Noam Banai, Son of Meir z"l: "I Had the Chance to Study Torah with Dad and Avitar, It Was a Delight"

The personal family side of the legendary singer Meir Banai z"l was less shown to the public fans. In his life, and even in his death: he kept his illness a secret even in intimate circles, and it was somewhat overshadowed. In the headlines and spotlight, he shied away during his life, and in his death - the Banai family requested to honor his wish, and not to cover the funeral.

Meir was laid to rest in a rather intimate ceremony, primarily involving family, friends, and acquaintances from the close circle.

Noam, the 25-year-old son of Meir Banai z"l, defines himself as secular, yet during the shiva for his father z"l, he shared, "Personally, I feel him here all the time. I don’t feel he left us at all. I'm not talking, of course, about how... the songs are immortalized and they will always remain. I literally mean his physical presence. I feel him here with me very tangibly."

Discussing his father's journey to religious observance, which happened when he was ten, Noam explains that from a child's perspective, it was scary. "Suddenly, Dad tells you 'I'm wearing a tallit and kippah.' You go to a movie with Dad and then eat out, and suddenly you can't watch a movie. His approach to life changed," Noam said about a year ago in an interview with 'Yediot Ahronot.' "A dimension of spirituality and faith entered. Instead of going to a movie and then sushi, he couldn't watch the movie because it wasn't modest, and he couldn't eat the sushi because it wasn't kosher. Suddenly there was no TV at home and he kept Shabbat, so not to talk on the phone near him on Shabbat. And no music. It's hard for a child to digest that."

"I Had the Chance to Study Torah with Dad and Avitar, It Was a Delight"

However, the great love between them didn’t let the return to religious observance overshadow their good relationship, and from that struggle, a different kind of curiosity towards his father's journey was born in Noam. "But then, slowly, I wanted to listen and understand what Dad was doing and what it means to be religious. So on Shabbats, he would read me beautiful things, texts of R' Nachman. I began to take an interest and went through an internal process, trying to explore this aspect of faith in something bigger than you, in Hashem, also in connection to tradition and to serve that greater power. Something entered me."

From the extensive Banai family – Ehud, Avitar, and Meir – all returned to religious observance. They all experienced great success in their careers and ultimately understood that the answer lies not in the spotlight but far from there – between the pages of the Gemara and in observing mitzvot.

On the trigger that led his father z"l to religion and whether it might happen to him, Noam expressed hesitance, saying that "When you enter this world and succeed on such a scale, you can either completely lose yourself and your truth or, conversely, hold on to it and fear losing yourself. Their search led them to religion. If it will lead me there too? I don't know.

"Both success and failure are things that are hard to cope with. My father's enormous success was before I was born, I didn’t see it happen. We talked about it. He is someone who loves his privacy very much, and he lost it suddenly. It wasn’t cool for him. We are all sensitive, and everyone goes through turmoil," he said.

About the relationship between his father and Avitar, Noam said that it is "better than ever. They are really good friends, and even from a religious standpoint, they are in the same stream and even initially studied with the same rabbi. I had the chance to study Torah with them a few times, and it was a delight."