Eliav Zohar, the eldest son of MK Mickey Zohar of the Likud, is competing in the ninth season of the reality show "The Next Star" on Keshet 12. The song he performed with became a success, and since then he can no longer walk down the street without being approached.
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In an interview with Liron Shemmam in 'Mako' magazine, he tells how all the success that has come his way is thanks to God. Here are excerpts.
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Eliav, 22, grew up in Kiryat Gat, and currently has no plans to leave his parents' house. "I have fun at home, with my mother's food. It's hard for me to leave the Moroccan heat, the fish on Shabbat. I'm also very close to my little brother," he says.
It's not easy being the child of a politician. The news, the reactions.
""There will always be talkbacks, some good, some bad, thank God, from everything I've read so far, even people who don't like him and dislike his political views know how to make the distinction - this is Eliav and he's a musician, and this is Mickey Zohar and he's a politician.".
How is your relationship?
""He's my best friend, he's 42 years old, there's 20 years between us, so he's a child himself. We have an over-openness, it's like a friend. A politician who leaves a life outside earns less than he used to, so he comes to sanctify his goal, to help the people. My father comes with an agenda, and whether he likes it or not, I know he gets up in the morning to contribute. And I support him and his work.".
Do you have big ambitions? Where do you want to go?
""I like to set small goals and conquer them slowly. I'm a very religious person, I'm a freak of the graves of the righteous.".
So before the first audition, did you go prostrate?
""I prostrate myself three times a week. I have a fixed route. Between Sunday and Tuesday I make sure to go to Baba Sali. Every Friday I'm at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and every Saturday I do my rounds in Jerusalem: King David, the Western Wall, Rachel our mother, Samuel the prophet. Every month I go to 30 graves of the righteous. It's a mitzvah.".
It'll probably be more complicated now that you're famous.
""I'm already being stopped at the tombs of the righteous, religious girls approach me in the Cave of the Patriarchs, we take pictures from a distance, of course, so that there's no contact. I'm not ashamed of my faith. I will never appear on Shabbat, I will never make a living on Shabbat, there will be no Friday Bar, let's put it that way. God has helped me with everything. In my opinion, everything that's happening now is thanks to my prayers.".
Do you have a specific prayer?
""Every morning I put on tefillin, recite the general tikkun, say Shema Yisrael, and I have a regular prayer: 'God, let me succeed on a huge scale, beyond any imagination I have, in music.'"
