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| OHCC LIVING | SEPTEMBER 2026 | 35 Yiddish Club Beyond Hava Nagila Israeli music is often reduced, in the popular imagination, to a handful of folk-dance staples, yet the reality is a layered tapestry shaped by many inf luences. The earliest layer came from the Zionist pioneers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who set Hebrew poetry to Eastern European melodies, creating songs meant to unite settlers from different backgrounds around a shared land and language. This is the tradition that produced "Hava Nagila" itself, adapted from a Hasidic niggun (wordless melody). But this was only the beginning. A major, at times underappreciated, inf luence came from Jewish communities across the Arab world — Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, and Syria — who arrived in Israel in large numbers during the 1940s and 1950s. They brought with them maqam — a system of melody, similar to a scale, but with notes and slides between them that don't exist in Western music, giving it a distinctive, winding, emotional quality — along with instruments like the oud and darbuka. For years this "Mizrahi" sound was sidelined by the Ashkenazi-dominated cultural establishment but was slowly brought into the mainstream. Today Mizrahi pop music is arguably the dominant sound on Israeli radio. Religious liturgy is another inf luence. Cantorial music, Hasidic niggunim, and Sephardic piyyutim (liturgical poetry set to music) have supplied melodies and modes that composers return to often, even in secular songs. The result is a musical language where a pop ballad can carry the same DNA as a synagogue prayer, whether or not the listener registers the connection consciously. Then there are the army bands — a uniquely Israeli institution. From the 1950s through the 1970s, each military branch had its own entertainment troupe, which toured bases to boost morale. These bands became a wonderful talent pool: most major performers graduated from these troupes together with many songwriters who later defined Israeli popular music. The army bands' repertoire was loaded with sentimental, patriotic, often melancholic songs about longing and land and remains a beloved genre of its own. What emerges from these strands is not a single tradition but a conversation between them. European folk song, Arab-Jewish melody, sacred liturgy, and military-era songwriting all continue to interact in contemporary Israeli pop, rock, and hip-hop. Listening past "Hava Nagila" means hearing a country's whole history in its music. The next meeting is Mon., Oct. 26 at 7 pm, featuring Richard Lederer, author and linguist. Hope to see you then! Written by Jonni Swerdlow Helping Hands has a new home! We moved out of our former smaller white wooden shed into one of the larger steel containers just outside the entrance gate to the RV Parking Lot. There is a SERT/ HELPING HANDS sign in front of our storage unit to make it easier to locate. We now have adequate space to get to items quickly when the need arises. We loan out canes, crutches, standard aluminum folding walkers, four-wheel walkers which have a seat, bed handrails, knee scooters, transport and standard wheelchairs, shower chairs, and cool water/ icing circulating devices that aid in reducing swelling and discomfort after ankle and knee sprains or for post-surgeries; these devices can also help speed up healing. The above-mentioned equipment is available to all OHCC residents to borrow for free. We do ask for these items to be returned as soon as they are no longer needed. The Transport Wheelchairs in particular are something we often find ourselves running short of, so if you have borrowed one from us and find you need it for longer than a couple of months, please purchase one of your own or obtain one through your medical insurance if possible, and please return our loaner to us, so we can make it available on a temporary loan basis to other OHCC residents and their visiting families. If you need an item(s) or would like to donate equipment, please reach out by contacting one of our Helping Hands volunteers: Gary Goralnick (818) 634-3886, James Baker (256) 508-7217, Dolores Hofmann (707) 339-0508, Stan Katz (760) 505-8298, Steve Malone (760) 505-7297, Tom Mazur (760) 295-1006, or Tim Wilbur (951) 217-0034. Written by Stan S. Katz Helping Hands Group

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