David Broza has been performing in Israel and Spain for several weeks, but he returned to New York in time to accept his award and to play a special acoustic show for an institution he’s held dear since his childhood in Tel Aviv.
Broza performed at City Winery on Monday night for a benefit event for the Israel Parasports Center, an organization he has been involved with since he was 7 years old, when his father, who helped found the center, would regularly bring young David there to interact with Israeli people with disabilities.
“I still keep in touch with some of them to this day,” Broza, 68, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after arriving in the United States from Spain, three days before a private showing in New York.
Having recorded over 40 albums and best known for her 1977 song “Yihye Tov,” this internationally renowned singer-songwriter is as tolerant of people with disabilities as she is of the experiences of her childhood, as she is of the people she writes and performs for audiences around the world. (Photo by HADAS PARUSH)
Broza’s biography
Broza was born in Haifa and grew up in Tel Aviv and Madrid, with a year spent in England. His father, Arthur Broza, had a sister in England with cerebral palsy. This prompted him to work with his close friend Moshe Rashkes, who had been seriously injured in the War of Independence. Mr. Rashkes went on to found the center (known until 2021 as the Israel Sports Center for the Disabled), which he continued to work with for over 50 years until his death six years ago at the age of 90.
David Broza recalls how his father became involved with the Israel Parasports Center in Ramat Gan, where 3,000 physically disabled people attend each year to compete in competitive parasports such as basketball, tennis, swimming and archery.
“He thought, what if they [his sister and family members] If you want to live in Israel, you should have a club.”
Mr. Laszkes’ son, Aric, who co-chaired the New York event with his wife, Ollie, recalled hearing Arthur tell the story of how he brought his sister to the pool and “fell in love with the center.”
Arthur Broza regularly assisted in various areas of the center, including fundraising and supporting the annual swim across Lake Galilee.
For David, spending his days and summers with people with disabilities was “natural and fun,” and he points out that “people with disabilities don’t feel sorry for themselves” and “fight to be active.”
He recalls helping out wherever he could at the club: “Pushing wheelchairs, carrying wheelchairs, fetching balls…there’s no end to the work that sports clubs ask people to do.”
Broza is proud of the services the center provides to people with disabilities, noting that “with the right environment, people can succeed.”
He fondly recalls taking part in the annual Lake Galilee swim with the center’s participants: “I started swimming with them when I was about 7 or 8 years old. My dad and the officials were in a speedboat. Swimming across with everyone was a thrill and a lot of fun!”
Broza also enjoyed attending summer camp with her sister, Thalia, and other participants at the center. She emphasized that while the kids in their neighborhood attended camp with children without disabilities, she and Thalia spent the summer with children with disabilities. “It was natural. It was a no-brainer!”
For Broza, spending a lot of time with people with disabilities was comfortable and natural, but “society doesn’t see it as natural,” he said.
“There is a lot of work to be done and the Israeli government needs to continue to work to spread awareness of what they need to do. [people with disabilities] He stressed the need to “raise funds” and “speak up for them,” and that he will continue to do his part until he can’t anymore.
Broza returns to “Spivak” each year to perform for participants and their families. The Israel Parasports Center continues to be called Spivak, a tribute to its early donors. While the Army has its own system for helping soldiers with disabilities, Broza noted that the number of people coming to the center for services and programs will increase by 30 percent.
Lori Komisar, national director of the Israel Parasports Center, firmly believes that “David Broza is part of the center family.” She is pleased that his father was one of the center’s founders, that David has been attending the center since he was seven years old, and that he has “continued to return every year since then.”
Komisar sees Broza’s active role during his visits: “David sits with the children on opening day, plays his guitar and sings with them. He is a source of inspiration and hope. He would probably say that the children are his source of inspiration and hope. David opens his heart and gives his time and energy to raise awareness and support us. But it’s more than that, it goes beyond music. It’s all about love for the children.”
Aric Raschkes, son of the center’s founder and current board member, also grew up at the center and recalls his father, Arthur, giving him David Broza music CDs. Aric and David are now friends, and Aric emphasizes that Broza remains “an integral part of the heart and soul of the center.”
At the City Winery event, guests learned about the center’s impact from two elite wheelchair tennis players, Amit Vigoda and Ibrahim Bajo, and Shalom Zur, an Israeli reservist who recently returned to Tel Aviv after a four-month stint in Gaza, spoke about the important bond between Diaspora and Israeli Jews and thanked the audience for their continued support.
Rashkes then presented Broza with a work of art as the recipient of the Moshe Rashkes Lifetime Hero Award, after which Broza told stories and performed an acoustic set of 10 songs, including “Haisha Sheiti,” “Bedouin Love Song” and “Yichye Tov,” as well as poetry reflecting hope for Israel’s future.
Broza had been scheduled to tour this fall to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of his album, Haisha Shaity, but canceled the tour when war broke out.
He has given over 200 performances in Israel since the start of the war on October 7. He was similarly deployed to entertain soldiers and others during previous Israeli challenges, such as the First Lebanon War (1982).