הכבש השישה עשר

by Yehonatan Geffen, יהונתן גפן, יעל ליאור (Illustrator)

"יש ילדים בני ארבע וילדים בני חמש וילדים בני שם וילדים בני שבע. אני מכיר כמה ילדים שהם כבר בני שלושים. אני ילד בן שלושים ואני מקווה שתאהבו לקרוא (או לשמוע) את הספר שכתבתי רק לכם. אם יש לכם חברים, אתם יכולים לקרוא בספר הזה יחד איתם. ואם אין לכם חברים, הלוואי שהספר הזה יהיה חבר שלכם." יהונתן גפן, 1978

Genres: Childrens

75 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Yehonatan Geffen (Hebrew: יהונתן גפן) was born in moshav Nahalal. He is the father of Aviv Geffen, Shira Geffen and Natasha Geffen, as well as nephew of Moshe Dayan. He has two grandsons. In 1965, he served as a paratrooper under Matan Vilnaì, and became an officer. In 1967, his mother overdosed on her medication and died. Geffen considers it to have been suicide. After his discharge from the IDF in 1969 and moving to Tel Aviv, he took up poetry. In 1972, while Geffen was studying in London, his sister Nurit committed suicide, causing him to return to Tel Aviv. During this period he began writing a column for the weekend supplement of Ma'ariv, and he joined the entertainment troupe "Lul" with Uri Zohar, Arik Einstein, and Shalom Hanoch. The latter introduced Geffen to his future wife, Nurit Makober. Geffen was often criticized for his strong left-wing leanings, which bordered on provocation, and even received death threats. He was one of a group of journalists (including Uri Dan, Yeshayahu Ben Porat, Eitan Haber, Hezi Carmel, Eli Landau, and Eli Tavor) who in 1973 published the book The Failure, the first book to document the Yom Kippur War. It criticized the performance of the government and military and also contained first-hand descriptions of battles, casualties, injuries, and the losses and failures of military hardware. The book aroused considerable public interest. Much of Geffen's success came from his works for children, like the song "HaYalda Hachi Yafa BaGan" ["The Prettiest Girl in Kindergarten"] and the book "HaKeves HaShisha Asar" [The 16th Sheep], but he has also written many popular songs, poems, plays, and stories for adults. He frequently collaborated with David Broza, rendering Spanish songs into Hebrew.

Reviews

[Paul Sánchez Keighley · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as Hebrew children's songs go, this is as good as it gets. Songs that resonate with both children and adults for entirely different reasons. Beautifully written, evocative, insightful.

By way of example, here's a rough translation of one of my favourites:

When we drove into town to visit uncle Ephraim
we drove by lots of shoe shops
and I wondered: what if the shoes suddenly decided
to jump through the glass and look for feet - now that would be fun!

When we drove into town to visit uncle Ephraim
we drove by lots of toy shops in Givatayim.
They asked me: ‘What do you want?’
I said: ‘A bike!’
They said: ‘Fine. Next year.’

When we drove into town to visit uncle Ephraim
we drove by a man with holes in his socks
who looked sad and leant on a cane.
My mother told me not to look… but I looked.

When we drove into town to visit uncle Ephraim,
it was winter, two years ago.
I have grown since then and now have a bike.
I hardly remember being three years old,
but I can't get the poor man with holes in his socks out of my head.

[Shir Noff · Rating 5 out of 5]

true classic... as an adult it makes you wonder a lot, reminding you of a child's simple and curious way of seeing the world.
as an adult I can also feel uncomfortable for the gender bias in the book which is mainly male characters who are depicted in details and with full character and females are good looking, but (with no other choice) looking past that it is a book I wouldn't want to miss.

[Shir Noff · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book, all ages. get you thinking and remembering the simple bright way your brain was thinking when you were a child. there is an evident gender issue, male characters mainly as heroes and interesting traits and thoughts, with female being good looking, but still a don't miss book.

[Ma'ayan Si · Rating 5 out of 5]

קראתי את הספר היום, בגיל 30, לראשונה. קראתי לבתי הקטנה וכמובן שהכרתי את רוב השירים בו אבל פשוט ספר נפלא.

[Tchelet Frid · Rating 5 out of 5]

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