Rabbi Uri Zohar, one of the most prominent voices in Israeli cinema for generations, passed away today (Thursday) at the age of 86. Zohar was a successful comedian, actor and director and signed a number of iconic films, most of them alongside Arik Einstein and Zvi Shissel. In the late 1970s, he repented and became an ultra-Orthodox public figure.
Zohar began his career as an actor in the Nahal troupe between 1956 and 1953. In the 1950s and 1960s, he created a unique style and humor as a presenter and comedian (one of his hallmarks was the opening sentence “Am I beautiful?”). He began his steps in the Israeli film world. As an actor in films such as: “Hot Sands” (1960). He then directed the documentary “Wood or Palestine” (1962). In 1964 he directed his first feature film “Hole in the Brick”, which was a turning point in Israeli cinema and marked the beginning of an era. The new sensitivity. “The film won Zohar the prestigious Cannes Film Festival Critics Award.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Zohar founded and led the Tel Aviv “Lol” group, along with his friends Arik Einstein and Zvi Shissel, who passed away in recent years. As part of the group, Zohar created sketches for television (“Lol”, 1969) and many feature films, among which the Tel Aviv trilogy was best known: “Peeking” (1972), “Big Eyes” (1974) and “Save the Savior” (1977).
Zohar’s films have become, in part, Israeli cult films, both because of their comic character and scenes in Tel Aviv, and because they have sharply reflected the “problematic” character of the second generation of Zionism.
The success of the “Lol” group, along with the bohemian spirit it brought, made Zohar a symbol of secular-civic-hedonistic Israel and its presence was a center of attraction for artists in various fields. Precisely because of this, when in the late 1970s he began the process of repentance, there was much astonishment. Shortly afterwards, Zohar disappeared into the ultra-Orthodox yeshiva world, thus effectively disbanding the group.
Towards the end of the 1990s, Zohar returned to the public arena as an ultra-Orthodox activist and public figure. Among other things, he was responsible for directing the Shas party’s election broadcasts and appeared on several television programs.
Despite many attempts by media and others, his motives for the sharp upheaval he underwent and his conversion did not remain a mystery to the secular public. In recent years, a number of testimonies have appeared in the Israeli media about the “coop” period, with negative descriptions of Zohar’s behavior.
Other well-known films by Zohar: “Three Days and a Child” (1967) and “Every Bastard King” (1968) which won awards at international festivals. In 1976 it was decided to award him the Israel Prize (for the first time as a filmmaker), but Zohar refused to accept .
In 2013, as mentioned, Einstein passed away, and Zohar arrived at the hospital bed to say goodbye to his father-in-law and close friend. “To me he is Aryeh Leib ben Deborah, my father-in-law and one of the people closest to me,” Zohar told those around him, before going to read Psalms in the hospital. “He is a righteous Jew and his daughters are also very great Tzaddiks. We usually say of Tzaddiks that they have raised generations of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Eric was kind, did favors to many people and he is entitled to everyone praying for him. May his memory be blessed.