Chava Alberstein

Born Ewa Alberstein in Szczecin, Poland, her name was Hebraized to Chava when she moved to Israel with her family in 1950.{{cite book |author=Richard Nidel |publisher=Routledge |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZU7CKISitZsC&q=chava+alberstein+arabic&pg=PA197 |title=World music: The basics|isbn=9780415968003 }} She grew up in Kiryat Haim.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

In 1964, when she was seventeen, Alberstein was invited to appear at the Hammam Nightclub in Jaffa. She sang four songs, accompanied by herself on guitar and her brother Alex on the clarinet.[http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/PEOPLE/BIOS/alberstein.html Chava Alberstein bio] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905215717/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/BIOS/alberstein.html |date=5 September 2008 }} The program was broadcast live on the radio. After a guest appearance on Moadon Hazemer, recorded on Kibbutz Beit Alfa, she signed a recording contract with CBS. Early in her career, she appeared at the Amami Cinema in Haifa's Neve Sha'anan neighborhood. Haaretz columnist Neri Livneh described her as "a little slip of a thing in a blue youth movement shirt, her face covered by huge glasses".[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009534.html Haaretz] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090811050743/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009534.html |date=11 August 2009 }}

Alberstein was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces in 1965 and became one of many Israeli artists to rise to stardom by entertaining the troops.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

Alberstein has released more than sixty albums. She has recorded in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. In 1980, she began to write and compose.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} Most of the songs on her album Mehagrim are her own work. Alberstein's husband was the filmmaker Nadav Levitan, who wrote the lyrics for her album End of the Holiday.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} In 1986, Alberstein wrote music for her husband's film Stalin's Disciples.{{cite news |last=Dorůžka |first=Petr |date=October 2008 |title=Chava Aberstein má ráda izraelskou poušť |work=Harmonie |issue=10 |pages=18–21|language=cs}} Levitan died in 2010.{{cite web|title=Nadav Levitan |url=https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007297825205171 |website=nli.org.il |date= |access-date=5 October 2021}} Alberstein's songs have been included in a number of multi-artist collections, among them Songs of The Vilna Ghetto and The Hidden Gate – Jewish Music Around the World.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

According to Israel's second largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, Alberstein is the most important female folk singer in Israeli history:{{cite web|url=http://aviv2.com/chava/ |title=Chava Alberstein |publisher=Aviv Productions, Ltd |date=11 December 2001 |accessdate=22 August 2011}}

{{quote|If [Israel has] a true folk singer, it is Chava Alberstein.}}

File:Chava Alberstein performing (cropped).jpg

Alberstein is a champion of liberal causes. Throughout her career, she has been an activist for human rights and Arab-Israeli unity. In 1989, her song "Had Gadya" (a version of the song traditionally sung at the Passover seder{{cite web |last=Zarek |first=Adam |date= |title=חד גדיא Chad Gadya |url=http://www.chatrh.org/haggadah/zarek.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030930031152/http://www.chatrh.org/haggadah/zarek.htm |archive-date=30 September 2003 |accessdate=22 August 2011 |website=Chatrh.org |publisher=Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto}} with an additional verse in which she implicitly criticizes Israel's policy towards Palestinians{{Cite web |title=Chava Alberstein – חַד גַדְיָא (Had Gadia) lyrics + English translation (Version #2) |url=https://lyricstranslate.com/en/chad-gadya-lyrics.html |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=lyricstranslate.com |language=en}}) was banned by Israel State Radio.{{cite web |url=http://www.freemuse.org/sw11404.asp |title=Israel: Chava Alberstein banned |publisher=Freemuse |accessdate=22 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119192336/http://freemuse.org/sw11404.asp |archive-date=19 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Music/Israeli_Music/Popular_Music/Chava_Alberstein.shtml |title=Chava Alberstein: Multilingual Folkie |publisher=My Jewish Learning |date= |accessdate=22 August 2011}} The song was later used in the film Free Zone by director Amos Gitai in Natalie Portman's seven-minute crying scene.{{cite web |url=http://twitchfilm.net/archives/006991.html |title=2006 SFJFF (San Francisco Jewish Film Festival) — Interview With Amos Gitaï |author=Michael Guillen |publisher=twitchfilm.net |date=27 July 2006 |access-date=3 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331101535/http://twitchfilm.net/archives/006991.html |archive-date=31 March 2009 |url-status=dead }}

Alberstein is also a proponent of the Yiddish language, both in her recordings and in a video titled "Too Early to Be Quiet, Too Late to Sing", which showcases the works of Yiddish poets.

Alberstein has won the Kinor David (David's Harp) Prize.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}} In 1999, she received the Itzik Manger Prize.{{cite book |first=Nathan |last=Shahar |chapter=Chava Alberstein |title=Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia |date=March 2009 |chapter-url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/alberstein-chava |publisher=Jewish Women's Archive }} The date of the Manger Prize is given in {{cite web |title=Mendele: Yiddish literature and language |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~jap2220/Arkhiv/vol09%20(1999-2000)/vol09011.txt |accessdate=20 March 2019 }} Archive of the Mendele mailing list. On 28 January 2011, she received{{cite web | last=Penn | first=Lea | title=Veteran Singers Alberstein and Pik Win Lifetime Achievement Awards | website=Haaretz.com | date=14 January 2011 | url=https://www.haaretz.com/2011-01-14/ty-article/veteran-singers-alberstein-and-pik-win-lifetime-achievement-awards/0000017f-ded6-db5a-a57f-defe1d5d0000 | access-date=23 March 2025}} the Lifetime Achievement Music Award from the Israel Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers of Musical Works, and holds honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University{{cite web | title=1965–2006 Honorary Doctorate Recipients | website=Tel Aviv University | date=1 January 1980 | url=https://bog.tau.ac.il/honorary_doctorates_2006_1965 | access-date=23 March 2025}} and the Weizmann Institute of Science of Israel.{{cite web | title=Ph.D. Honoris Causa – Chava Alberstein – 2011 | website=Academic Affairs Office | date=1 July 2015 | url=https://www.weizmann.ac.il/acadaff/awards-and-honors/institute-honors-and-prizes/phd-honoris-causa | access-date=23 March 2025}} On 13 May 2018, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Brandeis University.{{cite web | title=Chava Alberstein | website=Brandeis University | url=https://www.brandeis.edu/commencement/2018/honorees/alberstein.html | access-date=23 March 2025}}

• "Even though I have lived in Israel nearly my entire life, I am constantly questioning my place in the world. Maybe this searching comes from being an artist, maybe it comes from being a Jew. I'm not really sure".{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0016455}}
• [https://archive.today/20130415103052/http://www.natureculture.org/wiki/index.php?title=Chava_Alberstein Chava Alberstein] at Nature et Culture (archived)

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Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:Polish emigrants to Israel

Category:Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent

Category:English-language singers from Israel

Category:20th-century Israeli women singers

Category:21st-century Israeli women singers

Category:Yiddish-language singers of Israel

Category:Israeli film score composers

Category:Israeli women writers

Category:Jewish folk singers

Category:Label Bleu artists

Category:Itzik Manger Prize recipients