BD”E: Rabbi Uri Zohar, Zt”l

Rabbi Uri Zohar, one of Israel’s most famous performers and later, one of the world’s most prominent figures to become a baal teshuvah, passed away Thursday morning at the age of 86.

Rabbi Zohar was born in Tel Aviv in 1935 to parents who were recent immigrants from Poland. He studied philosophy in Hebrew University and then began a hugely successful career in the performing arts.

In the late 1970s, Rabbi Zohar became religious, joining the chareidi community over time. His transformation was watched with shock, admiration, and sometimes horror by the Israeli public. He later chronicled this period of his life in a book he titled My Friends, We Were Robbed! referring to the Jewish heritage so many secular Israelis are ignorant of.

Rabbi Zohar would speak at many teshuvah conventions, and was the face of the teshuvah movement.

On Thursday morning, Rabbi Zohar suffered a heart attack and passed away. His levayah will be held Thursday afternoon, to Har Hamenuchos.

Yehi zichro baruch.