Ehud Manor (; born Ehud Weiner; July 13, 1941 – April 12, 2005) was an Israeli lyricist, translator, poet and radio and TV personality. He is widely considered to have been Israel's most prolific lyricist of all time, having written or translated over 1,000 songs. In 1998, he was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

for his exceptional contributions to Israeli music.

Biography

Ehud Weiner (later Manor) was born in

Binyamina Binyamina-Giv'at Ada () is a town in the Haifa District in northern Israel. It is the result of the 2003 merger between the two local councils of Binyamina and Giv'at Ada. In 2019 its population was 17,371. Before the merger, the population of ...

, in what is now

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He had two brothers, Ze'ev and Yehuda. He graduated from the

Hebrew Reali School The Hebrew Reali School of Haifa (), located in Haifa, Israel, is one of the country's oldest private schools.War of Attrition The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...

in 1968. Ehud's other brother, Ze'ev, committed suicide in 2003 as a result of financial trouble. Ehud Manor, who had been a heavy smoker earlier in his life, was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 2000s. Although he recovered, the cancer treatment weakened his heart, and he died suddenly on April 12, 2005, aged 63, of cardiac arrest.

Music and songwriting career

Ehud Manor began working for Israel radio in the 1960s as a musical editor. He changed his surname to Manor as it was customary at the time for radio announcers to adopt Hebrew names. During his career, he wrote lyrics for over 1,250

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

songs, including "Ein Li Eretz Acheret" (I Have No Other Country), "Brit Olam" (Everlasting Covenant), " Ba-Shanah ha-Ba'ah" (Next Year) which became an international standard, "Zo Yalduti HaShniya" (This Is My Second Childhood), and "Ahi HaTza'ir Yehuda" (My Younger Brother Yehuda). The latter was written in memory of his brother, who was killed during his military service in 1968. Ehud Manor wrote the lyrics to several Israeli

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

entries, including the 1978 winner " Abanibi", the 1975 entry "

At Va'Ani The Eurovision Song Contest 1975 was the 20th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 22 March 1975 in the in Stockholm, Sweden and presented by Karin Falck. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (SR) ...

(You and Me)" with its singer

Shlomo Artzi Shlomo Artzi (; born 26 November 1949) is an Israeli folk rock musician, composer, music producer, radio host and singer-songwriter. He is one of the most popular and successful musicians in Israel. Biography Shlomo Artzi was born on Moshav ...

, the 1983 entry " Chai" (Alive) and the 1992 song " Ze Rak Sport" (It's Just Sports). Several of his songs commemorate his fond memories of his childhood in

, the most famous of which is "Yemey Binyamina" (The Binyamina Days). Several streets and roundabouts in his native town are named after him and his songs.

Literary career

Also a successful translator, Manor translated more than 600 works into Hebrew, including such Broadway hits as ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

'', ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

,'' and ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' (, ) is a 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

''. In addition, he translated Barney songs into Hebrew for the Israeli coproduction "Hachaverim Shel Barney". Other famous Manor translations were the 1977 musical program "Eretz Tropit Yafa" (lit. "A Beautiful Tropical Country", the theme of which was a translation of Jorge Ben's " País Tropical") which consisted of his translations of famous Brazilian songs, several of which became huge hits in Israel; and the 1982 Israeli television show "Red River Valley" in which he translated famous

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

songs, one of which – "John Biryon" (lit. "John the Strongman", a translation of

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean (brand), Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV comm ...

's "

Big Bad John "Big Bad John" is a country music, country song written and originally performed by Jimmy Dean. It was released in September 1961 and by the beginning of November it had gone to number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It won ...

") – also became a huge hit.

Awards and recognition

Memorial plaque to Ehud Manor in Tel Aviv

In 1998, Manor was awarded the

for Hebrew song. The prize committee noted that "For the past 30 years, he has expressed our mood through the hundreds of songs he has written together with the finest composers. The man who declared that he had no other country is the laureate of the Israel Prize.". The words of the committee refer to one of his most famous songs, ''Ein Li Eretz Acheret'' (''I Have No Other Country''), which is considered a patriotic classic in Israel – the lyrics outline a man who loves Israel and the Hebrew language, despite criticism he has toward his country. Shortly before he died, Manor was chosen to receive an honorary doctorate from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

in recognition of his prolific activity in the field of Hebrew music. Manor's songs are the most played on Israeli radio. On October 28, 2019, U.S. House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...

recited a passage from ''I Have No Other Country'' during a

J Street J Street () is a nonprofit liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group based in the United States whose aims include strengthening Jewish democracy in Israel, promoting a diplomatic end to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict with a two-state ...

gala. On January 13, 2021, she again recited lines from the song urging her "Republican colleagues to finally open their eyes" regarding president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. On June 24, 2022, she once again recited lines from the song following the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

's ruling in

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ''Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization'', 597 U.S. 215 (2022), is a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court in which the court held ...

, which overruled two important cases ( Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey) regarding

Abortion in the United States Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnanc ...

. She learned about the song from

Isaac Herzog Isaac "Bougie" Herzog (; born 22 September 1960) is an Israeli politician who has been serving since 2021 as the president of Israel. He is the first president to have been born in Israel after its Declaration of Independence. Son of former Is ...

, then the leader of the

Israeli Labor Party The Israeli Labor Party (), commonly known in Israel as HaAvoda (), was a Social democracy, social democratic political party in Israel. The party was established in 1968 by a merger of Mapai, Ahdut HaAvoda and Rafi (political party), Rafi. Unt ...

in December 2016.

References

External links