"Nothing will come of Jamchi": A small story from the beginning of Oren Nahari's path
From a bookworm on the Carmel to the founder of "Seeing the World": Oren Nahari went from a security guard on television to a career spanning decades on the screen, interviewed world leaders, and left behind vast knowledge, books, and programs that became national assets.
The personal history of historian Oren Nahari began on the Carmel in Haifa, where he was born to an army officer and a piano teacher. As a result, he decided early on to stay away from any military career and also stopped playing the piano.
As a child, he was a bookworm who devoured everything and saw the world through the wings of imagination. He was a graduate of the Reali School in Haifa. After his release from Aman, and in parallel with his studies at the Hebrew University, he worked as a security guard for the national television channel, until one day Yarin Kimor, the legendary television personality, asked him if he would like to try his hand at the small screen.
Nahari, a brilliant student of political science and international relations, did not imagine where Kimor's suggestion would lead him. Nahari had no reason to refuse. After "cutting his teeth" as an intern, he felt ready to jump into the deep end.
When given the opportunity to choose a topic for his debut report, he did not hesitate:
"There is a basketball player at Maccabi Ramat Gan who I think is going to be a great talent," he pondered, accurately predicting the future of Doron Jamchi.
The reaction? "Forget it, nothing will come of Jamchi," Alex Giladi, the then-director of the television sports department, poured a bucket of cold water on him.
In 1985, Nahari moved to the news department as a foreign news correspondent, and three years later he founded the legendary program "Seeing the World" alongside Dudu Vitztum, Emmanuel Halperin, and Michael Doron. Twelve years later, he co-founded the program "Globus" with Vitztum. Among his interviewees over the years were Nelson Mandela, George Bush, and the Dalai Lama.
Nahari will be remembered for his vast knowledge and pleasant demeanor. He was married to the poet and poetry researcher Dr. Vered Ariel-Nahari. Alone and with several partners, he published books in an album format. The last of them, "The Great Battles That Changed the Face of History", he completed recently with Yoav Limor.
