Ruthi Navon

Ruthi Navon, born Ruth Navon on 30 May 1951 in Haifa, Israel, is an Israeli Jewish singer and actress. Her parents, Yitzhak Navon, a former Israeli ambassador to Thailand, and Miriam Navon, a painter, were both singers; her father sang tenor and her mother was a coloratura soprano. As a teenager, Navon served in the Israel Defense Forces and was part of the army's Entertainment Corps.

Navon's early career in Israel included the lead role in Don't Call Me Black, a 1972 Israeli musical about race relations. Her self-titled debut album followed in 1973, released through Hed Arzi Music, with compositions by Nurit Hirsh, Kobi Oshrat, Yehonatan Geffen, Misha Segal, Dan Almagor, Yair Rosenblum, Leah Goldberg, and Ehud Manor. The album sold well in Israel. She performed the song Netzach Yisrael Lo Yeshaker at Israel's 25th Independence Day celebration, and her music was featured on the Channel 1 children's program Rosh Kruv. A 1975 performance in Manhattan drew notice from journalist Howard Thompson, who described her as having "expressive eyes and a voice like a bell" and observed that she was equally at home with a Hasidic medley, a rendition of "Don't Let It Rain on My Parade," and the ballad "Feelings."

Her Broadway debut came in 1976, when she appeared in Ran Eliran's musical Don't Step on My Olive Branch, which opened at the Playhouse Theatre. Clive Barnes of The New York Times praised her performance as "handsome and eloquent." In 1980, Navon released a cover of Shel Silverstein's "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" through Polydor Records, and the following year she performed at a Musical Tribute to Jerusalem at Carnegie Hall alongside Shlomo Carlebach and poet Gerald Stern.

Navon became a baalat teshuva to Chabad Judaism during her twenties. Her path toward religious observance began in 1974, when she survived a car accident that killed a 21-year-old woman, and was further shaped by a meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe while she was living in Manhattan. In observance of the rabbinic law of kol isha, she gave her first all-female concert in 1984 at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem. Her second album, Lead Me to Your Way, appeared in 1988 marked "For Women and Girls Only" and included a personal message to fans. The following year she performed at a Philadelphia event commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Chaya Mushka Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbetzin. Since adopting religious observance, Navon has performed exclusively for female audiences, with the exception of onstage personnel such as musicians and sound mixers, and has been noted alongside artists Kineret and Julia Blum as a prominent adherent of this custom.

Navon sings in English, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Ladino, and her performances incorporate personal anecdotes and audience participation. In June 2006, she performed at the Jewish National Fund of Canada's Negev Gala in Winnipeg, Manitoba, alongside Ilanit, Yardena Arazi, Shlomit Aharon, and Margalit Tzan'ani. She released the album B'Hiluch Gavoha (In High Gear) in 2008. Navon married Yossi Zmora in 1980 and lives in Miami, Florida. Her music is archived at Florida Atlantic University.