We were about to go on stage when the news came that Isaac Clifter was gone.
We are in the Galilee, and we don't know exactly who is in the crowd.
how old are they?
How many seats?
How many kibbutzniks?
How religious?
What does it matter at all... there was a lump in the heart, in which there was sadness and gratitude and excitement, and it was clear that we were going to sing with the audience something that is associated with Churchill.
For Yitzhak Klifter's last interview with "Shishab"
And that's exactly how it went: Iran Zachani lightly played the guitar, and sang the first two syllables "yeah", and that was completely enough.
The audience already took it away naturally.
Note for note and word for word, and clarify in an instant what the iron sheep property means, and what the words "culture" and "Grasa Dinkota" mean.
Personally, it threw me to a distant event that I had already forgotten, and which suddenly put a big, sad smile on my face.
Listen, we were in the high school yeshiva and of course we studied a page of Gemara.
This was a treatise on Baba Kama, and for several days we have been dealing with a topic that managed to arouse even the guys who never connected with all these sages. ?Since 2,000 years ago there was no minimum wage, sages decide to attach the amount to the standard of the worst job they knew - tending zucchini.
Why would someone steal zucchini - we wondered, but we agreed that someone probably needs to keep an eye on even zucchini.
He doesn't have to be a high-tech genius and neither does Leo Messi, and the salary accordingly.
But that didn't change the fact that the phrase "zucchini keeper" managed to win our hearts.
Like most boys, we weren't keen on zucchini either, but we deeply liked the anonymous zucchini keeper.
How much did we like?
Well, one day, when the class was really boring, someone just started singing "Shomerat kushaiim katana, I am a zucchini without repair", and everyone, even the biggest potz in the class, got carried away singing, in front of the amazed eyes of Rabbi Sharaga, an ultra-Orthodox graduate of Ponibiz who did not know The song and did not know his soul.
The song, needless to say, became one of the class anthems.
When my parents finally bought a stereo system I was already a soldier, and the record "Yitzhak" was one of the first five I bought.
We never forget first records, just like we never forget the footballers we held onto their cards and stuck on the album.
They are part of our bloodstream.
What's more, we didn't have many records in those days, and the ones we had we played over and over again, to the point of complete control over every sub-sound.
"We met", "My love is not his love" or "No one misses" I can hum even in my sleep.
But only today, after all the wonderful obituaries I read this week, all of which mentioned the degree of Clifter's humility (Berry Sakharoff went to great lengths and used the words "Zech and pure"), I understand the line that connects Yitzchak's so simple character, and his playing and the words he wrote.
A line that tries to avoid exuberance.
Disapproves of juggling, unnecessary tricks;
From any empty attempt to make an impression and oh-oh.
It seems to me that this deep and consistent quality is the explanation for the huge wave of love that has washed over Israel since it became clear that Kleptor put down the guitar and is no more.
How symbolic.
It was he, who never made pyrotechnic public relations for himself, and did not pursue honor, who received a most honorable farewell.
If I have already conjured up the days of the high school yeshiva, I must tell another small story about the two - Klepter and the yeshiva.
One of the cohorts below us wanted to invite Churchill to his graduation party.
They worked well and saved money, and of course they could afford the financial expense, but to invite a rock and roll star to a yeshiva?!
It was an unprecedented idea.
The student council, in any case, mustered up courage and a bit of audacity, and decided to do it in order and try to get the approval of the rabbis.
Anyone who knew the Kfar Hara yeshiva of those days knew exactly which rabbis to contact in order to get a negative answer, and who should be contacted if they wanted approval. Therefore, the representatives of the committee directly contacted the head of the yeshiva, the late Rabbi Moshe Zvi Naria, and told him about the request the students
They made it clear that there was money, and that this was not the point at all.
And that the singer is indeed secular from head to toe, but his songs are kosher and pure, if they don't punctuate the third stanza of "My Love..." (which was still in the womb in those days), and the song "Yu Ye" even corresponds with the name of the blessed Creator.
And the main thing - the students love him and want him to come to make them happy.
And no, there is no other Israeli artist at the moment for whom there is such unanimity in the Yeshiva.
Rabbi Neria, a truly great educator, gently wiped his glasses and asked for a few days to think.
He had never received a similar request before.
Unlike some of his colleagues, he did not believe that youth itself is a sin.
Definately not.
He had the soul of a revolutionary, so he actually believed in the spirit of the young and always recommended demonstrating and showing involvement and being young.
But who the hell is Clifter, and what is rock and roll?
A few days later the rabbi summoned the student council to his modest room.
He informed them that after many beatings he decided to respond positively to their request.
The dear singer Rabbi Yitzhak is wholeheartedly invited to come to our yeshiva, to play and sing secular songs.
At this point, the rabbi showed the members of the council a note, on which he wrote in his handwriting the list of songs that the yeshiva leadership, well, approves for Clifter to sing in concert at our yeshiva.
Now the students rubbed their eyes.
The list included songs such as "Bab al-Wad", "In the Negev Plains", and I think also "The Believer Yom Yom Yom Ivo".
The comedy songs of 1948. No, there wasn't a single Clappter song in there.
At first the students thought the rabbi was joking.
But he was completely serious.
And mostly innocent.
The War of Independence was the defining event in the Rabbi's life, if you will - his rock'n'roll.
There he was moved by the revelations of heroism and evil, and discovered to his surprise that Israeli culture, however secular it may be, is his own and is almost as sacred to his heart as the Beit Midrash.
For him, I suppose, just as a religious singer gets to sing songs from the sources, so a secular singer should also sing songs from his sources.
And preferably from the wonderful period of 2008, when the rabbi himself was young, and Israel was young, everything was innocent and enlightened, and the rabbi still knew Israeliness and its songs by heart.
The members of the student council warmly thanked the rabbi for his openness and creativity, and left with a heavy heart when they realized that Kleftar would no longer appear at the yeshiva.
They didn't even try to pick up the phone, but years later continued to joke and reminisce about that note and the unbelievable song list.
I have no idea if Clifter himself ever heard that strange story.
In my eyes, in any case, the note is a constitutive document.
I hope someone is still keeping an eye on him.
And suddenly, this week, I was thinking what a shame these student representatives gave up so quickly, and didn't call Clafter's agent after all.
who knows?
Maybe today we had a recording of a guitar solo, in a style that has no equal, for the Negev Desert.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
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