Cultural Heritage - Expansion
Nahal was established in 1949 as a framework for preserving the core of youth movements. Nahal was an exceptional force in its essence.
During its years of existence, the Nahal combined its settlement and security activities with extensive cultural activity. One of the pillars of this work was the Nahal Band, which accompanied the Nahal soldiers since its founding wherever they settled, practiced, and fought.
The role of the Nahal Band in raising morale, encouraging and creating a sense of community was expressed not only in Nahal, but in the entire community. Nahal singing played a significant role in creating a sense of community and shaping the singer in Israel in general.
Alongside a glorious battle legacy and settlement, the Nahal was a model for imitation, for style, street language, folk culture, and band songs.
The Nahal Band, the first band established in the IDF and the most well-known and successful of the military bands over the years. Many singers, entertainers, and actors who are well-known today began their careers in Nahal.
The Nahal Band
The Nahal Band is known in every home in Israel. For more information on its history, click here .
The Living Team
Alongside the Nahal band, a separate ensemble also operated, the Nahal entertainment team. This entertainment team had been operating since the 1950s, and one of its stars was Menachem Leizerovich (Ran Eliran). During those years, Nechama Hendel was a member of the mother band, and during joint performances the two met, an acquaintance that led after their release to the formation of the duo "Ran and Nema".
The original role of the team was to move from command post to command post and base to base to teach the soldiers the songs of the land. The team's instructor was Yossi Wald, who also worked with the Nahal band in those years, and it was he who added a young soldier named Shaika Peikov to the team. The Havi team did not yet have its own original material at this time.
Over the years, the Nahal's live band, like other live bands, relied on the voices of its members and less on movement, scenery and costumes, as the material it performed became original. For years, the live band operated in the shadow of the Nahal band, and only towards the end of the sixties did it gain civic recognition. In 1968, the band performed the show Kem Tov. The record of the show was a great success. The band's subsequent shows, Imaginary Vacation and All That Was in Us, were also successful and produced many period hits. Among the members of the band on these two shows can be found the Pini brothers and Yizhar Cohen, Noga Eshed and Carmela Gazit. In light of the success of the first record, the songs from both shows were released on the "Had Artzi" record company, but they did not enjoy the success that Kem Tov enjoyed. Yizhar Cohen also remained for the next show of the band, which was reduced to only three singers. The other members of the band were Tzipi Zarankin and Hani Moldovin. The Nahal air force was disbanded after the Yom Kippur War.
At the Nahal camp
The Nahal camp had a monthly magazine for soldiers, workers from the settlement, and members of youth movements, which appeared from 1949 to 1991 on behalf of the Nahal Command and the Youth and Nahal Division at the Ministry of Defense.
The first issue was published in 1949. From 1951, the issues appeared regularly until 1991. The monthly ceased publication on the orders of Chief of Staff Ehud Barak, as part of his policy to reduce the number of military publications.
The newspaper devoted much of its attention to Nahal, settlement, and national security, and also devoted space to the history of the Land of Israel and interviews with senior military personnel, statesmen, writers, and artists.
Among its writers were the writers and poets Haim Guri, Nathan Shaham, Naomi Shemer, Binyamin Galai, Nissim Aloni, and more. Its covers were decorated by well-known artists, including Nachum Gutman, Reuven Rubin, Shmuel Katz, Shmuel Beck, and more. The newspaper's editors: Uri Sela, Yitzhak White, Shimon Rechavi, Rafael Saporta, Yitzhak Livni, Mordechai Naor, Ze'ev Aner, Yoram Taharlev, Yosef Argaman, Danny Biran.
Over the years, the newspaper has produced a long list of reporters and photographers who have occupied key positions in Israeli media and culture, including: Akiva Nof, Gideon Samet, Yoram Perry, Nachman Shai, Zvi Rimon, Eli Mohar, Eyal Meged, Niva Lanir, Avraham Hai, Menachem Michelson, Thelma Admon, Shosh Avigal, Yigal Galai and Buki Naa. A central role in the editorial staff, for decades, was played by photographer Alex Gal (Gottlieb).
The newspaper's circulation reached its peak (in the 1960s and 1970s) at 15,000 copies.
For a long time, the Nahal camp had a groundbreaking magazine - with unconventional descriptions of Nahal and IDF life, portraits, collaborations with intellectuals, and even "hoaxes" that received great public response.
To view issues of the Nahal camp in the National Library's press collection
