There are writers who make you laugh, and there are writers who make you think – and then there is Ephraim Sidon, who has spent half a century doing both at once. Satirist, screenwriter, playwright, lyricist, poet, and beloved children’s author, Sidon has left his mark on virtually every corner of Israeli cultural life. At 80, he shows no sign of stopping.
Raised in Ramat Gan, Ephraim Sidon grew up the only child of Polish-born parents who arrived with the Third Aliyah. His father changed their Polish family name to Sidon on the advice of the poet Avraham Shlonsky. It was, in retrospect, a fittingly literary beginning for a man who would spend his life reshaping the Hebrew language for comic effect.
Sidon cut his teeth at the legendary student newspaper Pi Ha’aton (literally meaning “the mouth of the female donkey”), published by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied history and theater. There he wrote satirical columns alongside B. Michael (Michael Brizon, who passed away last year), Kobi Niv, and Hanoch Marmari. The group went on to lead Israel’s satirical writing in the 1970s – for print and stage – and created the unforgettable satirical TV show, Nikui Rosh – the Israeli version of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” if you will.
Broadcast on Channel 1 at a time when it was Israel’s sole television station, Nikui Rosh wielded an immense influence on public discourse. The show tackled current events with a sharpness that felt dangerous and delightful in equal measure.
Making Israeli TV funny
In the 1980s, Sidon co-wrote the sitcom Krovim Krovim with B. Michael – widely remembered as Israel’s first true sitcom. Running from 1983 to 1986, the show followed an extended family sharing a Tel Aviv apartment building, and became a flagship of Israeli television.
A decade later, Sidon created and wrote HaChartzufim – Israel’s answer to the British satirical TV puppet show, “Spitting Image.” Broadcast on Channel 2 in the 1990s, the program lampooned Israeli politicians through caricature puppets, skewering power with the same precision Sidon had deployed since his student days.
Kids need satire too
Yet for many Israeli parents, Sidon’s name is most closely associated not with politics but with children’s books. Writing in rhyme and with a light, humorous touch, he has produced fairy tales and Bible-based stories as well as original children’s books that read like satire in disguise.
His very first book for children, Alilot Ferdinand Fedasort BeKitzur (“Tales of Ferdinand Fedasort, for Short”), was published in 1976. This pointed, playful lesson about the limits of authority, which makes kids giggle with glee, is long considered a classic. His best-known work for children, Ma’aleh Karachot (“Bald Heights”), is an allegorical tale about a city of bald people, constructed as a fable on herd mentality and blind conformism.
Across every medium he has inhabited, Ephraim Sidon has pursued the same essential project: to hold a comic mirror up to Israeli society, and to make the reflection sting just enough to be unforgettable.
Don’t miss BAC’s special online event for kids: “We Won’t Stop Laughing – A Zoom Session with Ephraim Sidon”. Sidon will discuss humor with kids, and read from his beloved children’s books. March 30 at 4pm. In Hebrew, suitable for children aged 8 and up.
Main Photo: Ephraim Sidon By Mark Neyman\ Wikipedia
