The veteran

The offspring of Holocaust survivors, Menachem Perry parlayed his childhood coping mechanism into a talent for observation and narration, impacting generations of Israelis.

By B.P
MENACHEM PERRY with his wife, Nurit. (photo credit: COURTESY MENACHEM PERRY)
MENACHEM PERRY with his wife, Nurit.
(photo credit: COURTESY MENACHEM PERRY)
Broadcaster Menachem Perry recently retired from the IBA, where he worked for 42 years on Kol Yisrael’s various radio stations. His radiophonic voice was synonymous with Reshet Gimmel’s music station from its inception – and he received the ACUM prize in 2003 for this.
In recent years, he broadcast most of the Rega Shel Ivrit spots.
“Until the age of four, Yiddish was my mama loshen [mother tongue], and here I am, presenting three times a day a program on Hebrew,” Perry says, noting the irony.
His calm demeanor as a broadcaster did not reveal his traumatic childhood.
Perry’s original name was Menachem Kalman Mendel Friedman, named for his maternal grandfather.
“My parents were born in Belzice, Poland.
Each one was married to another spouse and had children before World War II. My mother, Shaindel, had three children, and my father, Shaima, had five children. My mother lost her husband and children, and my father lost his wife and four of his children. My father and mother met in Lublin after the war.”
Perry was born in a displaced persons’ camp in Traunstein, Germany. As a two-year-old, he immigrated to Israel with his parents, and settled in Lod.
Perry relates that he grew up hearing his parents screaming at night. An only child, they’d tell him of the horrors they experienced. “I would calm them down, and would dream of being a Nazi- hunter then.”
Understanding Hebrew better than his parents, he would listen to the radio program Hamador L’hipus krovim for locating relatives, hoping to catch the names Federbush (his mother’s maiden name), Peres (her first husband) or Friedman, but no relatives showed up.
While his father worked away from home, paving roads in the Negev, his mother recounted her Holocaust trauma to Perry in detail. Perry likened this to a prolonged shiva mourning period, in a house with no laughter or joy. He realized years later that his coping mechanism was to tell himself that it had happened to someone else, at a great distance.
As a child, he discovered football – but rather than following the players on the field, he would look at the fans, and see people jumping with joy.
Menachem Friedman changed his last name to Perry during his IDF service, when he flew abroad. His one surviving half-brother, Aryeh, worked for El Al, and closed a circle by taking part in Adolf Eichmann’s capture.
When Aryeh died at the relatively young age of 53, Perry had to notify his father of his death. (His mother had suffered from Alzheimer’s.) His family’s story from before the Holocaust until 1946, the year Perry was born, was written up in Halomot (in Hebrew) by his IBA colleague, broadcaster Raya Admoni. It is currently being translated into English, and will be published in a few months.
As a law student, Perry worked as a radio technician, where his radiophonic voice was noticed by other narrators. He took a narrators’ course together with Malachi Hizkiya and Oded Ben-Ami (well-known radio and television news broadcasters).
Rather than presenting news, with its many heavy, painful moments, he broadcast shows on Reshet Alef, Reshet Bet, Reshet Moreshet and Reshet Gimmel, of which he was one of the founders.
When Reshet Gimmel was created in 1976, no IBA stations broadcast solely music; in its early years, Reshet Gimmel broadcast both foreign and Israeli songs. From 1997, Reshet Gimmel broadcast only Israeli music. Popular shows in the early years were Yom Yom Yam (“Daily Swimming” – in the summer) and Shoko Ham (“Hot Chocolate” – in the winter). Perry broadcast series on stars like Elvis Presley and Cliff Richard.
In addition to Reshet Gimmel, Perry presented Anu Banu Artza, where Israelis told stories of their immigration and absorption process.
Until his recent retirement, Perry presented on Fridays on Reshet Moreshet for 10 years, on B’Shivhei Tzadikim, with stories of the Jewish people and related songs. During his final broadcast, he related on air, “Many listeners were amazed to discover that I am not religious, and as part of my work for the IBA, I am required to work on Shabbat. But I absorbed tradition as a child, and Yiddish was my first language.” He also broadcast “Kabbalat Shabbat” on Fridays, with words on the parsha and songs.
Since announcing his retirement, he’s received wishes from thousands of listeners, warmly expressing the impact he made on them through his programs.
As for his plans, he has a recording studio in his home in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood, and he teaches narrators, conducts events and may continue to broadcast for the IBA. Plus, he would like to record his grandchildren.


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