{"id":2688,"date":"2025-02-14T01:54:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T01:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/?page_id=2688"},"modified":"2025-05-27T17:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:09:18","slug":"biography-chapter-b","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/biography-chapter-b\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter B"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Chapter-b<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t
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CHAPTER B: \"MAKE THE DREAM COME TRUE\"<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The new ensemble of “Shokolad, Menta, Mastik” (\u201cChocolate, mint, Bubblegum\u201d) came apart. Pashanell wanted to feature Ofra as a soloist but composers weren\u2019t willing to write songs for her. The best of names, from Mati Caspi to Uzi Chitman and Ehud Manor — nobody knew Ofra Haza yet. Nothing moved.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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It was the beginning of 1979. \u201cOfra was chosen to perform in the movie \u2018Shlager\u2019 with \u2018Hagashash Hachiver\u2019 (‘The Pale Pathfinder’ \u2013 an Israeli entertainment group). They wanted Ofra, but the star, Tzvika Pick, was trying to leave her out\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cLuckily, his choice, Ruthi Navon, was already in a process of becoming religious and lived abroad. They put Ofra through hell before they gave her the part. I read the script and I loved it, especially the texts which were written by Assi Dayan\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cI played Polly’s daughter\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cIn the movie they match me with a student from the Technion (a technological high studies institute in Haifa), a dry type. This guy bores me to death and in one of the scenes I burst at him and yell: \u2018I want to dance\u2019. He asks: \u2018why, are you some kind of a bimbo whose head is between her legs?\u2019, and I answer: \u2018If my craving to dance means I\u2019m a bimbo, so I\u2019m a bimbo from wall to wall\u2019. And here comes \u2018Shir Hafrecha\u2019 (\u2018The Bimbo Song\u2019) which makes my breakthrough.<\/p>

\u201cI remember the film and the time of the shooting as a great time\u201d, says Ofra. “I met the ‘Gashasim’ (‘Hagashash Hachiver’ \u2013 ‘The Pail Pathfinder’) there and I felt they put me into the lions’ pit. They were already big stars and I was only at the beginning of my career. They treated me as if I was their little daughter\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The character played by Ofra in the movie, Dina, was that of a disco naughty girl, the exact opposite of what Ofra really was. She was still under the care of her religious parents. Therefore, she was afraid of their reaction once they saw her in the movie exposing her leg to the crotch. \u201cI was a little afraid, because my parents were religious. I didn\u2019t know how my father, who was very religious, would react. When he saw the movie we were very tense, but he surprised us all. After the scene his reaction was admirable. He said: \u2018So what, what did you see? She has nice legs, doesn\u2019t she?\u201d Ofra\u2019s father adds: \u201cI don\u2019t keep her in a box, I trust my education. And besides, this is what they want to see in the movies\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cThere were some who remarked about the word \u2018Frecha\u2019 (‘Bimbo’) used by the director and the writer of the song, Assi Dayan, but Ofra made the word sound noble, even though the radio didn\u2019t want to broadcast the song at first\u201d, says Bezalel.

\u201cI loved \u2018Shir Hafrecha\u2019 (\u2018The Bimbo Song\u2019) from the first moment I heard it, but I didn\u2019t realize it would become such a big hit, because of the fears it wouldn\u2019t be broadcast because of the slang\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cThe popularity of the song with the audience was a shock. Five weeks at the top of the hit charts! Now the oriental audience [Jews who came from Arab or African countries] wouldn\u2019t hear me without this song\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The song turned out to be a big hit, being played many times on the radio, and the part of the movie in which she sings it was broadcast on T.V. \u201cGaley Tzahal\u201d (IDF radio broadcasts) forbade the song to be broadcast for many months, because it was considered too bold”. \u201cActually\u201d, says Bezalel, \u201c’Shir Hafrecha’ (‘The Bimbo Song’) did us a bad service. It\u2019s unbelievable how the workers\u2019 committees, the main source of invitations for performances at that time, were unanimously against the ‘Bimbo'”.<\/p>

I didn\u2019t feel like a star. In general, for everything that happens to me in life I thank God\u201d, said Ofra.<\/p>

The success of \u201cShlager\u201d encouraged Pashanell to push Ofra into another main role in another movie, “Na’arat Haparvarim” (\u201cThe Suburban Girl\u201d), by George Ovadia with Menachem Eini and Avner Dan. She played the role of Vered, a peddler who became blind by an accident in her childhood. Thanks to a donation from three good-hearted street loafers, she undergoes surgery and gains her eyesight again. After the surgery she meets a manager who helps her becoming a successful singer. \u201cAfter \u2018Shlager\u2019 I had a desire to make more films\u201d, said Ofra a few years later. “‘Na’arat Haparvarim’ (‘The Suburban Girl’) killed my desire. I don\u2019t even want to remember it\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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“\u201cGeorge Ovadia is a gentle man who treated me very nicely, but the producer made it hard for me\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cThey didn\u2019t take care of anything and I wasn\u2019t relaxed during the shooting. I played a blind girl with opened eyes. It\u2019s funny they used my magazine cover pictures. All my pleas to remove them were useless. Now people ask me if it was a real story and if I was blind once\u201d. \u201cAfterwards I got many offers to play in movies\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cSome of them I rejected because there were nude scenes, and I am not even able to show up partially nude. I\u2019ll never show up on the street with cleavage or with transparent clothing\u201d.

In the same year Ofra participated in the Song Festival with the song \u201cAl Ahavot Shelanu\u201d (\u201cAbout Our Loves\u201d) and didn\u2019t take first place. On the other hand, in the \u201cShirovision for Children\u201d (a children\u2019s song festival), which took place in Chanuka in December 1979, Ofra participated with the song \u201cFlash Gordon\u201d, and did win first place.

\u201cPashanell told me: \u2018I don\u2019t know what to do, nobody wants to write for her\u2019\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cIt was at that moment I became obsessed again like in the days of the workshop. I said to myself: \u2018If Pashanell, the greatest producer in the country, can\u2019t promote Ofra, I\u2019ll do it by myself\u2019. I\u2019m essentially a man of protest. It gives me the power to do things, and that\u2019s what convinced me to make a big star out of Ofra at any price\u201d. He decided to release Ofra from the contract with Pashanell and manage her career by himself.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cThe rate of Ofra\u2019s progress and development was huge\u201d, says Gad Oron, a producer who worked with Pashanell. \u201cTherefore, it was a great disappointment for us, when one day Bezalel came to speak with Pashanell and wanted to contract out of the agreement. It was an unpleasant conversation and Pashanell told him: \u2018I want Ofra to tell me that face to face\u2019. And then he went down to ‘Caf\u05d9 Pinati’ (\u2018Pinati Caf\u05d9\u2019 \u2013 a very famous coffee shop in Tel Aviv), where she was sitting and waiting for him in the caf\u05d9, and she came up to his office. I think she realized the extent of grief that she caused him, because he really brought her from one place to another, and on the other hand apparently her other chief manager, Bezalel, pulled in a different direction. She burst into tears. Pashanell called his secretary, took out all the copies of her contracts, gave her the contracts and this is how she went down from the office to \u2018Cafe Pinati\u2019 (\u2018Pinati Cafe\u2019)”.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cPashnell was very kindly willing to release Ofra from the contract we signed\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cWe were in a low mood. On the way home in the traffic lights I wrote her the song ‘Hageshem’ (\u2018The Rain\u2019). In the following days I added ‘Shir Ahava Lachayal’ (\u2018A Love Song for the Soldier\u2019), \u2018Mummy\u2019 and other songs\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Ofra and Bezalel realized that the next step must be a new solo album, because they already had a few hits. And indeed, based on the songs from \u201cShlager\u201d and “Na’arat Haparvarim (“Suburban Girl”), Ofra recorded in 1980 her first personal solo album called \u201cAbout Our Loves\u201d as a part of a new contract she signed with \u201cPhonocall\u201d records company. \u201cA first personal solo album, a huge excitement\u201d said Ofra. \u201cIt was a celebration at home, celebration in the neighborhood and celebration in my heart. It\u2019s an album that is all mine and it felt great\u201d.
\u201cAll of Ofra\u2019s first Album was based on my songs and other pieces of songs that I begged she would be given\u201d, says Bezalel.
And indeed, Ofra became a star: her first album had many hits like: “Shir Hafrecha” (\u201cThe Bimbo Song\u201d), “Hageshem” (\u201cThe Rain\u201d), “Shir Ahava Lachayal” (“A Love Song for the Soldier”), \u201cFlash Gordon\u201d etc. She won the title \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d by the radio stations \u201cGaley Tzahal\u201d (IDF radio broadcasts), “Reshet Gimel” (\u201c3rd Network\u201d) and by the newspapers \u201cYedi’ot Achronot\u201d (“Latest News”) and \u201cMa’ariv\u201d. The album sold 20,000 copies and won a gold album.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At the same year, Ofra participated again in the \u201cShirovision for Children\u201d (a children\u2019s songs festival) with the song “Simanim Shel Ohavim” (\u201cLovers’ Signs\u201d) and won first place again.<\/p>

In the same year she sent the song “Hu” (\u201cHe\u201d) to the Kdam-Eurovision contest (Pre-Eurovision – a contest where a song is chosen to be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest), but the song was rejected. A few days later, Bezalel got a phone call, and Ofra was asked to compete with a song in the \u201cMeditor\u201d festival in Portugal as the Israeli representative. Ofra agreed and the name of the song was changed to “Tfila” (\u201cPrayer\u201d). At the same time she was also the Israeli representative in the \u201cTeletrom\u201d in Chile.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Less than a year later Ofra’s second album “Bo Nedaber” (\u201cLet\u2019s Talk\u201d) was released, still at \u201cPhonocall\u201d record company. The album included material which Bezalel wrote and it also won a gold album. Many of the songs in the album turned into hits too: “Tfila” (\u201cPrayer\u201d), “Simanim Shel Ohavim” (\u201cLovers\u2019 Signs\u201d), etc. Ofra won the title: \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d again by \u201cYedi’ot Achronot\u201d (“Latest News”), \u201cMa’ariv\u201d, \u201cGaley Tzahal\u201d (IDF radio broadcasts) and “Reshet Gimel” (\u201c3rd Network\u201d). “Bo Nedaber” (\u201cLet’s Talk\u201d) also won a gold album.
Her two solo albums, although immature, presented Bezalel\u2019s vision of Ofra as the ultimate consensus singer. The songs were short, melodic, meant for the whole family, and the songs\u2019 topics appealed to all types of people without any religious, race or sex differences. The days of protest with the Hatikva Neighborhood Workshop Theater was changed 180 degrees in favor of endless sweetness and zero percent provocation.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At 1982 Ofra moved to the \u201cHed Arzi\u201d record company, where she released her third solo album “Pituyim” (\u201cTemptations\u201d). Ofra also toured with a show carrying the name of the album in a musical production by Eldad Shrim. All of Ofra’s more hidden sides came to expression in this show. She sings there about faith, love and everyday hope. But at the same time her talents as an actress, a comedian, and an imitator are expressed too. Ofra learned how to stand on a stage in front of hundreds and thousands and speak straight to their hearts. The atmosphere was electrifying and the audience loved her. One of the critics said: \u201cShe has the charisma of virginity and beauty\u201d. Up till then Ofra had only short performances, often with an encore.
\u201cNow\u201d, she says, \u201cpeople who buy tickets will come to see me – an hour and a half of Ofra on the stage! Until today I have never thought it is possible to plan an evening based on two albums. Now, when I\u2019m out with the third album, I have enough material to choose from. I know I won\u2019t disappoint the hundreds of fans whom I appeal to and who wish to see me in a single night show\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The album also came out with a number of hits: “Kol Yom Matchila Shana” (\u201cEvery Day a New Year Begins\u201d), \u201cGavriel\u201d, etc, and won a gold album. Ofra participated that year in the \u201cShirovision for Children\u201d (a children\u2019s songs festival) with the song “Malkat Haksamim” (\u201cThe Magic Queen\u201d), and won first place again. The winning song was included in the album too. At the same year Ofra won the \u201cKinor David\u201d (“David’s Violin”) prize. This time she won the title \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d by the whole press. \u201cI sing for all the people\u201d, said Ofra a short time after winning the title. \u201cI don\u2019t pretend to bring a modernistic style or change the world. I simply sing beautiful songs from my heart, and they appeal to every person. Today I feel that all the people in Israel are equal. I don\u2019t feel discriminated against anymore, neither I nor my close friends from the neighborhood. On the contrary, the discrimination time seems to be over. At school I always felt equal among equals. Good, beautiful and successful. The problem then was with our image in the eyes of others. Today I am being compensated for that time\u201d. At the same year Ofra also released “Ofra Haza Liyladim” (\u201cOfra Haza for Children\u201d), an album which includes 30 of her renditions of famous children\u2019s songs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In that same year she was invited to take part in the Kdam-Erovision contest (Pre-Eurovision – a contest where a song is chosen to be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest) with the song “Romantica” (\u201cRomance\u201d), which was written by \u201cHakol Over Chabibi\u201d (“Life Goes On, Buddy” – An Israeli threesome band), but Ofra refused. \u201cI feel contented and happy with not doing this song\u201d, she said afterwards. \u201cFrom the beginning of my career \u2013 and this may be the secret of my success \u2013 I only did things that made me excited and I loved. This song was simply not me. And also the writer\u2019s attitude not to allow any changes in it wasn\u2019t acceptable to me. There were arguments about the production, but I made it clear that I\u2019m nobody\u2019s puppet. Next year I\u2019ll try my luck again\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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But Ofra\u2019s success in sales and performances didn\u2019t prevent music editors on the radio to treat her with great reservation. Bezalel would come to the radio stations with her new songs, begging them to hear the songs, and was almost always rejected. \u201cI don\u2019t know why they don\u2019t give me a chance\u201d, Ofra admitted once. \u201cUnfortunately I can\u2019t say I\u2019m being catered to by the radio, but I have no complaints. At the moment a song of mine reaches the chart, the listeners already grade it at the top and force the editors to play it. In other programs I\u2019m not being discriminated against, but also not courted. Singers who didn\u2019t win the title \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d are being played much more than I. When I finish working on a record and I sit near the radio and hope to hear it being played, I become disappointed and annoyed, but I don\u2019t intend to fight. I don\u2019t count on the radio and the radio doesn\u2019t take me into account either\u201d.<\/p>

1983 was a crucial year in Ofra\u2019s career. In that year the Eurovision Song Contest was about to take place in Munich, Germany. Ehud Manor felt a need that especially there, of all places, an Israeli representative should stand and sing the word \u201cChai\u201d (“Alive”). \u201cAnd it doesn\u2019t matter how much \u2018Chet\u2019 (the eighth letter in the Hebrew Alphabet) it has got\u201d, he said. He wrote the song \u201cChai\u201d (“Alive”) and offered it to Yardena Arazi before the Kdam-Eurovision contest (Pre-Eurovision – a contest where a song is chosen to be sent to the Eurovision Song Contest), but Arazi refused to accept the song, claiming that she had already had a song, Shiru Shir Amen” (\u201cSing an Amen Song\u201d). Manor turned to Ofra, who immediately agreed to sing it. At the very last minute Ofra recorded the song and submitted it to the committee. For the first time Ofra\u2019s song was accepted. Beforehand the song “Hu” (\u201cHe\u201d – which its name was changed to “Tfila” \u2013 “prayer”) and other songs which Ofra sent every year weren\u2019t accepted for the contest. It was already the forth year in which she tried to enter the contest.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cI almost decided to give up. I said to myself: ‘You offer them so many times and they never take, so maybe they don\u2019t want?’ Year after year I would send by Bezalel a song called “Amen Lamilim (\u201cAmen to the Words\u201d) and was always rejected from the start. We also sent ‘Tfila’ (\u2018Prayer\u2019), but it wasn\u2019t accepted either, until one morning Ehud Manor called Bezalel and asked him to come and hear a special song. The song appealed me from the beginning and I decided to try my luck\u201d.<\/p>

The Kdam-Eurovision (Pre-Eurovision) Song Contest took place in March. \u201cThe most exciting part was certainly the voting stage. It was hard to maintain one\u2019s peace. At the performance, once you come up on the stage – it\u2019s over, you start to sing and forget the rest. At the contest itself I didn’t feel weak at the knees, I wasn\u2019t on the top of the world, but I felt a certain relief when everything ended well\u201d, said Ofra. Indeed, everything ended well. Ofra won first place in the Kdam-Eurovision (Pre-Eurovision) contest, which took place on Jerusalem\u2019s theater stage, with 73 points, and also won the right to represent Israel in the land of Germany with the song \u201cChai\u201d (\u201cAlive\u201d).<\/p>

Yardena Arazi came in second place, with only one point disparity. Some people claim that this contest started the fight between Ofra Haza and Yardena Arazi, and mainly between their fans, a fight which had been going on a few years, and which the press was glad to inflame. A year before, Avi Toledano, the composer of \u201cChai\u201d (“Alive”), won the contest and also left Yardena Arazi behind in second place with only five points disparity.<\/p>

After her winning in the contest, Ofra went up on the stage again to sing an encore. But the playback which was heard was that of\u2026 Yardena Arazi. The technicians thought that Arazi was the potential nominee for winning, and so they had to search at the last minute for the playback of \u201cChai\u201d (“Alive”).<\/p>

In that year Ofra recorded the song “Acharey Hachagim” (\u201cAfter the Holidays\u201d) in a duet with Avi Toledano. The song was written and composed especially for the yearly hit chart of \u201cGaley Tzahal\u201d (IDF radio broadcasts). She also participated in the \u201cShirovision for Children\u201d (A children\u2019s songs festival) with the song \u201cSuper Star\u201d and won first place again.<\/p>

The album “Chai” (\u201cAlive\u201d), which was released immediately after the Kdam-Eurovision (Pre-Eurovision), had huge sales. The album sold more than 43,000 copies and turned into Ofra’s first Platinum album. The album made hits like: \u201cChai\u201d (“Alive”), \u201cSuper Star\u201d, “Amen Lamilim” (\u201cAmen to the words\u201d) and “Balada Lamele’ch” (\u201cA Ballad for the King\u201d), a song Ofra used to sing in the days of the Hatikva Neighborhood Workshop Theater and which was revived.<\/p>

It was Ofra’s journey to represent Israel at Eurovision which marked her turn from a popular singer admired mainly by teenagers to that of a national singer. The great success and the recognition of her as the leading singer in the country finally broke through the walls that the radio tried to put in her way, as well as the fear barriers on the part of leading writers to write her songs. The show “Pituyim” (\u201cTemptations\u201d) was running for six months and was crowned with “a great success”, according to what she said. Despite the success of the show, she had to cancel her performances schedule, because of the work pressure on new albums and the preparation for the Kdam-Eurovision (Pre- Eurovision). \u201cThe show gave me the feeling that the people of Israel truly love me\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cThe fact that they come and buy tickets and fill halls so they can see Ofra Haza. Winning the Kdam-Eurovision (Pre-Eurovision) completed the good year that I had\u201d.<\/p>

The Eurovision was supposed to take place at the end of April. During the preparations for the contest in Germany, Ofra and the rest of the Israeli group visited Dachau, the extermination camp of the Nazis. She met there a Jewish elderly couple from Israel who survived the holocaust. \u201cAre you Ofra Haza?” asked the husband. \u201cI was a prisoner in this concentration camp and today I came to visit here for the first time since I was released. We heard your song. On Saturday evening, when you\u2019ll sing this song to all Europe, remember what you see now\u201d. Ofra swore to think about them. Ofra and her group also visited the Olympic camp in Munich, where 11 of the Israeli sportsmen were assassinated during the Olympic games of 1972.<\/p>

The Israeli song was considered to have excellent chances all along. On the day of the contest the Eurovision program had on its first page a picture of Ofra and her team with the explanation: \u201cThe Israelis are considered to have the best chances to win\u201d. Also in the local papers Yugoslavia and Israel were considered to be the only strong candidates.<\/p>

The night before the contest one of the members of the Israeli delegation said with confidence: \u201cI’m telling you: We are going to win!\u201d The press cameramen swarmed around Ofra as spokesman and she herself, like a true star, irradiated kindness and peacefulness. \u201cThe feeling is good\u201d, she said. \u201cOf course I sleep well at night, although it is more comfortable at home\u201d. Her appearance in the evening before the contest was glamorous yet casual: full make up, her hair done faultlessly, jeans and grey shirt with golden shoes and heels.<\/p>

The Eurovision contest took place on April 23rd. The Israeli song was number 16 among the 20 songs that took part. In the contest Ofra won second place with a disparity of only 6 points from first place. The Israeli judges gave 12 points to the contestant song from Luxemburg by the singer Korin Herms, whose producer was the Israeli Chayim Saban. And that\u2019s how Ofra lost to Korin. \u201cWhen the vote counting was over and I realized we were in second place with six points disparity, I checked Ofra\u2019s reaction\u201d, said Avi Toledano, the composer of “Chai\u201d (“Alive”), \u201cI already prepared myself to encourage her and tell her it wasn\u2019t so bad, but in the end she was the one who encouraged all the others. It was not an act. Ofra didn\u2019t know how to fake a response. She really accepted this with a complete peace of mind. One could only be jealous of her peacefulness”. After the contest Ofra said: \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful feeling – I was a little afraid I would get fifth or sixth place\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cOfra represented us with honor\u201d, said the Hazas in the Hatikva neighborhood, very excited and proud of her achievement. The family was gathered for hours in front of the T.V. In the Hatikva neighborhood there wasn\u2019t a living soul outside. In the Haza household the hearts were beating fast. Journalists who tried to join the family were asked politely to let the family spend the tense hours alone. \u201cWe want to be with ourselves, to break down freely\u201d, they explained. They acclaimed Ofra\u2019s singing with cheers and enthusiastic applause, and when she finished, all the family was full of joy.<\/p>

Immediately after her return from Eurovision Ofra released the album “Shirey Moledet” (\u201cHomeland Songs\u201d), an album full of her innovations to Hebrew classics, and even the toughest critics gave up. Selling of over 40,000 copies, “Shirey Moledet” (\u201cHomeland Song\u201d) became the first album of Ofra\u2019s which garnered consensus between the audience and the critiques.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cIt\u2019s surprising\u201d, said Ofra, \u201cbut just after Eurovision I realized that this music wouldn\u2019t take me anywhere, and therefore we decided, Bezalel and me, to record “Shirey Moledet” (\u201cHomeland Song\u201d). The dream began beforehand, but the rendition was because of this\u201d.
Ofra always used to sing these songs to herself and in performances. Her musical heritage is based a great deal on such songs as “Yad Anuga” (\u201cA Delicate Hand\u201d), “Zemer Nuge” (\u201cA Sad Song\u201d), “Yesh Li Gan” (\u201cI have a Garden\u201d), and “Etz Harimon” (\u201cThe Pomegranate Tree\u201d). The record expressed Ofra\u2019s ability in musical genres that weren\u2019t considered to be hers before. To the younger generation among her listeners and fans, a generation who didn\u2019t know these kind of homeland songs (which were considered to die out before they were even born), this record was considered a discovery. It was like many of its songs were newly born.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In that year Ofra won again, for the fourth year in a row, the title \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d. In the same year she also published the album \u201cA collection of hits, including the Hatikva Neighborhood Workshop Theater with the soloist Micha’el Sinu’ani\u201d, which included songs of Ofra with the workshop. The album didn\u2019t have much success.

At the end of 1983 Ofra started writing a column in \u201cMa’ariv” (an Israeli newspaper) by the name “Accord Nosaf” (\u201cAnother Accord\u201d). In the column she wrote about things that happened to her, about state and religious affairs, about conflicts between communities etc. She also used to write about things that occupied the people of Hatikva neighborhood. The column was published every Friday in the public section of \u201cMa’ariv\u201d, beside other columns of Knesset members and public figures. \u201cThey turned to me from \u2018Ma’ariv\u2019\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cI had never written in my life and I thought it was worth trying. People that didn\u2019t believe I was capable of writing sent me letters, they thought I was frivolous. The truth is I like it. I don\u2019t feel well when I don\u2019t see my column in the Friday paper\u201d. She wrote the column until 1985.

At that time Ofra was also a sports writer in a sports magazine called “Chadshot Sport” (“Sports News”). “It was great, it was fun. I was in many of the games and I yelled and screamed. I tried not to go if I had performance at night, so I would’t ruin my night, but I really enjoyed this experience. I covered soccer until the magazine was closed” Because of her success, Ofra shot a special program for television named “Me’erev Ad Shachar” (“From Dusk to Dawn”). The program was broadcast at the end of Independence Day and had a collection of Ofra\u2019s songs from all of her albums at different shooting locations: the \u201cColiseum\u201d club, the seaside of Jaffa, a television studio, etc. The program was broadcast on Israeli T.V. and won great acclaim.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In 1984 Ofra moved to a modest villa which was built in Yahud from the money she earned from her performances and the sales of her albums. The villa was built near Bezalel\u2019s villa. Years later she described moving to the house in Yahud as one of the most important decisions of her life. \u201cThis house is a symbol of hard toil, because I built it with my own hands in hard work. I can be and live in every place in the world, but my small house in Yahud symbolizes for me my upbringing with labor and hard work. I love going back to it more than anything in the world\u201d. Ofra\u2019s car was parked under the shed at the entrance. A paved pathway led from an iron brown gate to the living room. Inside the entrance to the house there was a chest of drawers with a mirror, a perfume bottle and cream, and near them were brown wooden stairs which led to the bedroom on the second floor. To the right of the entrance was the kitchen. It was equipped with all the accessories typical of a modern kitchen: a huge refrigerator, an oven, cupboards, white ceramic tiles and a stove. There was also a dinner table which had a white lace table cloth laid on it. Everything was polished like it came out of a commercial. The kitchen was shipshape. There were no dishes in the sink. \u201cI don\u2019t like to leave a dirty sink\u201d, says Ofra. The most useful thing in the kitchen was the microwave, according to Ofra.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The living room, in front of the kitchen, was covered with a pink carpet of soft hair from wall to wall. A whole wall in the living room was dedicated to her gold and platinum albums, which were framed with massive brown wooden frames. There was no place even for a picture. At the corner of the living room there were engraved wooden chests and on them were flowered marble slabs. A ceramic lamp and vases were laid on them. In the vases were flowers that Ofra picked in the garden. A stereo was placed on the carpet. The loudspeakers were located on brown plywood stools. On the wall hung a poster of the naked legs of a dancer in a dance posture. Under it was written \u201cPirouette\u201d. Next to the stereo was a modest collection of records. On the side of the living room, in front of the gold albums, there were sofas upholstered in a bright whitish-brown color. Above them was a curtain made of thin cloth with golden embroidery. On the sofas there were “chins” pillows in soft pastoral colors: orange, pink, purple, light blue. A thin metal grating and plastic blinds separated the living room from the garden, where there was a set of table and white chairs. The garden was well groomed, with many roses and other flowers. The corner of spearmint was Ofra\u2019s small private spot. The grass was welltrimmed; the gardener was responsible for that. Whoever wanted to peek at the grass closely would encounter Azit\u2019s barks \u2013 a frightening female wolf dog.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Ofra was already 25, beautiful, economically established, famous – and without any boyfriend known in public. The questions about a companion, if there was one and when the wedding would take place, became an integral part of her meetings with the media that annoyed her. \u201cIt made her mad\u201d, said Michal Ratzabi, Ofra\u2019s friend. \u201cAbout the companionship matter, the media embittered her life. They wouldn\u2019t accept her will to keep this part of her life to herself\u201d. \u201cIt hurts her very much\u201d, adds Bezalel. \u201cShe would finish working on a new album, would come to an interview about music and songs, and instead, she had to deal again and again with interrogations about her personal life, mainly to deal with the questions if she had a boyfriend and if she intended to get married\u201d.

At that time rumors had started to spread about the cancer that Ofra supposedly had. The rumors spread quickly and were followed by elaborate explanations. People \u201csaw\u201d Ofra with an amputated leg, or bald headed because of chemotherapy and irradiation. \u201cI remember the rumors about Ofra\u2019s \u2018illness’\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cUp until now we don\u2019t know exactly how it has started, but we have an assumption: at that time charlatan managers placed false ads about her performances in different places in the country and when the audience came and Ofra didn\u2019t show up, they \u2018explained\u2019 she was very sick. I remember that one time we came back from a show in the north, and the minute we came home her sister called in panic and said: \u2018Ofra, people said your leg was cut off\u2019!’, and it didn\u2019t help that we reminded her that she saw Ofra safe and sound that very day\u201d.

\u201cAnd there where many other cases\u201d, said Michal Ratzabi. \u201cPeople checked every centimeter in skinny Ofra\u2019s body in order to prove the cancer story, and once a woman tried to pull her hair and said that she wanted to \u2018check\u2019 if Ofra was wearing a wig because of irradiation. Full mail bags with letters of fans in panic were sent to us\u201d. In order to quell the rumors that she had already died of cancer, Ofra did an interview in \u201cLa’isha\u201d (an Israeli women’s magazine) under the title \u201cAlive and breathing\u201d. Other rumors talked about Ofra becoming deaf. \u201cOf course all the rumors affected Ofra\u2019s mood\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cChildren write to me that at education hour at school they were talking about my coming end, and that everybody started crying and praying that my treatments will succeed and that they hoped the irradiation would save me\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cI receive touching letters from people who heard that I have breast cancer, that I have a malignant tumor in my head, that I have blood cancer, and that my leg was cut off. I don\u2019t want to blame anybody for the rumors. Does my success bother anybody? Why don\u2019t they invent me a slight flu? Why do they invent me with cancer?”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Other rumors about Ofra concerned her special relationship with Bezalel. Everybody knew the story in general: Bezalel discovered Ofra when she was 12 and since then she was under his custody. He led her step by step and according to the press, she obeyed him blindly. The managers and journalists could not approach her except through him. But because Ofra and Bezalel refused to talk about the kind of relationship they had, the rumor industry spread quickly. It was suggested that their relationship was more than just an artist-personal manager relationship. Bezalel, who was married and a father of two children, ignored the rumors. Ofra paid a little attention to it: \u201cThe relationship between us will continue forever. He\u2019s the man who guided me with my career and let me understand that not everything is as sweet as honey. We enjoy working together. We work in cooperation, and I have no interest in working with anyone else”. In the entertainment world it was said that Bezalel socially isolated Ofra. She almost never interviewed without his presence. Many times he always spoke on her behalf. \u201cI have no doubt I would be a totally different person today if I hadn\u2019t worked with the workshop and Bezalel Aloni. Maybe I would have been a wedding singer. He inspires me. What would I have been were it not for Bezalel?\u201d, she said. What probably set fire to the rumors about their supposed relationship was Ofra\u2019s remark in one of the interviews that \u201cif I get married I will want my man to be like Bezalel\u201d.

\u201cThe one who helped me more than anyone to gain much confidence was Bezalel\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cBezalel is the most important thing that has happened in my life. Bezalel was and is still a tutor. I remember that in the workshop, among many people that I didn\u2019t know, I found a strong man who gave me support and confidence. Therefore, my joining in with the workshop was smooth and without any crisis. I have always looked toward the future, and thanks to him I got to where I am. I have become incredibly mature. It was a very early development, which children this age do not get to. Were it not for Bezalel I wouldn\u2019t have acquired wisdom, the right way of thinking, the ability to consider things in the right proportion. I skipped the stage of self-searching. It\u2019s not right to say that I lived under his shadow, but he granted me the tools one can\u2019t achieve on one\u2019s own. My parents were crazy about him. My mother always told me: \u2018When you go with Bezalel I can be in peace\u2019. By the way, we belong to the same family, something on the side of our grandmothers. Bezalel gave me excellent advice: to be natural, to be myself. This advice I\u2019ll never forget\u201d.

\u201cThe bond between me and Ofra is simple\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cI\u2019m her personal manager. For her interests. The one who keeps her from being robbed and discarded. \u2018Guardian of her interest\u2019. A manager is like a real estate agent. He receives applications, he argues about the price, sees his financial gain at the top of his interest. I\u2019m not a manager in that sense. That type of managing is against my whole being. This is the reason why many managers represented us. I\u2019m not cut up to arguing on the phone, like at the market, about the price of tomatoes\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In the spring of that year, Ofra published the album “Bayit Cham (“A Place for Me”). It was a time when many young girls left their parents\u2019 home and many stories ran in the press about girls who couldn\u2019t get love and warmth at their own house. Ofra asked Bezalel to write a song about it and he agreed. The theme song of the album (words and melody by Bezalel Aloni) tells about an old childhood dream of Ofra to set up a residence for children in need if she had “a lot of money\u201d one day. A residence that would indeed be a place for them. Many hits came out of the album: “Bayit Cham (“A Place for Me”), “Yad Beyad” (\u201cHand in Hand\u201d), “Ben Parvar” (\u201cSuburban Boy\u201d), “Bemanginat Halev” (\u201cHeart Melody\u201d). It won a gold album.
At that time Ofra and Bezalel started a very ambitious project. \u201cAll these years I wanted to be a singer by the right of my own songs\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cIn the last two years I was stimulated by the idea to work on authentic Yemenite material. The idea was rejected because of a busy schedule. A year ago we decided to take the issue more seriously\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At the beginning Ofra recorded two trial songs, \u201cGalbi\u201d and \u201cAs’alak\u201d. The songs were played to Ofra\u2019s and Bezalel\u2019s parents. The parents enjoyed them very much so they both knew they were going in the right direction. Bezalel chose the album’s songs and also taught Ofra for many long hours how to read the text in special Yemenite accents. Ofra dedicated half a year to the recordings, with special care on the vocal and technical quality.

\u201cBezalel and I had our fears\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want the album to become too western. Eventually we managed to keep the authenticity by using the original instruments, the can and the tambala\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The album was released in December 1984. In the album she revived old Yemenite songs with new productions by Benny Nagari. “Shirey Teiman” (\u201cYemenite Songs\u201d) was a dream come true to Ofra – to make an album for her parents, an album containing all original Yemenite songs which have been sung for dozens and hundreds of years at every Yemenite occasion and holiday. In the album there are songs from a variety sources and ages ranging from the end of the 16th century (of Shalom Shabazi Rabbi) to later ages. Three of the album’s songs are sung in Arabic, including the song of Shalom Shabazi Rabbi, who wrote it in Arabic. All the rest of the songs are in Hebrew and are sang with a Yemenite melody. The songs are love songs, songs of lament, holy songs and Yemenite folk songs. The production of the record is a rich combination of vocal sounds and a folk Yemenite rhythm with classic instruments and orchestration.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Bezalel and Ofra decided to go with the Yemenite style to the end. She was dressed in a Yemenite wedding gown. \u201cIt was the first time I wore this gown in one piece and I was very excited\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cAfter all, it\u2019s a wedding gown\u201d, she added with a smile.<\/p>

Bezalel also wanted to make some dance versions to a couple of songs. \u201cI went to Achi Shtero, who was the most influential man at \u201cHed-Arzi\u201d, and asked for a budget for dance productions for two of the songs, but he didn\u2019t agree, using the excuse he had no money. I took out two songs which were to be included in the album and with the same budget we recorded \u2018Galbi\u2019 and \u2018Im Nin’alu\u2019; that\u2019s why there are only eight tracks in ‘Shirey Teiman’ (‘Yemenite Songs’)\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cI remember that when ‘Shirey Teiman’ (‘Yemenite songs’) was released and I brought it to the radio\u201d, said Michal Ratzabi, Ofra’s public relations manager and also her best friend. \u201cThey didn\u2019t know how to accept it. They didn\u2019t relate to it, they didn\u2019t play it at all\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The absurdity was that when the album “Shirey Teiman” (\u201cYemenite Songs\u201d) \u2013 which later on made Ofra\u2019s breakthrough abroad \u2013 was released, it was only played in the oriental music shows. They didn\u2019t want Ofra in the Israeli T.V. show \u201cSiba Limesiba\u201d (“A reason for a party”). \u201cYes, there were cases that we had to wage big wars to play my albums. I felt it was not fair, not right. I didn\u2019t understand this discrimination matter, I did wrong to nobody, I worked hard and the audience loved me, so why do the media grudge me? I was always an optimistic girl who believed in God, and I said \u2018whatever\u2019. I never yelled nor raved. Bezalel always told me: \u2018Ofra, the running is for the long distance\u2019. I remember at the time when my album ‘Shirey Teiman’ (‘Yemenite Songs’) wasn’t accepted here in the Israeli critiques, Bezalel told me: \u2018Don\u2019t worry Ofra, we will flood the world with this music\u2019, and I must say that I was a skeptic about it, I didn\u2019t quite understand how the music will break through, but Bezalel was right as always”.

And then Bezalel approached Ya’ir Nitzani to make the remixes. Nitzani referred him to Izhar Ashdot. At the beginning, Ashdot prepared a remix for the song \u2018Galbi\u2019, because it seemed to him the most well-known song among the album’s songs. \u201cWe neutralized all the old instruments, and added new instruments\u201d, says Ashdot. But the radio station completely ignored the new remix and didn\u2019t play it at all.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cOne day came the key man in the story, an English guy named Grant, who worked at the ‘Kol Hashalomw (\u201cVoice of Peace\u201d) radio station of Abi Nathan\u201d, says Nitzani. \u201cHe entered and said: \u2018I heard this thing you did, \u2018Galbi\u2019, and I liked it and I would like to get five copies and send it to my friends in England\u2019. So we gave them to him, what do I care? We have a thousand copies from this rubbish, so we gave them. He was sitting in my room for about two hours and wrote letters and sent them to England\u201d.
Together with the new single, Grant also sent them the “Shirey Teiman” (\u201cYemenite Songs\u201d) album. \u201cThe album got to a record company in England, \u2018Ace Records\u2019, and they bought the rights from our record company here in Israel, \u2018Hed Arzi\u2019\u201d, says Ofra. The album was also released in England by the company. “The record received excellent reviews from all the music papers”. \u201cIt is impossible not to get carried away after this wonderful singer whose voice makes you want to cry\u201d (The Face); \u201cA phenomenal singer\u201d (Falk Roots); \u201cAn incredible singer\u201d (melody maker), wrote the papers abroad. And despite the grudge in Israel, the album sold over 40,000 copies in Israel and received a platinum album.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At the same time the fight between Ofra Haza\u2019s fans and Yardena Arazi\u2019s fans began to heat up. At \u201cRosh Hashanah\u201d (the new Jewish year) 1984, Arazi won the title \u201cSinger of the Year\u201d in the yearly chart of \u201cReshet Gimel\u201d (\u201c3rd Network\u201d), after four years in a row that the title was in Ofra\u2019s hands. \u201cThey wrote in one of the papers: \u2018The queen is dead, long live the new queen\u201d, said Ofra in response. \u201cOnly then I realized how much the title was important. The title \u2018Singer of the Year\u2019 is a title that the audience grants\u201d.<\/p>

Then there was the \u201cink incident\u2019 from the middle of 1985 that turned the fight into a war. Arazi performed in “Amphey Whall” in Tel-Aviv. A girl from the audience shot ink from a water gun at her and hit her dress. \u201cI felt so silly\u201d says Arazi. \u201cI felt it made both of us very small\u201d. Arazi pressed charges at the police for assault, and simultaneously came out with an aggressive literal attack against Ofra, and claimed that the ink incident was the climax in a long chain of threats on her.<\/p>

\u201cMany times I come to my shows and I get a shower of curses from Ofra\u2019s fans\u201d, said Arazi. \u201cThey yell at me: \u2018I wish you died for Ofra\u2019. In the middle of the performance they would break out in rhythmic calls: \u2018Of-ra Of-ra\u2019. They inform one another. They know when I’m about to perform and come there in order to ruin it. Anyone who comes with a gun to a singer\u2019s performance has a twisted mind. I don\u2019t want to give ideas to anyone, but what if it was acid instead of ink? It\u2019s a deliberate provocation. This time it was ink. The next time it could be much more dangerous stuff. We are talking about very strong emotions that someone takes care to inflame. I ask my fans, I really beg them not to be dragged to any reprisal\u201d.<\/p>

In response to Arazi\u2019s attack on Ofra, Bezalel said: \u201cShe has her hair cut like Ofra\u2019s. She dresses like her and even sings her songs. What can you expect from a young girl who tried to commit suicide and wants to be a singer at any price?\u201d Ofra herself didn\u2019t agree to apologize about the incident: \u201cI didn\u2019t do anything wrong and I don\u2019t need to apologize. First I want Yardena to apologize to me for all her accusations”.<\/p>

Ofra\u2019s idolization reached a new climax. Ofra became the first Israeli singer which had her portrait printed on many products. Ofra’s portrait was on everything: letters and envelopes, covers and stickers, teenage diaries, pillows, shirts, scarves, sticker albums, posters, etc.<\/p>

In the same year Ofra came out with the show “Malkat Haksamim” (\u201cThe Magic Queen\u201d) with the magicians Chiko and Diko and ten dancers. In the show, which was dedicated mostly to children, Ofra sang about 22 songs. And indeed, to see Ofra\u2019s performance in front of children is a real joy. The hall is astir. The children sing with her, cry, laugh, full of joy, running to the stage, kiss her and fill her with presents, which make her cry from excitement.<\/p>

At first, Ofra planed to perform on the \u201cShirovision for Children\u201d arranged by Pashanel, as she did every year since they canceled the contract, because of her deep admiration to his help, and although she didn’t have to do it. Only after Pashanel told Ofra he was not going to make a performance for Hanukah that year – Ofra decided to make her own performance.

At that time Ofra intended to release a new album. \u201cThere was a plan to record an album with Ne’omi Shemer\u2019s (one of the best song writers in Israel) songs, which will be called \u2018Hitchadshut\u2019 (\u2018Renewal\u2019)\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cI turned to her and asked her to give me one song and she said: \u2018Why don\u2019t we make a whole album\u2019. Since then we meet once a week and work hard. She wants to get the best of me, since all the songs are new\u201d. Finally, it didn\u2019t work out. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have chemistry\u201d, said Ofra. In the end, only the song “Hitchadshut” (Renewal”) was included in the new album.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The album was released in the middle of 1985 and was called \u201cAdama\u201d (\u201cEarth\u201d), and Ofra included old composers such as Sasha Argov, Moshe Vilensky and Ya’acov Orland, as well as young ones such as Shem Tov Levi, Ehud Manor, Nurit Hirsh, Ya’ir Kalinger, Oded Lerer and others. As an old hand conductor she knew how to make the best of songs out of this group of artists, such as \u201cAdama\u201d (\u201cEarth\u201d), “Mishehu Holech Tamid Iti” (\u201cSomeone Always Walks With Me\u201d), “Goral Echad” (\u201cOne Destiny\u201d), “Le’atzmi Bilvad” (\u201cOnly for Me\u201d), “Rachamim” (a name of a man, and also “Mercy”), “Shir Eres Le’adva” (\u201cLullaby for Adva\u201d) , “Tzipori” (\u201cMy Bird\u201d) etc. \u201cThe thing is that despite the huge difference between the writers, all of them created something in common at about the same time\u201d, says Ofra, “something which was done completely unintentionally, songs with the smell of the land of Israel, with the attachment to the earth, with feelings of longing. Therefore, it was natural for me to call the album “Adama” (\u201cEarth\u201d). The album “Adama” (\u201cEarth\u201d) also won a gold album. Actually, even before the album “Shirey Teiman” (\u201cYemenite Songs\u201d) was released, the album “Adama” (\u201cEarth\u201d) was ready, and Ofra was already recording her next album.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The album “Shirey Moledet Bet” (\u201cHomeland Songs 2\u201d), which was released that year, completed a pair of folk song albums, following the first “Shirey Moledet” (“Homeland Songs”). And indeed, it\u2019s impossible to pan songs like “Al Na Tomar Li Shalom” (\u201cPlease, Don\u2019t Say Goodbye\u201d), “Hen Efshar” (\u201cIt\u2019s Possible\u201d), “Shney Shoshanim” (\u201cTwo Roses\u201d), “Irisim” (\u201cIrises\u201d), “Al Gva’ot Shech Abreck” (\u201cOn Sech Abrech’s Hills\u201d) and on poets like Imanu’el Zamir, Mordechai Ze’ira, Alexander Pen, Nathan Alterman and Chayim Chefer. The album sold over 20,000 copies and won the gold album. \u201cThe album “Shirey Moledet” (\u201cHomeland Songs\u201d) sold over 40,000 copies, it has a great demand, and I love these songs\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cEven if the first album wasn\u2019t a success, I would do the other one. It would have been much harder for me not to record them\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At that time Ofra already flew for performances abroad from time to time. She performed in Argentina for three weeks, giving five charity performances to raise money for schools in Buenos Aires \u2013 \u201cBiyalic\u201d and \u201cShalom Alechem\u201d. She was shocked by the sympathy that she got. The press in Argentina swarmed around her. \u201cI don\u2019t remember such a thing. I didn\u2019t rest at all. Press, radio and television all the time. My voice probably made them feel something. They were even \u2018mad\u2019 at me that I was in Chile five years ago and didn\u2019t come by for a visit\u201d. Ofra’s performances in Argentina were mobbed, and there wasn\u2019t only a Jewish audience. \u201cWherever I went \u2013 in the supermarkets, perfumeries, cabs \u2013 they asked my autograph. \u2018Cantanta, Cantanta\u2019 (“a singer” in Spanish) all the time. The press turmoil around her was so big that even the Nazi paper \u201cLa Nueva Provincia\u201d sent a journalist to interview her. She also performed in two concerts in Australia in which all the tickets were sold out in advance. Her song \u201cGalbi\u201d was broadcast many times on John Pill\u2019s show on the B.B.C, and a crew of the popular rock show \u201cThe Tube\u201d came to Israel to shoot and record her songs. The show \u201cWomen of the World\u201d, in which each show is dedicated to women who made it, prepared a special report about Ofra for the American audience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Because of her success, Ofra released a single in France called \u201cAime-Moi\u201d. The single included two new songs, \u201cLes heros dun jour\u201d and \u201cAime moi\u201d, which were especially written for it by French artists. In order to promote the selling of the single, Ofra went to France for three months. There were plans to make a whole album in French.
Ofra and Bezalel already translated a few of their familiar songs to French (like “Gavriel” (\u201cGabriel\u201d), “Tfila” (\u201cPrayer\u201d \u2013 “Emmene Moi”) and “Bemanginat Halev” (\u201cThe Heart Melody\u201d \u2013 “Nous Nirons Plus”) that were released only on a video cassette in the end).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cConcerning abroad, I\u2019m working slowly\u201d, she said. \u201cNot long ago I didn\u2019t have any material to export, I also had no time to work abroad, but I feel I can break through to these markets too. When I was in the U.S.A. they arranged me to be on the reputed Johnny Carson show, but I refused since I didn\u2019t have enough songs in English, and there weren\u2019t any albums in the shops. I didn\u2019t want to show up on TV just so I can say I was on TV. In the show \u201cCats\u201d in London I was talking to the stars of \u201cFame\u201d, who were sitting in the hall, when suddenly a group of people approached me to get my autograph. The stars of \u201cFame\u201d were shocked\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In 1986 Ofra also released a video cassette called \u201cFantasy\u201d, which included 10 of her songs in Hebrew, English, French and Yemenite. The time length of the cassette was 40 minutes, and 150 thousand dollars was invested in it. During the show on the video Ofra changes 30 costumes, a few haircuts, make up and jewelry. The shooting sites are also varied: Caesarea, Herzelia, Jaffa, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Arad, Shabazi neighborhood etc. The song \u201cFantasy\u201d was written especially for the new video.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At Passover that year, Ofra released “Albom Hazahav” (\u201cThe Golden Album\u201d), a double album collection of 24 songs including her best hits and also English and French songs which still hadn\u2019t been played to the Israeli audience. Ofra herself didn\u2019t want to release the album, but she gave in to the fan\u2019s pressure that got used to her new albums being released during Rosh Hashanah (the new Jewish year) and Passover. Because of the great demand, the release of the album was advanced, and early purchasers got the album without the traditional poster, which was included a week or two later. The album sold over 20 thousand copies and won a gold album.
At that year Ofra tried her luck in writing and composing. She released the album \u201cYamim Nishbarim\u201d (“Broken Days”), of which she wrote and composed all the songs, except the song “Hake’ev Haze” (\u201cThis Pain\u201d), which she composed together with Izhar Ashdot. \u201cIf I was asked a year ago about planning an album with my own songs I would say \u2018no\u2019\u201d, she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t even consider it, but when Bezalel heard my two first songs he encouraged me unexpectedly when he told me: \u2018you can do this!\u2019 and the songs suddenly outburst from me. Ofra wrote 20 songs, from which she chose nine for her new album.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In \u201cYamim Nishbarim\u201d (“Broken Days”) Ofra offered more surprises — not just by writing and composing all of it. Bezalel recommended to Ofra that Izhar Ashdot should do the production of the album. Ofra agreed and the outcome was very different from what she had done up until then. The sound was very updated, as the synthesizer replaced the piano. \u201cIn no album of mine was I so much involved as in this album. Our production came out in an international style. In the past the production had been done far away, in the producer\u2019s home, and I was neutralized as far as what the producer had done. My work was in the studio, where I got a song that was already done. This time, not only had I written all the songs, but I also worked at Izhar Ashdot\u2019s home not less than half a year on the songs. There wasn\u2019t a sound which didn\u2019t pass through me\u201d. Huge hits like “Yamim Nishbarim” (\u201cBroken Days\u201d), “Kol Haklafim” (\u201cAll the cards\u201d), \u201cLady\u201d etc. came out of the album. The album sold over 30,000 copies, and got a golden album for the achievement.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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At the end of that year Ofra produced a single show at an international level, called “Ofra Haza Al Habama” (\u201cOfra Haza on Stage\u201d). The papers wrote that Ofra changed completely the style of her performance. And indeed, in the new show she started dancing, playing and changing costumes, things she had never done before. The director, Tzedi Tzarfati, helped her break out of her stangnated image, and she did it naturally. “Ofra Haza Al Habama” (\u201cOfra Haza on Stage\u201d) was a huge production on an Israeli and European level, and Ofra went with the updated modern pop sound. Maybe this is what the record companies from Britain and Germany and also the managers from Holland and Japan found in her. She even succeeded to break through the disco charts in the U.S.A.

Also in the same year the book \u201cOfra Haza\u201d was published. It featured chosen periods from her lifetime story, Ofra behind the scenes, and a special interview with her. \u201cMany people ask me questions by writing and face to face, wanting to know so many details about me, my childhood, my career, my private life etc.\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cTo all of them, with great love, this book was written”.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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On February 3rd, 1987, Ofra had a benefit performance together with the Air Force Orchestra in the Air Force Base in Nevatim in southern Israel (12.5 miles or 20 kilometers north east of Be’er-Sheva). At the end of the performance Ofra intended to fly back to Tel-Aviv in the Cessna aircraft of the Air Force. \u201cThe performance at the military base was really outstanding\u201d, said the pilot who flew Ofra back after the performance. \u201cIt was really a smash. The soldiers cried in excitement, applauded and enjoyed themselves. Ofra accompanied our orchestra of 16 people, and the productions were great and rich, like in Europe. Everything was at a high standard. It was great for the audience and also for Ofra\u201d.
A few minutes after 11 o\u2019clock at night, Ofra boarded the Cessna aircraft on her way home with her sister Shuli, Bezalel, the pilot, a flight lieutenant who works as a combat pilot, a mechanic who had joined them at the last minute, and Danny Mosko, the commander and conductor of the Air Force orchestra. The orchestra itself drove north on a bus. \u201cOn our way we talked about the performance, how it was, about possibilities for other performances in the Force, etc.\u201d, says the pilot.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u201cAfter we took off the pilot reached 3000 feet in the air\u201d, said Bezalel. \u201cAfterwards I heard the pilot speaking on his radio, saying that he was going down to 2000 feet because of the fog. A few seconds passed and suddenly we were doing somersaults on the ground. The plane was smashed. Afterwards there was a frightful horrible silence\u201d.

\u201cSuddenly, with no warning, we felt a huge \u2018Boom\u2019, like in an accident\u201d, said the pilot. \u201cWe didn\u2019t conceive what had happened because we didn\u2019t feel the aircraft was losing height. After the \u2018boom\u2019, the aircraft was jerking like a pingpong ball a few times, doing one somersault forward and then turned over. Then there was silence. This whole thing took only two seconds\u201d.

\u201cAfter a ten minute flight I felt myself on the ground and everything was upside down\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cLuckily my sister and I were strapped in. Bezalel untied us, and he and my sister dragged me out of the window and pulled me out of the aircraft\u201d.

At 10:40 PM contact with the aircraft was lost and there was great fear for the safety of the passengers and crew. Shortly after the Air Force realized that there was something wrong with the plane and they considered the possibility it had crashed or made a forced landing in the aircraft’s course. They immediately sent up numerous helicopters and also \u201cHercules\u201d planes which lit large areas of the planned flight with flares in the area of Beyt-Kamah and north of the Negev. This was despite the stormy and rainy night and the clouds and fog. Simultaneously ground forces were sent to search large areas in an effort to find a sign of the plane. The total forces included helicopters, ambulances, jeeps, armoured cars and many soldiers.

\u201cAll night long we stood there in the cold, rain, and in the mud\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cUntil we realized they were trying to search for us. We saw flares but we couldn\u2019t signal back because we didn\u2019t have any lanterns or matches.\u201d All the south command was alerted to locate the plane of \u201cour Ofra\u201d. The fog, rain and mud didn\u2019t prevent the forces from entering even tough areas in order to locate the plane and its passengers. In some of the jeeps they hummed Ofra\u2019s songs in whisper.

\u201cWe found ourselves standing in a deserted place in freezing cold, rain and strong wind, sunk deep down in the mud\u201d, says the pilot. “When one tried to pick up his leg it hardly moved, it was stuck in the mass of clods. Around us there was a heavy fog and we had no idea where we were. We couldn\u2019t see more than one meter forward and we had no idea what direction to turn to\u201d.

The pilot apologized all the time. He felt very embarrassed, and was anxious. \u201cWe had been standing and waiting maybe an hour, until we started to hear helicopters and see flares\u201d, he says. \u201cOnly when the flares started to light did we start climbing on rocks and looked for a way out\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cAt about 3 AM, when all the area was already lit up with the flares, we found a shelter made of concrete. Up until then we were just standing there and our legs were freezing\u201d.

\u201cWe decided to go there, hardly treading in the mud, and then we realized that the shelter was deserted\u201d, says the pilot. \u201cWe tried to break through the door and we couldn\u2019t, so we kept standing under a kind of a little roof, that didn\u2019t protect us from the cold and the wind, but at least gave us a little shelter from the rain\u201d.

\u201cThe helicopters left at around 4 AM\u201d, says Ofra, “and we had been waiting in this place until 5 o\u2019clock. Four long hours in the freezing cold\u201d. All this time the pilot had all the men, four in number, surround Ofra and Shuli in a circle, to preserve their body heat. While walking, almost without paying attention, Ofra started singing her song “Hake’ev Haze” (\u201cThis Pain\u201d). Later on she began to sing: \u201cIf a man falls from a plane in the middle of the night only God can save him\u201d (a famous Israeli song).


“I remember the pilot told me that until that night he hadn\u2019t believed in God. Since that night he couldn\u2019t avoid it anymore\u201d, says Ofra.

The newspapers had already begun preparing big headlines about the disaster. Officers came to the Haza and Aloni families and notified them that they were apparently looking for corpses, since there wasn\u2019t the slightest chance one could survive a plane crash. Also the Minister of Defense, Yitzchak Rabin, was notified that apparently six corpses were being searched for.

Ofra wore high heel shoes and she gave her sister the black boots which she used in the performance. \u201cWe were waiting till dawn and at about six o\u2019clock the pilot instructed us to start walking\u201d, said Ofra. “From far away we could see the lights of cars. We went towards the road. Workers’ cars were passing by on their way to work. We stopped a car with two Arabic workers from Peugeot 504 station, who were shocked and didn’t understand where we came from. They drove us towards Be’er-Sheva, but only brought us part way because they were afraid to get near a military base\u201d.

“They took us to Daharia, a ten minute drive, maybe even less\u201d, said the pilot. \u201cWe started walking on the edge of this village and at that hour all the workers started to go to work. Buses and cabs were standing there in a line. And we, after a whole night in the mud and the rain, looked wet and snuggled, almost the same as these workers”.

\u201cWe were walking two kilometers to a military base\u201d, said Ofra. The group reached the base near the Arab village of Daharia, the same base where the military searching forces were concentrated. \u201cAll the country is looking for you\u201d, welcomed Major General Ehud Barak. At the same time some officers were leaning on their maps: moving here, moving there, an outflanking from the right, an outflanking from the left. \u201cI asked them: \u2018Tell me, are you searching for the falling plane? It\u2019s us, we\u2019re here\u2019\u201d, says the pilot. \u201cThey were shocked. \u2018We were looking for corpses\u2019, they told us\u201d.

\u201cAll the passengers, six in number, are waking into a nightmare in a tiny airplane, upside-down and crashed, beaten and bruised\u201d, says Ofra. \u201cA piercing cold, rain and hail are beating us, and I\u2019m slopping in thick mud with my thin show dress on me. Walking and stumbling all night long, I woke up from the crash ten minutes later. I was wounded in my hands and legs. I had puncture wounds\u201d.

\u201cOfra was O.K. all along\u201d, says the pilot. \u201cI saw her crying only once, in the base. That\u2019s all. Besides that, she was O.K. all along. Without any complaints or grouses\u201d.

Immediately they all made contact\u201d, says the pilot. \u201cThey took us and brought us to ‘Hadassah’ hospital\u201d. All six suffered from bruises and slight scrapes all over their bodies. After a medical exam they were sent to their homes. Ofra wanted to go to the Wailing Wall in order to do the “Hagomel” blessing (a blessing Jewish people do when they are saved from death), but at last she gave up the idea in order to go straight home. She decided to cancel the performances that were planned for the following days.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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“A few days later, people from the Air Force showed me a map of the place, and said we crashed in a place called ‘Be’er Ofra’ (‘Ofra’s Well’)”, says Ofra with excitement. As a memento the army sent her one of the propellers, which she kept in the garden of her house in Yahud. For years the propeller had been there in memorial of the traumatic event that had happened to her. The work on the case of the plane crash was called \u201cThe interrogation of Ofra Haza\u2019s plane\u201d. After a month it was decided to prosecute the pilot of the Cessna aircraft. His license to fly the Cessna aircraft was revoked at aircraft was revoked at the recommendation of the commission of inquiry that was appointed by the air force commander.
Ofra and the pilot kept in touch, and every year at the day of the event, which Ofra called \u201cmy second birthday\u201d, they used to speak on the phone and met one another occasionally.
Thousands of bouquets and other presents were sent to Ofra from her fans and citizens who were worried about her. Many visitors came to the hospital where she was treated and to her house, and brought presents, chocolate, flowers and blessing cards.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The thing that perhaps helped Ofra recover from the plane crash trauma was the growing positive responses in Europe and the U.S.A. for the dance version of \u201cGalbi\u201d, which started to spread. Ofra was chosen that very day (a real coincidence) as the singer of the month in England, as if she got a prize for what she was going through. \u201cEverything came by surprise\u201d, said Ofra. \u201cNothing was planned. Suddenly we started to get responses. Suddenly we started getting phone calls from all over the world. People started to show interest, to ask questions, to invite me to perform, they asked me to give them the rights for my songs and records\u201d. \u201cWe are trying not to lose proportion and not to be carried away\u201d, said Bezalel. \u201cThe telephone doesn\u2019t stop ringing and the invitations to performances, radio, newspapers and television interviews and for shooting are coming all the time. It\u2019s very easy to lose one\u2019s head and to jump on every offer. But it is wiser to know what to choose, the best things, the things that will suit Ofra\u201d.

In that year Ofra took part for the first time in the \u201cFestigal\u201d (a children\u2019s song festival). She sang the song “Arba’im” (\u201cForty\u201d) and a medley of her songs. The song “Arba’im” (\u201cForty\u201d) uses the image of the forty years of the Hebrew walking in the desert in order to speak about the 40 years of the Israeli existence: \u201cForty years we went \/ together in hard toil \/ because we\u2019re always everybody for everybody\/\/ for the newcomers from all over the world to the land \/ for the newcomers from east, from west \/ forty years of land like wonder \/ forty\u201d. Bezalel Aloni wrote the lyrics and Ofra herself composed the music. The song won first place in the contest.

The idolization of Ofra continued to break new records. Her official fan club, which was established by Amos Gazit, became the biggest fan club in Israel of all time and included over than 40,000 fans. Every day the fan club got about 200 letters addressed to Ofra, and Ofra herself got sacks of letters to her house, three times a week. Ofra\u2019s, Bezalel\u2019s and her parents\u2019 houses were full with boxes containing letters. Anyone who joined the club received a free gift and could also acquire tape cassettes, video cassettes, posters, scarves with her picture and a signature, sets of 18 notebook stickers, time schedules, letters and envelopes, shirt emblems, books, etc. at a discount. Additionally, many private fan clubs were set up by the fans themselves and were named after her songs and records, like “Pituyim” (\u201cTemptations\u201d), “Chai” (\u201cAlive\u201d), “Bayit Cham” (\u201cA Place For Me”)\u201d, \u201cSuper Star\u201d etc. They were located in private houses or in asylums (every Israeli building has an asylum in case of attack in war). Their walls were covered with posters, pictures and accessories of Ofra.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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In November 1987 Ofra and Bezalel discovered that a couple of black rappers, Eric B. and Rakim, sampled Ofra\u2019s voice from the original version of \u201cIm Nin’alu\u201d to their song \u201cPaid in Full\u201d, which was recorded for the soundtrack of the movie \u201cColors\u201d, starring Sean Pen and Robert Duvall. The song became a big hit in Britain and the U.S.A., and everyone wanted to know who was the singer that was trilling in the background. \u201cIt gave her a tremendous push\u201d, says Bezalel. \u201cEven Eric B. and Rakim didn\u2019t know she was a young singer who lived in Israel. They thought it was an old recording of an Arabic singer who was already dead\u201d. Because of the interest that the song from the movie created, Ofra and Bezalel decided to make a remix of \u201cIm Nin’alu\u201d, and recruited Ashdot again. \u201cIzhar wanted to make the song faster, and he did, but it didn\u2019t sound good\u201d, says Ya’ir Nitsani. \u201cHe said: \u2018listen, we can live with it, but it\u2019s better to bring Ofra\u2019. I called Bezalel and told him to come to the office. And he really loved it then, and he instantly agreed with us that it had to be recorded again\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Ofra came to the Studio and recorded \u201cIm Nin’alu\u201d again, for the remix. Ashdot prepared a new remix which included words in English in addition to the original lyrics. In the same year, 1987, Ofra decided to release “Shirey Moledet Gimel” (\u201cHomeland Songs 3\u201d) which included additional homeland songs such as “Re’ach Tapu’ach, Odem Shani” (\u201cThe Scent of the Apple Tree, Scarlet Red\u201d), “Ayelet Ahavim” (\u201cBeloved Woman\u201d), “Ma Yafim Halylot” (\u201cHow Beautiful Are The Nights)\u201d, “Hakotel” (\u201cThe Wailing Wall\u201d) and also “Hechalil” (\u201cThe Flute\u201d), which was recorded during the Israeli television broadcast in duet with Yehudit Ravitz. The song received good reviews and that’s why she included it in her album. The album was dedicated to celebrations of the 40 years of independence of the state of Israel. The album was also a great success and reached the sales level of a gold album. It was the last of Ofra\u2019s albums before her major breakthrough with albums overseas.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Explore More Chapters<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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CHAPTER A:
\nI WAS JUST A LITTLE GIRL<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead Chapter A: Early Life<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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CHAPTER C:
\"QUEEN IN EXILE\"<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead More C: Exile Queen<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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CHAPTER D:
\"KADDISH\"<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead More D: Last Note<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter-b CHAPTER B: “MAKE THE DREAM COME TRUE” The new ensemble of “Shokolad, Menta, Mastik” (\u201cChocolate, mint, Bubblegum\u201d) came apart. Pashanell wanted to feature Ofra as a soloist but composers weren\u2019t willing to write songs for her. The best of names, from Mati Caspi to Uzi Chitman and Ehud Manor — nobody knew Ofra Haza […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2688","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":218,"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9984,"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2688\/revisions\/9984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofrahazaofficial.com\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}