Ro'im et Hakol

The documentary Ro'im et Hakol is a project of short films hosted on the National Library of Israel's Piyyut and Prayer website, created to document and preserve figures, traditions, melodies, and stories from the worlds of piyyut, cantorial music, and Jewish musical traditions — particularly those described as disappearing or insufficiently known.[1] The project was supported by the Estates Fund in memory of Gertrude Cohn.[1]

The series comprises fourteen short films, described on the project page as "fourteen pearls" selected from many additional stories still awaiting exposure.[1] The project began several years before its web publication, though no specific calendar year is provided for its founding.[1] Among the figures whose work is preserved are Rabbi Meir Attiya, Moshe Eliyahu, Aharon Amram, Moshe Habusha, and Ezra Barnea, and the series also highlights the women of Cochin, Vizhnitz melodies, and the story of a child who abandoned piyyut singing and later returned to it as an adult.[1]

Several films center on the tension between inherited tradition and personal reinvention. "A Jerusalem Kurd" follows musician Yaniv Ovadia, whose roots lie in Kurdish Jewish tradition, as he seeks to revive unfamiliar Kurdish melodies that are gradually being forgotten; the film centers on his meeting with veteran cantor Avraham Eliav at the Kurdish synagogue in Lifta, identified as Yaniv's childhood neighborhood.[1] "Piyyut Across Two Generations" portrays musician and creator Nitzan-Hen Razel's relationship with Ashkenazi cantor Binyamin Klein, who introduced Razel to a rare piyyut while Razel worked as a musical researcher for the Invitation to Piyyut website; Razel later rearranged, recorded, and performed it himself.[1]

"The Piyyutim of the Raba Family" documents musician Yaniv Raba's musical journeys abroad and his eventual return to the piyyutim and melodies of his father, David Raba, a paytan in the Libyan tradition.[1] "Aharon's Staff" presents Aharon Amram as a strict traditionalist in Yemenite piyyut who also composes new melodies, while his sons Shahar and Liron pursue independent musical careers; the film highlights the family's shared effort to preserve Yemenite tradition and bring it to varied audiences.[1]

The film on Moshe Habusha recounts how childhood exposure to piyyut opened new worlds of words and sounds for him, and presents him as one of the leading paytanim in the Jerusalem Sephardic tradition, a successor to musicians who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries in the 1950s.[1] "Gates of Desire" focuses on Ezra Barnea — a paytan, researcher, and teacher — who recorded the piyyutim of 27 distinct communities to preserve their original traditions for future generations.[1]

A film on Turkish piyyut features Dr. Baruch Hasson, Hadas Pal Yarden, and Elad Gabai, each of whom investigates, preserves, and revives elements of Turkish Jewish musical culture.[1] Another film follows cantor Naftali Hershtik, who comes from a distinguished Hungarian cantorial family, has served as a cantor in Israel and around the world, and trains a new generation in the Ashkenazi cantorial tradition; his meeting with collector and cantorial-music activist Dr. Moti Friedman explores their shared attachment to cantorial singing.[1]

"Longing" follows the Moskal brothers, musicians from the Vizhnitz Hasidic tradition, as they sing melodies associated with the community and reflect on their continuing significance after the brothers left the Hasidic court and chose different paths.[1] "Meir HaShachar" is a documentary about Rabbi Meir Attiya, born in Rabat and a resident of Jerusalem, presented as a founder and preserver of Moroccan Jewish piyyut and song culture in Israel whose educational influence is visible in hundreds of synagogues and piyyut events.[1]

One of the series' most unusual films, "A Piyyut Story," portrays a group of men — including a medical clown, land surveyor, lawyer, farmer, banker, and musician — who meet every two weeks to sing piyyut.[1] Their gatherings produced close friendships and eventually a shared professional musical career, and the film follows their lives, rehearsals, performances, and study with leading Israeli paytanim.[1] "The Treasure of the Women of Cochin" follows seven women who sing and recall Sabbath traditions, family memories, religious education, and the role of the mori in teaching sacred language, Torah, and song, as they seek to transmit the tradition to their children and grandchildren.[1]

The film "Moshe Eliyahu: From Damascus Radio to the Synagogue" concerns Moshe Eliyahu (1919–1994), a singer, oud player, paytan, and cantor born in Damascus.[1] He is described as legendary among admirers of piyyut and Arabic music across the Middle East, among Jews and Arabs alike, and Syrian state radio is reported to have continued broadcasting his performances even during wars between Israel and its neighbors.[1] Finally, "Tripolitanian Piyyut" presents the village of Dalton in the Upper Galilee as a place preserving piyyut traditions of Jews from Tripoli and Djerba, with Shalom Kamissa, his son Hillel, and Rabbi Bubail representing different relationships to a tradition at risk of disappearing.[1]

Ro'im et Hakol is also an Israeli reality-entertainment music program broadcast on Keshet 12, based on the international format I Can See Your Voice — originally a South Korean music-reality show that had been broadcast in 27 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany.[2] The Israeli adaptation was produced by the same team behind The Masked Singer.[2] Its musical director was Peter Roth.[3]

The program premiered on February 28, 2023.[2] Erez Tal hosted the show, with a permanent panel consisting of Ido Rosenblum, Shiri Maimon, Avi Nussbaum, and Ilanit Levy; a well-known guest singer joined the panel in each episode.[2] The guest musician in one reviewed episode was singer Muki.[4]

Each episode features several anonymous contestants presented to the panel through professional descriptions and other contextual clues.[4] Some contestants are genuine singers and others are deliberate "fakers" — non-singers placed among them to deceive the panel.[4] The panel must attempt to eliminate the non-singers without hearing them perform normally, relying instead on visual impressions, a lip-sync performance, and a thirty-second interrogation of each contestant.[4]

When the panel votes to eliminate a contestant, that person then performs a song, immediately revealing whether the panel's judgment was correct.[4] At the end of each episode, the last remaining contestant performs a duet with the episode's guest singer, which determines once and for all whether the finalist is a genuine singer or a faker.[4] A faker who successfully deceives the panel through to the final duet wins 20,000 shekels.[4] Ynet critic Smadar Shiloni described the format's dramatic focus as resting mainly on the judges' reactions and on surprises when seemingly ordinary contestants prove to be accomplished singers.[4]

The program ran for at least two seasons.[5] A notable first-season moment involved a contestant described as "Dani the musicologist" — an older man in a suit who claimed to have worked in music throughout his adult life.[6] The panel eliminated him precisely because his story seemed too persuasive to be true, but he then revealed himself to be a professional tenor, visibly shocking both the studio audience and the panel.[6]

In the second season, singer Eden Golan appeared on the program having been introduced to the panel as a rhythmic gymnast.[5] The panel mistakenly classified her as a faker, and she surprised them by singing well.[5]