Yehudit Ravitz

Ravitz was born on 29 December 1956 and was raised in Beersheba.[2][9] She became known professionally as a singer, composer, and producer.[1][5]

Ravitz began her music career while serving in the Israel Defense Forces’ Combat Engineering Corps entertainment troupe alongside singer Korin Allal.[2] During her military service, she also appeared with Nurit Galron on a young-talent program on Galei Tzahal, the Israel Defense Forces radio station.[2] Arik Einstein noticed her through that program and invited her and Allal to perform on his album Eretz Yisrael Hayeshana VehaTova, Part 2.[2]

Ravitz and Allal later sang backing vocals on “Atur Mitzchech Zahav Shachor,” from the next album in Einstein’s series.[2] During the same period, Ravitz joined Sheshet, a band led by Shem Tov Levi.[2] These early appearances brought her into contact with established Israeli performers and recording projects before her emergence as a solo artist.

Breakthrough and Early Recordings

Ravitz’s breakthrough came at the 1977 Israel Song Festival, where she performed “Selichot,” a poem by Leah Goldberg set to music by Oded Lerer.[10][2] She was twenty years old at the time. The song placed seventh at the festival but later became popular and was selected as Song of the Year in Reshet Gimel’s annual chart.[2]

Also in 1977, Ravitz took part in Eretz Tropit Yafa, a show of Brazilian samba and bossa nova songs arranged by Matti Caspi and translated by Ehud Manor.[2] Her work during this period encompassed varied musical settings alongside appearances on Israeli recordings and broadcasts. A study of contemporary Jewish music in America places Ravitz among Israeli artists who became well known to American Jews in the 1970s, amid increased interest in Israeli music after the Six-Day War of 1967.[11] It notes that Israeli music had moved beyond folk styles and that relatively few new songs entered the American “Israeli song canon” because the repertoire could be difficult to perform.[11]

In 1978, Ravitz performed “Mishehu” at the Festival of Song and joined Yoni Rechter, Gidi Gov, David Broza, and lyricist Yehonatan Geffen in recording The Sixteenth Sheep (HaKvesh HaShisha-Asar), a musical setting of Geffen’s children’s poems.[2][8] Rechter composed the music, Geffen wrote the lyrics, and Ravitz was among the performers.[12] The album became a landmark of Israeli culture, with songs and melodies passed between generations.[12] Ravitz’s performance of “The Most Beautiful Girl in the Garden” became one of the most prominent and successful songs of her career.[2]

Ravitz’s self-titled debut album was issued by CBS in 1979. Its tracks included “Selichot,” “Taking Your Hand in Mine,” “The Prettiest Girl in the Kindergarten,” and “Someone.”[13] That year she also released a joint live album with Rechter, BeOfen Kavua VeChad-Peami.[2] Her work with fellow musicians continued in later years; Matti Caspi collaborated, performed, and recorded with Ravitz, although the reference account does not identify particular recordings or dates.[14]

Albums and Songwriting in the 1980s

Ravitz’s second solo album, Galui VeNe’elam, was released in November 1980.[15] She composed all of its songs except “Shir LeLo Shem,” composed by Shalom Hanoch, and “Ahizat Eynayim,” composed by Shlomo Gronich.[15] Its lyrics brought together writers including Avraham Halfi, Alexander Penn, Haim Gouri, Hanoch Levin, Yaakov Rotblit, Nirit Yaron, and Hanoch; producer Yaakov Gilad wrote four of the album’s texts.[15] The album marked a turn toward rock and roll and was produced and arranged by Gilad.[2]

“Arba LeFnot Boker,” the album’s major hit, finished ninth in the annual chart for 1980–81.[15] Ravitz was runner-up to Ofra Haza for Female Singer of the Year during the same period.[15] “Achshav HaKol Beseder,” “Shir LeLo Shem,” and “Kmo El Mayim” also became Israeli classics.[15] Hanoch wrote “Shir LeLo Shem” in memory of his nephew, who had been killed.[2]

In 1983, Ravitz released Bo LeRio, following an appearance with Brazilian singer Jorge Ben Jor, who wrote some of the album’s songs.[2] Her sixth solo album, Ba’ah Me’ahavah, appeared in 1987.[3] Ravitz composed the title song, with lyrics by Yaakov Rotblit and an arrangement by Yaron Bachar.[3] Released to radio two months before the album, it reached first place on Reshet Gimmel’s weekly chart in July 1987, remained there for two weeks, and finished first in the annual chart for that year.[3]

Ba’ah Me’ahavah became Ravitz’s most successful album and included “Shabbatot VeHagim,” “Sof LeSipur,” and the title song.[2] Ravitz composed the album’s songs to lyrics by Yaakov Rotblit, except for “Pachad,” by Hanoch, and “Od Al Ahava,” by Miki Shaviv.[2] In 1994, the title song was reworked with Gidi Gov and Rami Kleinstein alongside Ravitz. The new version shifted from rock to a dance arrangement and opened her album Ad Le’an SheHaLev Loke’ach.[3]

“Shabbatot VeHagim” began with a premise Ravitz brought to Rotblit: “no entry on Sabbaths and holidays.”[4] Rotblit developed that idea into the complete song, which portrays the loneliness of a woman having an affair with a married man, particularly when he is with his family on Sabbaths and holidays.[4] The song can also be read more broadly as an expression of human loneliness.[4] Ravitz said it gave legitimacy to “worlds that were in the dark, not in the spotlights,” and that listeners’ reactions showed her how common the experience of “the other woman or the other man” was.[4]

Work in the 1990s and 2000s

Ravitz’s album Shem was issued by Helicon Records in 1990. Its credits name Shmarit Or as lyricist, Ravitz as composer, and Yaron Bachar as arranger; Ravitz and Bachar are credited with producing the music.[1] The listed tracks include “LeLev Ein Min,” “Re’idat Adamah,” and “Africa.”[1] Ravitz performed with Mati Caspi at the ancient Caesarea amphitheater on 29 August 1991 during Maccabi Health Services’ 50th-anniversary celebration.[16]

In 1992, Ravitz appeared in a musical duet in Kevallim (“Cables”), a film made after Arik Einstein reunited with producer Zvi Shissel.[17] Her 1993 album Ume’od Lo Pashut Lechakot included settings of poems by Dalia Ravikovitch, Yehuda Amichai, and Leah Goldberg.[2] The 1994 dance reworking of “Ba’ah Me’ahavah,” with Gov and Kleinstein, was another example of her revisiting earlier material in a different arrangement.[3]

Ravitz released Ga’agu’a in 2000; it included “Becha Lo Noge’a,” one of her major career hits.[2] Her 2007 album Ir Ktana (Small City) drew on contributions from Yahli Sobol, Rona Kenan, and Sivan Shavit.[2] “Hapanim Shebifnim,” its third single, had music composed by Ravitz and lyrics by Kenan. The album also involved collaborations with Kenan, Nathan Zach, Evyatar Banai, and Sobol.[18]

Ravitz’s work also reached audiences through projects beyond her own albums. She narrated the documentary series Hiloniut (“Secularism”).[19] Filmmaker Anat Zeltser said she chose Ravitz to supply the voice and presence that would take the place of her late collaborator Mori Bar-On’s narration, describing Ravitz’s voice and wisdom as a distinctive contribution to the series.[19] Ravitz agreed fairly quickly after being asked.[19]

Later Recording and Return to the Stage

Ravitz’s album Sufot Shel Chol was released in 2012.[20] In the years that followed, she took part in a limited number of projects, including “Ta’ar Lecha,” a poem by Dalia Ravikovitch set to music by Dudu Tassa.[20] In 2022 she received ACUM’s Naomi Shemer Lifetime Achievement Award for her work as a singer and songwriter.[5] The award recognized a career in which she performed, composed, and produced many of her songs. ACUM’s judges credited her melodies for poets’ songs with helping those works become widely known and described her as an inspiration to other singers and creators.[5]

At the award ceremony, Ravitz said she had performed continuously for 45 years but had stopped because of stage fright. Although she missed the physical experience of being on stage, she said her fear and anxiety had increased over time rather than diminishing.[21] She was writing and recording but remained uncertain whether she would return to performing.[21] ACUM’s award citation praised her precise voice, hard work, humility, compositional talent, and carefully crafted productions, calling her “almost synonymous with the term ‘Israeli music’” and a central partner in creating its musical soundtrack.[22]

In August 2023, Ravitz sang “Hatikva” at a Kaplan protest.[7] In March 2024, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announced that it would award her an honorary doctorate, citing the influence of her creative work on Israeli culture and identity.[9] The university’s president noted that Ravitz was born and raised in Beersheba and described the degree as a symbolic return to her hometown; Ravitz said she was moved by the announcement.[9]

In June 2024, Ravitz released “Ayala,” with lyrics by Yona Wallach and music by Ravitz, and announced that an album, Ani Misham, was in preparation.[20] It was to be her first album since Sufot Shel Chol.[20] Released at the end of 2024, Ani Misham followed a twelve-year gap between albums and contained 13 tracks, made over more than three years with producers Izhar and Eilai Ashdot.[6] Most of its tracks revisit Ravitz’s repertoire, often songs she had written for other performers. The producers described the approach as giving older songs new interpretations, as if Ravitz were singing them for the first time.[6] The album also includes three new songs: “Ayala,” “Kohelet Perek Tet,” and “Shem Prati.”[6]

The project developed from Ravitz’s suggestion that she record two or three songs in the studio with only her guitar and then leave. Those initial sessions grew into a full album; the producers recorded dozens of sketches and selected versions they considered fresh rather than repetitions of earlier arrangements.[6] Izhar Ashdot described the finished record as a connected texture in which songs flow into one another, while Ravitz characterized the work as a journey into the hidden fabric of the songs.[6]

Ravitz’s return to live performance came through a reunion of The Sixteenth Sheep. Announced in October 2024, the new show reunited her with Gov, Rechter, and Broza around songs from Geffen’s children’s poetry book.[7] The group said the material remained relevant and could still bring audiences joy.[7] Ravitz had previously said she would return to the stage only alongside the three collaborators.[23] She recalled that the group rehearsed for more than six months and described the process as serious and cleansing.[23]

The reunion’s first reported performances took place in January 2025 at Tel Aviv’s Bronfman Auditorium. The audience sang and cheered along, and 12,000 tickets for the initial shows sold out within minutes; another 12,000 tickets released for additional dates also sold out.[8] The tour continued for more than a year and marked Ravitz’s return after an extended absence.[24] The group later announced farewell performances for 2026, with dates scheduled in Tel Aviv from 29 September through 2 October and in Caesarea on 14 and 15 October.[24]

Ravitz has also described music as a way of responding to the circumstances of the war. She said the war made personal matters seem smaller and that she carried her guitar to places where she could help.[23] She described the reunion with Gov, Rechter, and Broza as timely and connected her return to the stage to performing with them.[23]

Ravitz’s career has been recognized through awards, institutional honors, and the continuing presence of her songs in Israeli musical culture. ACUM’s 2022 Naomi Shemer Lifetime Achievement Award acknowledged her work as a singer and songwriter, including her composing and producing as well as performing.[5] Its judges emphasized the reach of her melodies for poets’ texts and their influence on other singers and creators.[5] The award citation framed her as a central figure in the sound of Israeli music.[22]

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s announcement of an honorary doctorate similarly recognized the influence of Ravitz’s creative work on Israeli culture and identity, while making a symbolic connection to the Beersheba where she was born and raised.[9] She is also included among Israeli singing stars described as drawing standing-room crowds.[25] A study of Jewish music in America places her among Israeli artists familiar to American Jews during the 1970s, while noting the difficulty of carrying newer Israeli repertoire into the American song canon.[11]

Several distinct parts of Ravitz’s work have endured in public memory. The Sixteenth Sheep became a cultural landmark whose songs and melodies passed between generations.[12] Its songs also brought the original performers back together for a reunion that drew large audiences decades after the recording.[8] Ravitz’s own recordings likewise joined poetry and popular song: Ume’od Lo Pashut Lechakot set poems by leading Hebrew poets, while Galui VeNe’elam brought together texts by several writers and compositions by Ravitz.[15][2]

Her songs have also given voice to intimate experiences. Ravitz’s account of “Shabbatot VeHagim” emphasized that a song about loneliness and an affair could bring into view experiences listeners might otherwise leave unspoken.[4] The song’s premise began with Ravitz and was completed by lyricist Yaakov Rotblit, illustrating her creative role in shaping not only melodies but also the initial concepts behind songs.[4] Her later album Ani Misham extended that interest in reinterpretation by revisiting repertoire—including music she had written for others—alongside new work.[6]

Ravitz’s public career has also included collaborative performance and narration. She worked with performers such as Rechter, Gov, Broza, and Caspi; appeared in a musical duet with Arik Einstein; and narrated Hiloniut.[12][14][17][19] These projects place her work across popular recordings, children’s music, film, and documentary television rather than within a single genre or role.