Dozens of bouquets of flowers in shiny vases crowd the entrance to the house of Noam Klinstein and her mother, the singer Rita, in north Tel Aviv.
Spreading light, fragrance and some color in these dark days.
"It's strange to me that they are for me, I'm used to having strangers at home after my mother's concert," smiles Noam.
At the age of 23, which she celebrates today, the girl who was born with a soul key in her hand is trying to adapt to the status of the new star in the family.
In a pleasant way: the new Kleinstein is revealed // Reporter: Ortal Cohen, photography: Moshe Ben Simhon
Last week, the new musical starring "Blues for the Great Holiday" came out, a stage-musical adaptation of Ranan Shor and Doron Nesher's cult film from 1987.
The musical, like the film, accompanies a group of teenagers during the war of attrition, on the last major vacation before their enlistment in the IDF, with the multitude of hormones, dreams, thoughts about life - and dealing with the fall of the class member who was sent to the front.
Kleinstein plays the main female character, Naomi Novick, who was played in the film by the actress Noa Goldberg.
Tragically, the explosive scenes that deal with the pain of bereavement and loss became for Noam close and real in the shadow of the October 7th upheaval.
"In preparation for the position, I researched the War of Attrition (which took place between the Six Day War and 1970 in the Suez Canal; MK), and I remember asking myself how it made sense that there was a war and life in Israel continued almost as usual.
It seems strange to me.
"And suddenly, all the pain that the musical touches on became something real. One of the characters says: 'Besides the usual headlines in the newspaper, you see the name, age and rank of the fallen,' and there is also a funeral scene for a soldier and songs about war and mourning."
In "Blues for the great holiday" (with Dor Harari).
"This is not escapism, but an open wound", photo: Redi Rubinstein
Bereavement has affected your closest circle of friends.
"Yes. On Saturday, at 8:00, I realized that a very good childhood friend of mine from seventh grade, Yuli Reiter, was at a party in Ra'i. Through a mutual friend, an officer who was in direct contact with her, I realized that she was hiding in a shelter and that there were terrorists around her. She sent a location for rescue , which arrived only after seven hours.
"I didn't dare write to her during those hours, but I was on the phone the whole time. I didn't breathe, I got sick in an instant. Yuli went to a party with the late Adir Mesika, her stunning partner, and they hid in a shelter with other friends.
When they heard that a terrorist was going to enter the shelter, Adir and his friend, the late Aili Nachman, came out and jumped on him with their bare hands - and both were killed. Adir actually saved Yuli. It was the shelter they later saw in all the videos that recorded the road with the convoy of cars from the party.
"At 14:00 I heard that Yuli was rescued by the 202nd paratrooper battalion, and that she was with the soldiers, but she still had not left the danger zone. Until this evening, she traveled with them in a shielded bus into the battlefield, to sweeps, to the kibbutzim. Adir was first identified as missing, and then as murdered , and since his funeral, Yuli and I are inseparable. She got up from the oath for the love of her life, arranged for herself Order 8 as a reserve officer, and today she serves in Berai, 400 meters from that shelter. On the weekends we are together. When I'm not with her, I feel incomplete."
When it comes to a close person, the blow is much harder.
"True, and I feel that I was lucky to be friends with such a strong girl, at levels that surprised me. Of course, she is still grieving, still post-traumatic, but I learn a lot from her. For example, that grief is not what is shown on television. It is everyday, constant, And it has a lot of pain - and also some humor and dark jokes.
"It was a shock to walk with her on the street in Tel Aviv and see that life goes on. She said: 'It's strange to me that people are sitting and drinking coffee. Stranger than if they told me that everything was just a joke and that Hadir is coming back.' I learn a lot about strength, power and love through her.
"There is a scene in the play, after the funeral of the fallen, in which Naomi remains standing next to Mosi Shuval (played in the film by Yoav Tzafir; MK).
He asks a question, and she answers him in a sort of joke.
Not to make fun, but to lift him up - and that's exactly what I did in reality with Yuli.
I just sat next to her, without asking and digging into her pain, trying to make her laugh and lift her up."
Did Yuli watch the show yet?
"Not yet, but I play excerpts for her and tell her. There is a song called 'Your Girlfriend'. At Adir's funeral they spoke of him as a son, a grandson and a brother, but he also left behind a girlfriend and sacrificed his life for her. I can't stop thinking about it, And about how Yuli will react to the song - which speaks exactly about this bereavement.
"Before Adir was killed, and also after, she wrote him all kinds of notes and asked me to turn them into a song, to sing in the thirtieth anniversary of his death. I sat by the piano with a booklet that I had printed for myself of things she had written, and then I wrote to her that it was like putting together the saddest puzzle in the world. She She asked me to write a love song, not a song about bereavement. A love song from her to him. And it was very significant for me."
The late Adir Masika. "Jumped from the shield onto the terrorist", photo: from the private album
A change in Aharleh's sentence
"Blues for the Great Holiday" was staged at the Beit Lisin Theater by Baruch Ivcher. The stage adaptation was written by the playwright Oren Yacovi, and Yotam Kushnir directed it. Alongside Kleinstein, Hani Nachmias, Dor Harari, Tal Groshka, Itamar Elbaz, Aviram also play Avitan, Doron Oren, Dor Almakais, Eleanor Weil and Varda Kantrovich. The music was composed by Eli Butner, who also wrote the songs with Yacovi, and the musical management and arrangements were entrusted to Amir Lekner.
"Originally, we were supposed to put on the first show on October 17, but two days after the massacre we arrived at broken rehearsals. Four cast members were drafted into the reserves, and we were sent home. It wasn't until January that the first show came on, and we realized that something had to be changed, because what is happening on stage is too real." .
What did you change?
"We changed the immortal sentence that Aharleh Schechter says (in the film played by the actor Dor Zweigenboom; MK): 'A pacifist does not have just wars.
Behind what is called a border there is no enemy, there are people like me and you.'
In the new version, after the disaster, the sentence became: 'A pacifist has no just wars.
If humans don't put an end to wars, wars will put an end to humans'.
Oren, the playwright, did not want the audience to create antagonism towards Aharleh and his harsh trial."
In the first days of the war, Kleinstein also appeared before evacuees.
"I think every artist who has performed in front of people who have experienced hell has asked themselves: 'What can I do? What can I sing? How can I even be near them and have value?'
Little by little I discovered that there is value in this. That there is something comforting in music and art. If what I do can do something good for someone sitting in the audience, in the evacuees' dining room, in the soldiers' regiment or at the memorials where I performed - who am I not to come?
"The new play is not escapism, it talks about what we are experiencing right now. It is an open wound, and when you touch an open wound it hurts, moves, is deep and also funnier, because there is still humor in everyday life. I think this is what makes 'Blues for the Great Holiday' ' to be so important and relevant."
Naomi, played by you, is a strong girl.
"Naomi is a kind of 2024's answer to the heroines of the past, the women that men fought over without really having a 'say'. Today's Naomi seems to be saying: 'Why are you fighting over me? I am the one who decides'. This was the playwright's initiative, and I feel that he did Grace with her. Naomi is the one who starts with Musi and chooses what she wants, and it's a great honor for me to play a character that no one will tell her what to do.
"There is a song in which Musi says: 'I was waiting for my first kiss,' and Naomi says: 'He is my number seven, there were six more before him' - and it's fun to celebrate this true feminism, that no one will shame you. It's one of the most empowering songs me as a woman. I'm happy that an audience of young girls will come and see it, and I'm happy that I'm marking the change and the new spirit."
"There is a song in the musical, 'Your Girlfriend,' which one of the characters sings to a friend who is enlisting. At Adir's funeral, they spoke of him as a son, a grandson, and a brother, but he also left behind a girlfriend. I keep thinking about it, and how Yuli will react to the song - which speaks precisely about this bereavement"
"Also uploads photos from the dentist"
She was born and raised in Tel Aviv, with mother Rita (61), father Rami (61) and eldest sister Meshi (32), one of the prominent aristocratic families of Israeli music in the last four decades.
From her childhood she is blessed with a gentle and clear voice, the ability to write, and of course - acting talent.
Already in elementary school, in Tel Baruch, she wrote songs and was considered the school's actress ("I had a funny character called 'Aunt Bella', and every holiday I would perform with her, wearing a hat").
She studied classical piano ("I didn't like it, because I couldn't learn notes"), and later sang in Cheech's Neighbors band.
In the IDF, she served in the band of the Education Corps dedicated to the poet Natan Alterman. "We performed an evening of his poems, and the actor who did the linking parts was my ex, the actor and director Yuval Kanin Nachmias (about whom she wrote 'Shir to Yuval'; MK). We met in high school and were mates On and off until the very day before our assignment to the band. Despite the breakup, we remained friends."
When I ask her about love, she responds with a bright smile: "I'm in love. We've been together for six months. His name is Jonathan, he's also 23, and he's a secret guy," she laughs.
"He has no Instagram, Facebook - nothing. He serves permanently in intelligence. He is stunning, and he does not feel comfortable with the exposure."
and the exact opposite.
"The opposites actually complement each other, and I like it very much. I don't upload a lot of pictures with him, only sometimes, and I think that slowly we balance out. I like that Jonathan is not addicted to the networks, it's refreshing and fun. I like that it's my privacy. I, on the other hand, I work on the networks. It's something I have to maintain in order to publish my performances. I upload songs, but I also uploaded myself crying during my internship, or pictures of myself from the dentist, real things. If I write about feelings and make art - it can't just be smiles on Instagram."
"Mosei's character sings 'I was waiting for my first kiss', and Naomi says: 'He is my number seven, there were six more before him.' "
When she was 6 years old, her parents decided to separate, after many years as a power couple in the industry.
Her sister Meshi has built a successful independent career for herself on the stages and screens.
"When we were kids, my parents were very protective of Meshi and me from the media. They didn't like us to be in front of the cameras, and we didn't participate in their interviews. I remember they would say to the paparazzi photographers: 'Take pictures of us, not the girl,' and I would walk behind. I felt that they were trying to give me childhood As normal as possible. Today the exposure comes from me. When it comes from a place of art, I feel comfortable with it."
Your parents' separation was highly publicized, and you, as a child, experienced it in front of the whole country.
"That's right. It happened on September 1, and I had just started first grade. The breakup had already been published in the media, so in the morning they sat me down and told me. I remember that at school I didn't know at all what it was to divorce or break up, but I realized that everyone knew. Children came and said To me: 'Your parents are separating', and I didn't understand what that was at all."
not simple.
"True, but everyone goes through something of their own in life. Their separation happened in front of the State of Israel, but I don't think it was too special for me. This is my life, and I've never experienced anything different. I don't know what it's like to be a child of other parents."
Did this fact also affect your career choices?
"I chose this profession because it is a dream and a vocation, and thanks to my amazing parents, I see the pluses in it - and the less photogenic things. I see how they don't sit and rest on their laurels, and at the age of 60 plus work all day.
"During Corona, we all wasted away in front of the television, and my mother did voice development and training every day. I didn't know a person who works harder than her - maybe only my father, who goes to so many shows," she laughs.
"It's crazy how much they work. I see that the profession is not easy, and they do it."
The parents, Rami and Rita.
"I don't know what it's like to be a child of other parents", photo: Koko
You inherited a lot of their work ethic.
"Yes. In the rehearsals for 'Blues for the Great Holiday' they added a dance to us four days before we went on stage. I'm not a dancer, and I'm not used to singing while dancing, and I had shortness of breath that made it difficult for me to sing especially in a very quiet moment. So I returned home, and for hours in the morning and at night I walked fast on the treadmill while singing the song, to get used to singing with effort. That's what my mom and dad, and also my sister, would do.
"I know that's what I'm getting into - and I choose it. It's an unstable profession, and I managed to learn it even in my short career. I audition for everything - cinema, television, series. 98 percent of the time I get a 'no'."
And how are you with rejection?
"There weren't too many things that I was upset that I didn't get. It was only before the audition for 'The Sixteenth Lamb' at Bhima, two years ago, after going through a lot of auditions, that I told myself that if someone sang 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the Kindergarten' and it wasn't me - it would break my heart The heart. In the end I was accepted.
"When I filmed a music video for my second single, 'Enough', which I invested a lot in, something in the reactions to it disappointed me, for the first time in my life. I felt that it was not received enough. My emotional reaction was disproportionate, and I cried for a week. And it's not that my audience didn't like the song, but That the size of the reaction was not enough for me, and I just cried. That's how I dealt with the disappointment."
"I would like us to live in a world where if someone walks around and celebrates their appearance - to just let it go. That there should be no talk, discussion or criticism about it. As a child I was malnourished, but with a lot of confidence, and only when faced with the reactions of other children did the question about body image enter my mind"
"There is no competition between me and Silk"
Klinstein, who released her self-titled debut album a year and a half ago, is currently working on a second album and also plays roles in the children's musical "The Sixteenth Lamb" and the youth series "Ziggy".
She participated last year in Aki Avni's film "Everyone is waiting only for me", and at the same time she continues to maintain on a small fire the dubbing career, in which she started as a child alongside her sister.
Nine years separate her from Meshi, who appears on stages frequently and is emerging as one of the stars of Israel's musicals.
"Meshi and I at home are literally heaven and earth," emphasizes Noam, "we are very different. Meshi is bubbly, she is our funny one, entertains us, tells stories. She is like a hot air balloon, and I sit and watch. I, on the other hand, am more introverted and dreamy. Meshi and mother They tell me I'm mysterious. I take things more slowly."
Is there no healthy competition between you?
"There's no competition, because we didn't grow up that way. I feel like Shishi is a part of me, so if she does something amazing - I feel real pride in myself too."
"I'm in love. His name is Yonatan, and he's a secret guy. I, on the other hand, work in the networks", Photography: Alon Shafransky, Makeup: Helen Amoyel Hair: Liraz Agam Styling: Nastya Lisansky
As the two sisters grow older, the family genetics bring them closer to the appearance of the clan's mother, Rita.
And when we come to the subject of appearance and body image, which in the entertainment industry is given excessive weight, Noam shares: "I grew up as a full-blooded girl. I came from a house of women. My mother has four sisters, and my father has two. My grandmother is one of the most present women in all of our lives. It A home of women celebrating their femininity and their bodies. Even when I was fuller, it was a home of love.
"In elementary school, I was chubby with a lot of confidence. I would appear on stage and sing, but it was the reactions of my classmates that made me realize that wait, actually I should feel insecure here. Children told me: 'You are fat,' and from that came the part of 'I need to feel Not comfortable with that?'
"I would like us to live in a world where if someone goes around and celebrates their body and their appearance - that they would just let it be. That there would be no talk about it at all, no discussion or criticism. I was with Paul for safety, and it was only because of the reactions that the question about body image entered my mind. I'm glad that the matter This one has been gaining awareness lately."
do you keep fit
"This year I started doing Pilates, I joined the club. Before that I did yoga. I do fitness. I feel it's important, even if I don't like doing sports. But it's a task for me, and after I complete it I feel good."
Also about her new little brothers, Theo (11), Uma (8) and Milo (6), who were added to her life after her father's marriage to his partner Alex, Klinstein talks excitedly.
"I always looked at Meshi and said: 'It must be fun to be a big sister' - and suddenly I became one myself. So in one house I'm the little sister, and in another I'm the big sister. When I filmed 'Ziggy', I was very proud that I was doing something that my little brothers would see. Uma I really like this series. They came to the premiere, and they update me on the episodes they watch. It's fun to have this connection, because we are very different ages. When Theo was born, I was already 12 years old."
As the daughter of two famous people, your last name will always be talked about.
"I have no way to escape it, I have my father's dimples and my mother's eyebrows," she laughs, "but I don't want to run away from it either. I'm proud of my family, but I don't know if the desire to prove myself and tear ass comes from character Mine, or that I'm my parents' daughter. That's probably something we'll never know."
Speaking of which, any thoughts on family collaborations?
"If we do something together, it will be the most fun and perfect thing in the world. It has to happen, and it will happen. I perform with dad sometimes, and he helps me with the creation, comes to balance before performances. In matters of the theater, I helped my mother and got ideas from her. Meshi films the A nice butterfly', and I came to a guest episode. It was the most fun day of photography I've ever had in my life.
"Collaborations will certainly happen, but it must happen naturally and not forced. Like Mom and Meshi's song, 'Take it,' which started from a letter that Mom wrote to Meshi. Meshi replied - and it was composed and turned into a song. It really has to be natural, and it will happen." .
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