The Jerusalem Post – Grapevine, June 15, 2025

The B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem named composer and musician Efi Netzer as the 2025 recipient of its citation for fostering Israel-Diaspora relations through the arts. Known for popularizing community singing in Israel, Netzer has spent decades connecting Jewish communities worldwide through music. The Jerusalem Post’s Grapevine column featured the announcement ahead of the official award ceremony, set to take place on July 7.

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Music and song, more than anything else, bring people together.

Music speaks to the soul, linking people of different lifestyles, ethnic and national backgrounds, different religious practices, and political rivalries in a way that nothing else, with the possible exception of a genuine existential threat, can do.

Israel is far from short of top-notch composers and singers whose melodies have touched and stirred souls not only in Israel and the Diaspora, but also in many parts of the world where Jews are few and far between. However, few could equal the impact of Naomi Shemer. Thus, when the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem established a special citation recognizing the fostering of Israel-Diaspora relations through the arts, it was in Shemer’s memory.

B’nai B’rith World Center issued a statement last week in which Efi Netzer – the man and his accordion – was named as the laureate for 2025. A composer and musician whose forte is galvanizing spirited community singing, Netzer, 90, has been composing and performing for 70 years and has not allowed his age to stop him.

Community singing was common to the Russian and Ukrainian pioneers of pre-state Israel. But it is Netzer who is credited with fashioning it into part of Israel’s cultural identity. Netzer has shaped Israel’s musical landscape and transformed it into a cultural bridge connecting Israel with Jewish communities worldwide.

His contributions include creating the vocal ensemble model and introducing it to global Jewry, making him a unifying figure between Israel and the Diaspora. Many of his timeless compositions have become integral to Israel’s permanent repertoire and are played and sung so often that people have forgotten who composed them.

In 1967, Netzer performed in Tehran in front of Diaspora Jews and Israelis, presenting the words “A Night of Roses” in Persian letters. In the 1970s, he taught songs on Kol Israel’s broadcasts to the Diaspora, becoming known to Soviet immigrants before they even set foot in Israel.

He performed abroad on behalf of Keren Hayesod, singing, playing, and persuading audiences in concert halls and synagogues to join him in Spain, the United States, Mexico, and Venezuela. In synagogues in New York and Los Angeles, he heard audiences enthusiastically singing his song “Shalom Al Yisrael” in Hebrew.

In Poland, he was moved to hear cantors in Krakow performing his song “Shuv Lo Nelech,” and in London, he performed at the Independence Day celebrations alongside singers Shoshana Damari and Yehoram Gaon.

Through his music, Netzer united the languages and cultures of Diaspora Jews with feelings of warmth and solidarity toward Israel.

Established in 2014, the citation has been presented in previous years to Gaon, Nurit Hirsh, David D’Or, Idan Raichel, David Broza, the Shalva Band, Danny Sanderson, Shuli Natan, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ilanit.

For Netzer, who will turn 91 on June 27, notification of the citation was a pleasant birthday gift. The presentation ceremony will take place on July 7 at Mishkenot Sha’ananim, as part of the annual B’nai B’rith World Center Awards for journalism in which the emphasis is placed on Israel-Diaspora relations.