Uri Zohar ( ; 4 November 1935 – 2 June 2022) was an Israeli film director, actor, comedian and rabbi.[A major figure of the New Sensibility movement in Israeli cinema, he became one of the country's most prolific and prominent filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s.][Anderman, Nirit (4 November 2018). Genius, Sex Symbol, ultra-Orthodox: Revisiting an Israeli Icon Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.]He was named a recipient of the Israel Prize for Cinema in 1976, but he declined to accept the award.
Zohar was born and raised in Tel Aviv. He moved to Jerusalem and studied philosophy at university. As a filmmaker, he rose to prominence with his first full-length feature Hole in the Moon (1964).[ Three Days and a Child (1967) was nominated for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.]
His drama, Every Bastard a King (1968) was a major box office success.[Friedman, Lior (18 October 2008). Three Kings Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.] He later directed the celebrated comedy Metzitzim ( Peeping Toms) (1972), and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival.[
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In the mid-70s he started to become religious, eventually emerging as one of Israel's most prominent Baal teshuva figures[. He eschewed his entertainment career by 1978 and became a Haredi rabbi.][Misgav, Uri (10 June 2022). Uri Zohar Didn't Die Now. He Passed in 1978, When He Began to Repent Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.]
Early life and education
Uri Zohar was born in Tel Aviv. His parents were Polish Jewish immigrants.[ Famed actor-turned-rabbi Uri Zohar dies at 86] In 1952, he graduated high school and did his military service in an army entertainment troupe. His first marriage, to singer Ilana Rovina, ended in divorce.
In 1960, he studied philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was sentenced to three months of community service on charges of marijuana possession.[ Despair and Deliverance] In the late 1970s, under the influence of Yitzhak Shlomo Zilberman, Zohar turned to religion, becoming a Haredi Judaism Orthodox Jew and a rabbi.[Hadar, Alon (23 August 2007) "Goodbye to All That", Haaretz. "After Ponovezh I went to the yeshiva of Rabbi Zilberman, where Uri Zohar studied, in the Old City of Jerusalem."]
Zohar was one of the founding members of Ma'ale Amos. Later, he resided in Jerusalem.
Career
1957-1962: Early roles, theatre and directorial debut
After his discharge from the army, Zohar became one of the founding members of the theatre and entertainment troupe Batzal Yarok, which was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[ Israel mourns passing of cultural icon turned rabbi Uri Zohar ]
Asa an actor, he had early film roles in the Larry Frisch picture Pillar of Fire (1959), Raphael Nussbaum's Burning Sands (1960).[ He also had a minor role in Otto Preminger's Hollywood epic Exodus, about the founding of the State of Israel.][Schewitzer, Ariel (1 November 2013). Hedonist to Haredi: Iconic Israeli Filmmaker's Works Still Project Truth Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.] He also had a role in Ulai Terdu Sham ( Dreamboat) (1964), which is regarded as a pivotal film in Tel Aviv cinema.[Klein, Uri (7 April 2015). The Greatest Tel Aviv Movies of All Time Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.]
In 1962, he co-directed the documentary film The True Story of Palestine ( Etz O Palestina) with Nathan Axelrod and Joel Silberg. The film charts the lives of the Yishuv, the Jewish community residing in Palestine prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.[ The True Story of Palestine Jerusalem Cinematheque. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.]
1963-1977: Breakthrough, acclaim and box office success
In 1964, he directed and starred in his first full-length feature film, Hole in the Moon. It is considered the first film of the New Sensibility movement in Israeli cinema and is regarded as a classic.[ It tells the story of new Jewish migrants to the State of Israel, who create an imaginary cinematic city in the Negev desert.][ It was screened at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival as part of International Critics' Week.][ Premiere of the Film Hole in the Moon in Tel Aviv Jerusalem Cinematheque. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.]
In 1967, he directed Three Days and a Child, a modernist adaptation of a short story of the same name by A. B. Yehoshua. It was nominated for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.
This was followed by Every Bastard a King (1968), a critical and commercial hit.[Friedman, Lior (18 October 2008). Three Kings Haaretz. Retrieved on 10 January 2026.] It became one of the most successful box office hits in Israeli cinema history. It was seen by an estimated 743,000 people.[
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In 1971, he co-directed the British-Israeli drama film, Bloomfield (AKA The Hero) with actor Richard Harris. It tells the story of an ageing football player in Tel Aviv who navigates his final match and his love for Nira (Romy Schneider).[Greenspun, Roger (9 March 1973). Harris Stars in and Directs 'The Hero,' Twilight of an Athlete:The Cast The New York Times. Retrieved on 13 January 2026.]
He also directed Big Eyes and Metzitzim. He directed 11 full-length films as well as a number of short movies and episodes of the television series "Lool" (Chicken Coop).[ Uri Zohar, Israeli Comedian-turned-rabbi, Dies at 86] When Israel Television went on air, he became a program host and appeared in commercials.[
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In 1977, he began wearing a kippa on the television game show he was hosting.
1978-2022: Religious figure
He eventually withdrew entirely from Israel's popular culture scene to become a Haredi Judaism and began to study in yeshiva. He became a rabbi in Jerusalem and immersed himself in Biblical scholarship.[ Uri Zohar, avant-garde Israeli director turned rabbi, dies][ He became active in the movement to attract secular Jews to religious orthodoxy, and used his entertainment skills to promote this objective.][ What I learned from a Jewish Movie Star]
In 1985, he appeared in Renen Schorr's short film Wedding in Jerusalem, which documents the wedding of Zohar's son Ephraim to Alona, daughter of
Wedding in Jerusalem] Jerusalem Cinematheque - Israel Film Archive. Retrieved on 13 January 2026.
In the 1992 Israeli elections, Zohar directed the television broadcasts for the Shas party.[ Back from black: Uri Zohar returns][ Zohar – The Return][
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When asked in an interview about how he regarded his former career in entertainment, Zohar said that "I respect it, the way a mature adult remembers his childhood. But there's no escaping the fact that I was a child."[
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Awards and recognition
In 1976 he was awarded the Israel Prize for cinema, which he declined.[Anderman, Nirit (24 September 2012). French Cinematheque to honor Uri Zohar with retrospective. Haaretz. Retrieved on 9 January 2026.]
Personal life
In the early 1960s, Zohar was married to the singer Ilana Rovina for about two years. Later he married Alia Shuster, an actress who starred in the movie "Big Eyes" that he directed.
Zohar and Alia, who lived in Jaffa after getting married and later became religiously observant and moved to Jerusalem, had seven children.
He was a close friend of Arik Einstein, with whom he made some of his most noted films. Einstein's two daughters, Shiri and Yasmin, married Zohar's sons, Ephraim Fisher and Shalom.[ Back from Black: Uri Zohar Returns, Jerusalem Post] The wedding of Ephraim Fishel and Shiri was documented in Renan Shor's 1985 short film "A Wedding in Jerusalem." Another son, Itamar, who became secular, initiated the 2004 three-part series "Looking Inside" - a series in which Itamar examines the two worlds his father lived in, and they debate matters of faith, values and reconciliation between secular and Haredi Judaism. After several years Itamar returned to religious observance. The series was filmed in their Jerusalem home, as well as locations where Zohar lived and worked in Tel Aviv. Another son, Betzalel, managed the Migdal Or institutions of Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman. The youngest son, David, is a Jerusalem city council member representing the United Torah Judaism party. Zohar's only daughter, Ahinoam, is the subject of the song "Ahinoam Doesn't Know," which appeared on Erik Einstein's album "Pozy."
Death
Rabbi Uri Zohar died on June 2, 2022, at the age of 86, after suffering a heart attack at his home in Jerusalem's Romema neighborhood. The funeral procession left from the home he lived in, accompanied by many mourners. He was buried in Har HaMenuchot cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.[
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Filmography
Film
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| 1962 | The True Story of Palestine | | | | Co-directed with Nathan Axelrod and Joel Silberg
Written by Haim Hefer |
| 1964 | Hole in the Moon | | | | Written by Amos Kenan |
| 1966 | Moishe Air-Condition | | | | Written by Alex Maimon |
| 1967 | Three Days and a Child | | | | Co-written with Dahn Ben Amotz and Amatsia Hiuni |
| 1968 | Every Bastard a King | | | | Co-written with Eli Tavor |
| 1968 | Fish, Football and Girls | | | | Co-written by Talila Ben-Zakai, Avraham Deshe and Shaike Ophir
Produced by Chaim Topol |
| 1970 | Take Off ( Hitromamut) | | | | Written by Talila Ben-Zakai |
| 1971 | Bloomfield (AKA The Hero) | | | | Co-directed with Richard Harris
Written by Joseph Gross, Richard Harris and Wolf Mankowitz |
| 1971 | The Rooster ( Ha-Tarnegol) | | | | Written by Dirk Clement and Haim Hefer |
| 1972 | Metzitzim | | | | Co-written with Arik Einstein |
| 1974 | Big Eyes | | | | Co-written with Yaakov Shabtai |
| 1977 | Save the Lifeguard ( Hatzilu Et HaMatzil) | | | | |
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Television
Acting roles
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| 1959 | Pillar of Fire | Yossi | Film directed by Larry Frisch | |
| 1960 | Exodus | | Film directed by Otto Preminger | |
| Burning Sands | David | Film directed by Raphael Nussbaum | |
| 1964 | Dreamboat ( Ulai Terdu Sham) | Uri | Film directed by Amatsia Hiuni and Puchu | |
| Hole in the Moon | | Film, also directed | |
| 1966 | Sabina | | Film directed by Peter Freistadt | |
| Motive to Murder ( Miftan le-Ratzah) | | Film directed by Peter Freistadt | |
| 1967 | Aliza Mizrahi | Mattathias Bar Daroma | Film directed by Menahem Golan | |
| 1968 | The Other Side | | Short film, also directed | |
| 1969 | Blaumilch Canal | Orchestra conductor | Film directed by Ephraim Kishon | |
| 1970-1973 | Lool ( Chicken Coop) | Various (sketch) | TV series, also directed | |
| 1971 | The Rooster ( Ha-Tarnegol) | | Film, also directed | |
| 1972 | Metzitzim | Gutte | Film, also directed | |
| 1973 | They Call Me Shmil ( Koreyim Li Shmil) | Joe | Film directed by George Ovadiah | |
| Schwartz: The Brave Detective ( Ha-Balash Ha'Amitz Shvartz) | | Film directed by Ami Artzi and Lloyd Kaufman |
| 1974 | Big Eyes ( Einayim G'dolot) | Benny Furman | Film, also directed | |
| 1977 | Save the Lifeguard ( Hatzilu Et HaMatzil) | | Film, also directed |
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Published works
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My Friends, We Were Robbed
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Waking Up Jewish
See also
External links
