Yehonatan Geffen

Yehonatan Geffen ( he, יהונתן גפן; 22 February 1947 – 19 April 2023), also known as Yonatan Gefen, was a prominent Israeli author, poet, songwriter, journalist, satirist and playwright.

Early life and education

Geffen was born in moshav Nahalal.

In 1965, he served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces under Matan Vilnai, and became an officer. After his discharge from the IDF in 1969 and moving to Tel Aviv, he took up poetry. He later studied in London.

Career

In 1972, after his return from studies at Cambridge University in London, Geffen began writing a satirical column for the weekend supplement of the Hebrew-language mainstream newspaper ''Ma'ariv''.

He joined the entertainment troupe "Lul" with Uri Zohar, Arik Einstein and Shalom Hanoch. The latter introduced Geffen to his future wife, Nurit Makober.

Much of Geffen's success came from his works for children, including the song "HaYaldah Hachi Yafah BaGan" ("The Prettiest Girl in Kindergarten") and the poetry collection ''HaKeves HaShisha-Asar'' ("The 16th Sheep"). He also wrote many popular lyrics for adults, poems, plays and books. He frequently collaborated with David Broza, rendering Spanish songs into Hebrew. Geffen translated into Hebrew a variety of songs and poems. Many of Geffen's own lyrics have been set to music, widely performed and recorded by leading Israeli musicians.

Geffen was often criticized for his strong left-wing leanings, which bordered on provocation, and even received death threats. He was one of a group of journalists (including Uri Dan, Yeshayahu Ben Porat, Eitan Haber, Hezi Carmel, Eli Landau and Eli Tavor) who in 1973 published the book ''The Failure'', the first book to document the Yom Kippur War. It criticized the performance of the government and military and also contained first-hand descriptions of battles, casualties, injuries, and the losses and failures of military hardware. The book aroused considerable public interest.

Poem controversy

In February 2018, Geffen published a poem on his Instagram feed that ended with the following lines:

Reacting to this, defense minister Avigdor Lieberman demanded that Israel's popular Army Radio ban Geffen's work, and culture minister Miri Regev said Geffen was "crossing a red line by someone seeking to rewrite history". Geffen published an apology but didn't remove the poem from his Instagram profile.

Personal life

Geffen's mother Aviva was the sister of Moshe Dayan. He had three younger sisters.

In 1967, while Geffen was serving in the IDF, his mother overdosed on medication and died. Geffen considered it to have been suicide. In 1972, his sister Nurit died by suicide in 1972 while Geffen was studying in London, and subsequently he returned to Tel Aviv.

Geffen was married for the first time in 1969 to actress and television personality Nurit Makover. The marriage ended in divorce. Their daughter, Shira Geffen (b. 1971), is a screenwriter and filmmaker married to author Etgar Keret; their son, Aviv Geffen (b. 1973), is a popular musician and singer-songwriter.

Geffen married a second time, to television actress Ava Haddad. Their daughter, Natasha Ruth Geffen (b. 1995), is an actress. This marriage also ended in divorce. He died of a heart attack on 19 April 2023 at the age of 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geffen, Yehonatan
1947 births
2023 deaths
Dayan family
Israeli male dramatists and playwrights
Israeli Jews
Israeli male poets
Israeli songwriters
Israeli children's writers
Maariv (newspaper) people
Bernstein Prize recipients
Recipients of Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew Literary Works
People from Nahalal
Paratroopers