LIFSHITZ, NEHAMAH

LIFSHITZ, NEHAMAH (1927– ), folk singer of Yiddish and Hebrew songs. Born in Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, where she started her schooling at the Hebrew high school, Nehamah Lifshitz was evacuated with her parents during World War II to Uzbekistan. After returning in 1946 to Soviet Lithuania, she studied at the Vilna conservatoire and in 1951 she gave her first concert. At an all-Soviet competition in 1958 she received the title of laureate of estrada (folk) artists. She traveled throughout the U.S.S.R., giving concerts of Yiddish (and some Hebrew) songs, drawing large crowds, including many young Jews. In 1959 and 1960 she visited France, Belgium, and Austria. In 1969 she was allowed by the Soviet authorities to immigrate to Israel where she was enthusiastically received as "the voice of the Jews of silence." On the occasion of her 70th birthday, Gila Flam and friends of the singer published in her honor an album including some of the recordings she made while in the Soviet Union. (Binyamin Eliav)