Israel is 66 years old! Celebrate by revisiting the early years.

Listen to the authentic recordings from the Vistas of Israel radio series.

Historic radio broadcast of the Israel Broadcasting Company celebrating the millionth immigrant to Israel (8/29/61). Click on label to play.

From the  late 1950s, through the 1960s, and into the early 1970s the State of Israel sought to inform Americans and others about their young country’s culture and accomplishments through a series of radio broadcasts in English. Read More About This…

Shoshana Damari was born in Yemen in 1923 and brought to Palestine by her parents as a toddler. As a young child she joined her mother as she entertained at family gatherings and community events. By the age of 14 Shoshana was already performing regularly on the radio.

Her exotic beauty, along with her distinctive husky voice and Yemenite accent brought a uniquely Middle Eastern flavor to mainstream Israeli music which had previously been totally dominated by Eastern European influences. Read More About This…

In the early half of the 20^th century, Yiddish speaking audiences often connected with their roots and culture by listening to Yiddish radio programs produced in the USA. In 2004 the Judaica Sound Archives received a gift of 70 recordings of radio broadcasts produced in 1949 from the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

These broadcasts were recorded on 16-inch discs. Special equipment is needed to play such large recordings. Unfortunately, the JSA did not have the right equipment.  So the recordings sat in storage. Read More About This…