Mordechai Lavi (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: מרדכי לביא, born 1978) is an Israeli

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

and owner and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the ''

Kikar HaShabbat Kikar HaShabbat ( he, כיכר השבת, lit., "Sabbath Square"), known in the Haredi community as Kikar HaShabbos, is a major intersection joining five streets in Jerusalem, Israel, between Mea Shearim and Geula: Yehezkel Street from the north, ...

'' news website.

Biography

Lavi was born in 1978 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Mordechai Lavi started his radio career at age 15 when he became interested in the budding Haredi pirate radio industry. He was fascinated and curious of how radio worked until he decided to search for one of these stations. He found the building where the clandestine Kol HaEmet radio station operated and tricked his way inside, and soon after began broadcasting music using a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. In 2003, he found his way to

Kol Chai Kol Chai ( he, קול חי) is a Haredi and National Religious radio station in Israel established in 1996. The station, based in Bnei Brak, broadcasts six days a week: not on Shabbat. Frequencies Contributors ;Current *David Lau * Mordechai ...

, the first legal Israeli radio station broadcasting to Haredim, and was asked to host a daily Haredi news show, which was unheard until then. Lavi created the ''

'' website in May 2009. He says that he was encouraged by someone who questioned, 'why someone wanting to get the news on Ynet might have to risk seeing unwanted content'. In April 2012, Lavi sold 50% of ownership to

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

for a few million

shekels Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

. In September 2011, Lavi left Kol Chai after nine years including hosting the main evening news show and started broadcasting the main morning current affairs magazine at Kol BaRama.

Personal life

As of 2013, Lavi lives in Har Nof, Jerusalem, and father to six children.

References

External links

Kikar HaShabbat website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavi, Mordechai 1978 births Israeli Jews Living people People from Jerusalem Israeli radio journalists