The poet Yitzhak Keinan passed away yesterday (Thursday) at the age of 79. His best-known author was "The Sea of Oats" performed by the Gevatron band.
In addition, he was mayor of Beit She'an from 1974 for nine years.
The mayor of Beit She'an, Jackie Levy, praised him: "Yitzhak Keinan was a symbol of Israeliness. A native of Morocco whose work was Israeliness at its best, a man of education and culture and a beloved mayor who, although he left the city many years ago, remained revered and loved. "We will find a way to commemorate him in a way that reflects his public, educational and cultural work."
In an interview from a few years ago, Keinan shattered the myth when he said that he wrote (together with Haim Agmon) the song that became known in the Gevatron songs, for the Beit She'an choir.
"When I wrote the song, sometime in the year 70, I did not see in my place of residence at that time, Beit She'an, no sea and no crops, because it was winter," he said.
Yitzhak Keinan, was born in 1942 in the city of Marrakesh in Morocco.
At the age of ten, he immigrated to Israel as part of the youth aliyah and reunited with his grandmother.
He was educated in the Neve Hadassah youth village and from there continued to Kibbutz Tel Yitzhak.
He served in the Nahal, fought in the Israeli wars and completed his studies at the Nahalal Teachers' Seminary. He served as an educator and principal of the school in Beit She'an. He is a graduate of the University of Haifa in Hebrew history and literature.
His musical partner in the work was Haim Agmon, who also composed his song "My Valley", in which Keinan expressed the difficult atmosphere during the Katyusha firing on the Beit She'an Valley during the war of attrition. .
Other songs he composed: "Lantern in the Fall" "Cypress of Sadness" and more.
Yitzhak Keinan also wrote novels, plays and screenplays, including "A Child from the Desert", "Walnut" on the Moroccan immigrant ship that sank in 1961 and all its passengers drowned at sea.
In addition, Etz wrote the children's book "The Wonder Snake from Marrakesh" and more.
In Beit She'an, he joined his Moroccan roots, and in late 1973 was elected head of the Labor Party, and served until 1983. In 1970 he won first prize for the short story "Tomb on the Mount of Olives" on behalf of the Ministry of Education, for "Winning Death" won the prize Network Excellence "and more.
In other roles, Keenan was the "Aliyat Hanoar" emissary (1984) in Western Europe, the director general of Art for the People (until 1992) and the Jewish Agency's emissary in France (2001-2004).
