Israeli poet, writer and playwright Jonathan Geffen He died on Wednesday at the age of 76. Geffen wrote a weekly satirical column in Maariv, jerusalem postThe sister newspaper of, from 1972–2013.
Geffen was born in 1947 in Nahalal, Israel. He served in the Paratroopers and Golani and fought in Nablus and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War.
Geffen’s mother, Aviva Dayan, Moshe Dayan’s sister, died of an overdose while serving in the IDF. In his book “Dear Woman”, Geffen wrote that he believed his mother committed suicide.
After his release from the army in 1969, Geffen moved to Tel Aviv and published several of his poems after being advised to do so by poet Natan Alterman. In 1970, he moved to England to study at the University of Cambridge. While he was living in England, his sister Nurit committed suicide.
In 1972, Geffen returned to Israel and began writing a weekly column for Maariv, A year later, Geffen fought on the Southern Front as a reserve soldier in the Yom Kippur War. Geffen wrote that he returned from the war “as a ghost”, with nightmares about the battles keeping him awake at night.
In 1974, Geffen and Dani Litani launched the show “That’s All for Now, For Now That’s All”. Geffen later launched several other shows as well.
Give Wrote hundreds of poems for both adults and children, including “The 16th Sheep” and “Courage”.
Geffen is survived by a son, the singer aviv geffenand two daughters, playwright and actress Shira Geffen and Natasha Geffen.