Nechama 'Nama' Hendel (; 22 August 1936 – 30 September 1998) was an Israeli singer.

Biography

Nechama Hendel was born in the

Rehavia Rehavia or Rechavia (, ) is an upscale neighbourhood in Jerusalem. It is bordered by Nachlaot and Sha'arei Hesed to the north, Talbiya and Kiryat Shmuel, Jerusalem, Kiryat Shmuel to the south, and the Valley of the Cross to the west. Rehavia was ...

neighborhood of Jerusalem. Her parents, Michael and Chana

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

to Palestine from Poland. Her father served for many years as chief inspector of history at the

Israel Ministry of Education 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 ...

. Her older sister, Tamar Gadot, was born in 1934. Nechama attended high school in the

Hebrew University Secondary School Hebrew University High School (), commonly known as ''Leyada'' (literally "next to"), is a semi-private high school in Jerusalem, established in 1935 by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The school is located next to the Givat Ram campus of th ...

. In 1956, she moved to Paris to study acting but returned in 1957 to join the newly founded ensemble Batzal Yarok, with former colleagues from the Nahal troupe.Nechama Hendel, Jewish Womens Archive
/ref> In 1969 she married Leonard Regnier and settled in West Germany. They had two children, Dilia (b. 1970) and Michael (b. 1972).

Singing career

Hendel began her singing career in the IDF Nahal music troupe. In the 1950s, she performed as part of a duo, "Ran veNama," – with

Ran Eliran Ran Eliran (; born December 16, 1934), known as "Israel's Ambassador of Song," is an Israeli singer. Biography Ran Eliran (Menachem Leizerovich) was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine. He was the middle child among three siblings. Hi ...

. In 1958, Eliran and Hendel were introduced to American audiences by their appearance on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' performing "

Tzena, Tzena, Tzena "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" (, "Come Out, Come Out, Come Out"), sometimes "Tzena, Tzena", is a song, written in 1941 in Hebrew. Its music is by Issachar Miron (a.k.a. Stefan Michrovsky), a Polish emigrant in what was then the British Mandate of Pal ...

". Hendel became world-famous with her smash hit "Machar" ("Tomorrow") composed by

Naomi Shemer Naomi Shemer (; July 13, 1930 – June 26, 2004) was a leading Israeli musician and songwriter, hailed as the "first lady of Israeli song and poetry." Her song " Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of Gold"), written in 1967, became an unoffic ...

featured on the " Jerusalem of Gold" album."Basque Twist Tarnishes Jerusalem’s ‘Gold’" Article of the Daily Jewish Forward – 13 May 2005
/ref> She recorded many more of Shemer's songs. Hendel recorded not only in

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 ...

, but in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

as well and was one of the artists included on a Yiddish compilation called "

Songs of The Vilna Ghetto ''Songs of the Vilna Ghetto'' is a compilation LP record featuring twelve Yiddish songs from World War II era. The songs were composed by the inmates of the Vilna Ghetto during the Holocaust and are sung by Nechama Hendel, Chava Alberstein, and ...

" for

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records, a former name of Sony Music, a global music company * CBS/Sony, a former name of Sony Music Entertainment Japan, a Japanese music company division of Sony * CBS Records International, a label for Columbia Re ...

in Israel. In 1998, Hendel voiced Grandmother Willow in the Hebrew version of the animated movie '' Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World'', and also Grandmother Fa in the Hebrew version of the animated movie ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

'', which was released three months before her death from cardiac arrest on 29 September.

References

External links

* Daliot, Yisrael
"Nechama Hendel."
Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. 5 January 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hendel, Nechama 1936 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Israeli women singers Yiddish-language singers of Israel Hebrew University Secondary School alumni

Biography

Singing career

See also

References

External links