Uri Zohar

Uri Zohar ( ; 4 November 1935 – 2 June 2022) was an Israeli film director, actor, comedian and rabbi. 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).

His drama, Every Bastard a King (1968) was a major box office success. He later directed his Tel Aviv Trilogy, with the critically acclaimed Metzitzim (Peeping Toms) (1972), Big Eyes (1974) and his final mainstream film, (, 1977).

Early life and education Uri Zohar was born in Tel Aviv. His parents were Polish Jewish immigrants. 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. In the late 1970s, under the influence of Yitzhak Shlomo Zilberman, Zohar turned to religion, becoming a Haredi Orthodox Jew and a rabbi.

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.

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 role in Ulai Terdu Sham (Dreamboat) (1964), which is regarded as a pivotal film in Tel Aviv cinema.

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.

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.

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. It became one of the most successful box office hits in Israeli cinema history. It was seen by an estimated 743,000 people. He also directed episodes of the popular television series "Lool" (Chicken Coop).

In the 1970s, he also embarked on his Tel Aviv Trilogy, with ''Metzitzim (Peeping Toms) (1972) and Big Eyes. In 2022, these films were described by Haaretz film critic Uri Misgav as being "two of the best films ever made in Israel."

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 Arik Einstein.

In the 1992 Israeli elections, Zohar directed the television broadcasts for the Shas party. He later directed a film about a successful dancer who embraces orthodox Judaism, mirroring his own story. The film was a success with Ultra-Orthodox audiences. Zohar had enlisted the help filmmakers Dani Rosenberg and Yaniv Segalovich to make it, and Rosenberg and Segalovich in turn made a documentary about him, Zohar: The Return (2018). In 2012, Cinémathèque Française in Paris held a retrospective of Zohar's work. The event included lectures and screenings of all his major films. Zohar was described as one of Israel's most interesting film directors due to his exploration of manhood and machismo, male-female relationships and the impact of the military.

Personal life

In the early 1960s, Zohar was married to the singer Ilana Rovina for about two years. Later he married Elia Shuster, an actress who starred in the film Big Eyes (1974) 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 Fishel and Shalom. 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 ultra-Orthodox Jews. 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. He was survived by his second wife Eliya Shuster, a former actress, and their seven children and numerous grandchildren. 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)

Television YearTitleDirectorWriterProducer Notes 1970-1973 Lool (Chicken Coop) Co-directed with Boaz DavidsonCo-written with Arik Einstein and Tzvi Shissel

Acting roles

Published works My Friends, We Were Robbed Waking Up Jewish