"Ben Adam" (Hebrew script: בן אדם, English translation: "Human Being", literally "Son of Adam" = "Son of Man") was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, performed in Hebrew by Yardena Arazi. "Ben Adam", beyond its literal meaning is used in Hebrew to describe a righteous person, someone who does the right thing. In Yiddish that would be "A Mench", when they say in Hebrew: "c'mon, be a Ben Adam" - that would mean "Do the right thing". to be: "not a Ben Adam" means that a person behaves in an anti-social manner. "Ben Adam" also means: an ordinary normal person. Male only.
The song deals with the ordinariness of humanity, as Arazi sings that "no man is perfect in all virtues" and tells her listeners "don't always judge him for the worse". With this in mind, she exhorts her listeners to "let him dream and give him breath", that is, to treat everyone with dignity. Musically, the song is perhaps best known for its final chorus. Beginning at a slow tempo, the song builds to a fast-paced conclusion.
The song was performed eighth on the night (following the Netherlands' Gerard Joling with "Shangri-La" and preceding Switzerland's entry and winning song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi"), sung by Celine Dion. At the close of voting, it had received 85 points, placing 7th in a field of 21.
It was succeeded as Israeli representative at the 1989 Contest by Gili & Galit with Derekh Hamelekh.
In 2010, the Israeli artist Yoni Eilat recorded a Yiddish cover of the song, "Der Mentsch", for his album "Tzigayner Neshume".
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Famous quotes containing the words ben and/or adam:
“Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”
—Calder Willingham, screenwriter, Buck Henry, screenwriter, and Mike Nichols. Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman)
“Let those talk of poverty and hard times who will in the towns and cities; cannot the emigrant who can pay his fare to New York or Boston pay five dollars more to get here ... and be as rich as he pleases, where land virtually costs nothing, and houses only the labor of building, and he may begin life as Adam did? If he will still remember the distinction of poor and rich, let him bespeak him a narrower house forthwith.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)