 on Monday night and will be included in other ceremonies around the country.
There will also be Zikaron Basalon events, at schools and in youth movements, that will focus on the “Paskol Shlishi” songs with explanations and discussions about the stories and people behind the lyrics.
