Uri Zohar
| Uri Zohar | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
November 4, 1935 Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Alma mater | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Occupation | Rabbi, film director, comedian, writer |
| Years active | 1956–1988 |
| Notable work |
Hole in the Moon Three Days and a Child The Hero |
Uri Zohar (Hebrew: אורי זוהר, b. November 4 1935) is a former Israeli film director, actor, and comedian who left the entertainment world to become a rabbi.
Uri Zohar was born in Tel Aviv in November 4 1935. In 1952, he graduated high school and did his military service in an army entertainment troupe. His first marriage ended in divorce.
By 1956, he was a popular stand-up comedian. 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 1960s, he directed and starred in Israeli films, among them Hole in the Moon, Three Days and a Child, Every Bastard a King, Big Eyes and Metzitzim. In 1976 he was awarded the Israel Prize for cinema, which he declined.
In the late 1970s, Zohar turned to religion, becoming a Haredi Orthodox Jew and a rabbi. In 1977, he began wearing a kippa on the television game show he was hosting. He is active in the movement to attract secular Jews to religious orthodoxy, and uses his entertainment skills to promote this objective. In the 1992 Israeli elections, Zohar directed the television broadcasts for Shas.
In 2012, Cinematheque Francaise 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.
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