Yaacov Levanon

Yaacov Levanon (originally Yaacov Bilansky) (Korets, Ukraine 1895-Jerusalem, Israel 1965) was a Jewish musician and composer in the British Mandate of Palestine and later Israel.

The son of a haskalah scholar from Novohrad-Volynskyy (Samuel Bilansky), Levanon was trained at the conservatory in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. After serving in the Red Army he emigrated in 1919 to Palestine, where he established himself as a composer and music teacher. His opus includes music for operettas, films (including the first Hebrew-language talking film, "This is the Land" ["zot hi ha'aretz"] , 1935), instrumental pieces, and children's songs.

Yaacov Levanon, who taught in Arab schools in Jerusalem, was commissioned by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husayni, to establish a children's orchestra to entertain, among other things, for the holiday Eid ul-Fitr. The relationship between them remained cordial until the 1929 Hebron massacre, in which the Mufti played a major role. Ironically, the Mufti embraced Levanon, a Jew, while on the other hand he went to Germany to meet Hitler to plan the final solution in Palestine.Fact|date=August 2008

References

* [http://www.cine-holocaust.de/cgi-bin/gdq?efw00fbw000434.gd This is the Land / Zot hi-ha'aretz listing, Fritz Bauer Institut]
* [http://www.ancestors-genealogy.com/greenberg/yaacovbl.html Pictures of Y. Bilansky Levanon]
* [http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/epr Homepage of Prof. Haim Levanon]