Aussie singer honours Bibas family

“My only intent – and nothing else – was to express that I, along with a nation of people and its diasporan congregation, care profoundly about what has happened to you and want to restore and lift your spirits – for a moment, or for the rest of your life, if that’s what you want. As the Hebrew saying teaches, ‘what comes from the heart, enters the heart.’”

These are the words shared with Yarden Bibas by Liana Levin, a semi-retired government public policy advisor, performer and vocal recording artist from Canberra. They accompanied her re-imagined recording of Amen, dedicated to Yarden and in honour of his family, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir who were killed by Hamas terrorists in captivity following their abduction during the October 7 massacre.

Amen, composed by Moshe Datz with lyrics by Hamutal Ben-Ze’ev, was performed by Liora as Israel’s entry to the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest. It’s a powerful anthem for peace and love and for Levin, the word which is said in unison after brachot and tfilot, “expresses our collective as Am Israel. Saying Amen in one voice, becol echad, galvanises us. Unites.”

“When an entire nation of people lined the streets the length and breadth of Israel, to stand with Yarden in mourning – I was struck by this powerful symbol of unity. That we all shared his loss,” Levin told The AJN when asked why she chose the song. “I wanted to re-create a visual and aural metaphor of that moment, that broadcast, which reinforced our togetherness with Yarden, and for all who have suffered through this terrible crisis.”

Levin recalled that the sight of everyone lined up to support Yarden struck her, compelling her back into the recording studio after a 20-year hiatus.