Full houses and a waiting list: Netanya’s libraries have become a culture venue — with an Agatha Christie night and live jazz ahead

The municipal library stopped being a place people visit only to borrow a book a long time ago. In Netanya the network of city libraries has turned into a cultural venue in its own right — and the two most recent events demonstrated that more vividly than any annual report could: the hall was filled to capacity, and for one of them registration had to be closed and a waiting list opened.

Omer Gefen: hearing songs you know by heart all over again

Radio broadcaster and lecturer Omer Gefen hosted a session titled «Directed Listening». The premise is simple and quietly disarming: take the songs that have accompanied us for years, and show that we never really listened to them.

Gefen took apart what sits behind familiar works — the stories of how they were written, the nostalgic details, the context of the era that produced them. The audience got a chance to return to material they thought they knew and find layers in it they had walked past for decades.

Anyone who missed it has a second chance: on 21 December 2026 Gefen will hold another session, this time on the roots and the sound of Black pop music in the United States.

Roni Kuban: why silence is the main instrument in a conversation

The second event, with journalist and television presenter Roni Kuban, dealt with the craft of the interview — and drew so many sign-ups that registration had to be shut and a waiting list opened.

Kuban spoke to the audience about matters that reach well beyond the profession: the ability to listen, how a conversation is steered, and the willingness to set aside one’s own judgement and defensive reflexes in order to be genuinely present opposite the other person. Drawing on examples from his own work, he showed that the most powerful tools in a conversation turn out to be the pause and the silence.

What comes next: four dates

25 November 2026 — «What is really happening on our plate?»
Dr. Uri Meir-Chizik, a historian of medicine and nutrition, opens a lecture series on the links between food, health and history. The first session looks at humanity’s shift from a plant-based diet to a meat-based one, and at how nutrition shaped the body, health and the brain.

30 November 2026 — an evening in the spirit of Agatha Christie
A tribute evening to the queen of crime fiction. On the programme: a conversation between crime novelist Dror Mishani, author of «The Missing File», and editor Noa Manheim. Alongside it — live jazz performed by Ohad Ben Avi, punch and English-style refreshments. The atmosphere, the organisers promise, will be suitably detective.

21 December 2026 — Omer Gefen on Black pop music in the United States
A continuation of «Directed Listening» for everyone who missed the first session or wanted more of it.

29 December 2026 — «How to get less done and live more?»
Yehudit Katz returns to the city Mediatek with a new lecture series after the success of the previous season. The subject: how to deal with the feeling of an endless race, and which practical tools help one live more calmly and in better balance.

How to get in

The city library network stresses that places at all of these events are limited and that registration is already well under way. Seats can be booked on the network’s website www.sifrianet.org.il or by phone at 09-8620250.

Given that the Kuban evening ran out of places, it is better not to put off booking for the November dates.

Source: NetanyaNet, 9 November 2026.
Photo: Nurit Moses (from the NetanyaNet publication).