Zehava Ben (born Zehava Benisti; ; November 8, 1968) is an Israeli singer. Ben is one of the most popular Israeli female vocalists in the

Mizrahi music Mizrahi music ( ' , "Eastern music/Oriental music") refers to a music genre in Israel that combines elements from the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe; and is mostly performed by Israelis of Mizrahi Jewish descent. It is usually sung i ...

genre; the Middle Eastern-style of singing rising from Israel's Mizrahi Jewish population, dominating Israeli music in the 1990s and popular ever since.

Early life

Ben was born Zehava Benisti in

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

, the capital city of the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

in Southern Israel, in Shikun Dalet (Neighborhood D), a poor neighborhood, to a

Moroccan Jewish Moroccan Jews (; ; ) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews began immigrating to the region as early as 70 CE. They were much later met by a second wave of migrants fro ...

family. She has an identical twin sister named Esther 'Etti' Levy who is also a musician. Zehava is very proud of her Moroccan heritage, and most of her music is quite distinctive of that, singing both 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 ...

and

Moroccan Arabic Moroccan Arabic ( ), also known as Darija ( or ), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi Arabic dialect continuum and as such is mutually intelligible to some extent with Algerian ...

Career

20th century

Zehava became familiar in Israel in 1989, when a song and album called "Tipat Mazal" (A Bit of Luck), became a hit throughout Israel, primarily among Israel's

Mizrahi Jews Mizrahi Jews (), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () in plural and ''Mizrahi'' () in singular, and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are terms used in Israeli discourse to refer to a grouping of Jews, Jewish c ...

(Jews of Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds) and Arab Israelis. The title track is a

cover for the 1984 song ''Dil Yarasi'' by the Turkish musician

Orhan Gencebay Orhan Gencebay (born 4 August 1944) is a Turkish people, Turkish musician, bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, record producer, music producer, music director, and actor. Gencebay was born in the coastal town of Samsun on 4 August 194 ...

. A few years later, Ben also participated in a film bearing the same name. One of her famous songs, "Ma Yihye" (''What Will Be'') from 1994, was featured in the Buddha Bar collection. Despite her music being banned in some

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

countries due to the

Arab League boycott of Israel The Arab League boycott of Israel is a strategy adopted by the Arab League and its member states to boycott economic and other relations between Arabs and the Arab states and Israel and specifically stopping all trade with Israel which adds to ...

, Zehava gained popularity throughout the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

as an Arabic-language singer. Among her repertoire are re-makes of traditional Arabic hits, including "Enta Omri" (You Are My Life) by legendary Egyptian singer

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum (; 31 December 1898 – 3 February 1975) was an Egyptians, Egyptian singer and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1970s. She was given the honorific title (). Immensely popular throughout the Middle East and beyond, Umm Kul ...

. Zehava appeared in the 1996 election campaign for the left-wing political party

Meretz Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...

, singing the famous "

Shir LaShalom Shir LaShalom (, ''A Song for Peace'') is an Israeli pop song that was first performed in 1969 by Lehakat HaNahal (להקת הנח"ל), a musical ensemble of the Israel Defense Forces. The song has since been widely associated with Israeli advoc ...

" (Song For Peace) together with Dana Berger. This was the same song the late prime minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

sang in a rally before his

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

a few months earlier.

21st century

After

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Ben and

Etti Ankri Esther "Etti" Ankri (, also spelled "Eti" or "Etty," and "Ankari"; born January 4, 1963) is an Israeli singer-songwriter. She is a former ''Female Singer of the Year'' in Israel, and has also performed in the United States, England, and India. An ...

David D'Or David D'Or (; born David Nehaisi on October 2, 1965) is an Israeli singer, composer, and songwriter. A countertenor with a vocal range of more than four octaves, he is a three-time winner of the Israeli "Singer of the Year" and "Best Vocal Perf ...

Arkadi Duchin Arkadi Duchin (, ; born 1 June 1963) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer. Music career Duchin sang in the rock band HaChaverim Shel Natasha ( The Friends of Natasha). The band, which he formed in 1986 with Micha Shitrit, ma ...

, and other Israeli singers recorded the title song "Yesh Od Tikvah" ("Our Hope Endures"), for which D'Or wrote the music and lyrics, on the CD ''Yesh Od Tikvah/You've Got a Friend''. The CD, released by Hed Arzi in 2002, benefited Israeli terror victims, with all proceeds going to

NATAL Israel NATAL - Israel Trauma and Resiliency Center (established: 1998, Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area o ...

: the Israel

Trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "trauma center" may be used incorr ...

for Victims of Terror and War. In 2005, Zehava Ben entered a song contest to represent Israel in the

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 ...

with the song "Peace And Love" (sung in Hebrew, Arabic and English). She reached second place to winner

Shiri Maimon Shiri Maimon (or Maymon; , ; born ) is an Israeli singer, television personality and actress, who rose to fame as the runner-up in the inaugural season of singing reality competition '' Kokhav Nolad''. She represented her native Israel in the ...

(another Jewish Israeli of Moroccan heritage). Ben has appeared in many music festivals outside Israel, including in Sweden and France. In 2022, Ben won the Israeli television show " Big brother". In 2025, Ben was chosen to light a torch in the Israeli 77th annual

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...

ceremony.

Discography

*1999: ''Best of Zehava Ben'' *2000: ''Arabic Songs'' *2000: ''Crying Rain'' *2000: ''Stop the World'' *2000: ''What Kind of World'' *2000: ''White Stork'' *2000: ''Super Gold'' *2001: ''Coming Home'' *2001: ''Real King'' *2001: ''To Be Human'' *2002: ''Melech Amiti'' (''A Real King'') *2003: ''Beit Avi'' (''My Father's House'') *2003: ''Laroz Variations'' *2003: ''My Father's House'' *2003: ''Looking Forward'' *2003: ''To Be a Man'' *2004: ''Zehava Ben'' *2005: ''Sings Arabic vol. 1'' *2005: ''Sings Arabic vol. 2'' *2005: ''Children's Songs'' *2006: ''The Best of Zehava Ben'' *2008: ''Going with the Light'' *2009: ''The Best of the Best'' *2011: ''Nights at Home''

References

External links

''Zehava Ben Official Web Site''
– Zehava Ben's Official Web Site. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben, Zehava 1968 births Living people Arabic-language singers of Israel 21st-century Israeli women singers 20th-century Israeli women singers Israeli people of Moroccan-Jewish descent Jewish Israeli singers Jewish women singers Musicians from Beersheba Israeli twins Big Brother (franchise) winners