Izhar Cohen

Izhar Cohen (Hebrew: יזהר כהן‎; born March 13, 1951) is an Israeli singer who won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest.

Personal life

Cohen was born in Tel Aviv and raised in Giv'atayim in a Yemeni singers' family - Shlomo Cohen (the Great Soliman), Sarah Cohen, and Hofni, Pini, and Vardina Cohen.

Career

Cohen started to sing when he was a young child and joined his father in his performances. At 18, Cohen joined the IDF's "Nachal" singers group. During the 70's Cohen was one of the most played singers in Israel. Representing Israel, he won the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest with the group Alphabeta performing "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" with music by Nurit Hirsh and words by Ehud Manor. The title of the song is the Hebrew word "ani" (first person singular pronoun) expressed in the popular children language game "Bet language" (equivalent to "Pig Latin").

Cohen later represented Israel again (this time with an unnamed group of backing singers) at the 1985 contest performing "Olé, Olé" (music - Kobi Oshrat, words - Hamutal Ben-Ze'ev) where he finished 5th. He attempted to represent Israel again in 1987 and 1996 but did not win the national final.

Yizhar Cohen (swimmer)

Yizhar Cohen (Hebrew: יזהר כהן‎, born August 12, 1962) is an Israeli paralympic swimmer.

Cohen was born in Kibbutz Degania Alef. In 1985 he was injured while serving with the Israel Defense Forces, blinded by a mine. Following his loss of eyesight he began practicing disabled sports in athletics and swimming. Since 1987 he has taken part in international competitions, including six Paralympic Games held between 1988 and 2008. Until 2004 he also took part in four world championships and eight European championships.

Cohen had been swimming in all styles (breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle and backstroke), while today (2008) he is focusing on freestyle swimming. In the 1987 European Championship, held in Moscow, he won four gold medals. In the 1988 Summer Paralympics he won three gold medals and one silver. He won further medals at the 1992 Summer Paralympics (1 bronze) and the 1996 Summer Paralympics (1 silver). In the 2008 Summer Paralympics, Cohen was the Israeli flag bearer.

Izhar

According to the Torah, Izhar (Hebrew: יִצְהָר, Modern Yits'har, Tiberian Yiṣhār ; "(one who) sparkles"/oil) was the father of Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri, and was a son of Kohath and grandson of Levi, consequently being the brother of Amram and uncle of Aaron, Miriam, and Moses. No further details of his life are given by the Bible, and according to some biblical scholars the genealogy for Levi's descendants is actually an aetiological myth, reflecting popular perception of the connections between different Levite factions.

Despite twice listing Izhar as being among the sons of Kohath, the Book of Chronicles subsequently goes on state, only a few verses later, that it was the (previously unmentioned) son of Kohath named Amminadab that became the father of Korah. Later in the Book of Chronicles, Amminadab is given as the name of the leader of the Uzzielites, a clan which the biblical genealogy proclaims as being descended from Uzziel, Izhar's brother.

References