He didn't win awards and honors, didn't light a beacon on Independence Day, and you couldn't even find a name on Wikipedia. But from Joseph Ben Israel's tremendous life enterprise, which passed away last Saturday at the age of 92, we all enjoy it. This column is also likely to be a single reference in the media to the death of this cultural hero.

Ben Israel was a "Voice of Israel" radio man who worked for many years to raise the horn of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Israeli music, within a system that did everything possible to silence this music, and at the same time set the voice of half the people.

It is hard to sum up such a long career. Two significant landmarks will testify best: one is the discovery of Joe Amar, who was the first to bring to Israel radio the sounds of Eastern Jewry. And the second is the Oriental Singer Festival, which Ben Israel was its founder and artistic director.

Ben Israel acted at the forefront of the melting pot policy that tried to erase every traditional Jewish trait in favor of the image of a new Israeli cut off from his diasporic roots. But while those who spoke on behalf of the new Israelis ignored the culture of about half the Israelis, Ben Israel fought for the place of Eastern Jewry, saw its tremendous wealth and understood the importance of giving voice to people who are the sounds of their childhood.

He knew the dozens of huge artists who flourished in Iraq and Morocco, and were best ignored here in Israel. It could also have been Joe Amar's end, had it not been for his intervention, when he put all his weight on public radio.

Ben Amar put Joe Amar on the radio with the poems "Yeshmash Moshe" and "My Cousin's Peace," thus showing that the triangular combination of pop music, ancient poetry and oriental sounds - is possible and even requested. Such a combination has been followed by many artists to this day: from the sounds of ood and natural selection, to Barry Sakharof and the Revivo project. These poems suggest a completely different fusion reactor, one that gives respect to the Jewish tradition and the sounds of the East.

In 1971, he co-founded the Oriental Singer Festival, which became the main stage where Ofra Haza, Zohar Argov and many other artists broke through.

Omar Adam and Eyal Golan, Eden Ben Zaken and Sarit Haddad, need to arrest, honor and respect those who lay on the fence so that they can play the radio stations naturally; Those who are largely thanks to them can fill Caesarea and the Hall of Menorah, and allow the audience to enjoy the music they love so much. Those who hear Israeli music today, saturated with the sounds of the East and connected with tradition in almost every song, understand that it is Joseph Ben Israel's way of winning.

These days, as the discourse on "Second Israel" becomes a linguistic currency in everything, we also need to remember those who acted in real time to change this disturbing division. The story of Yosef Ben Israel, who fought singularly with many for justice, deserves to be taught in the education system, along with the artists he promoted. And I wish we didn't wait for their deaths to honor and honor their work.

Yosef Ben Israel proved that one radio broadcaster can make a big difference. He was a cultural hero. The Second Hero of Israel.

Adv. Ofir Tubol is the founder of the Golden Age movement