Rika Zaraï

Known for

Acting

Born

February 19, 1938

Birthplace

Jerusalem, Palestine [now Israel]

Died

December 23, 2020 (aged 82)

Biography

Rika Zaraï (Hebrew: ריקה זראי; 19 February 1938 – 23 December 2020) was a Franco-Israeli singer and writer.

Rika Gozman (later Zarai) was born in Jerusalem. Her father came from Odessa (now Ukraine) in the Russian Empire, and her mother from Valozhyn (now Belarus), then in Poland.

She passed her baccalaureate at the age of 17 and enlisted directly in the Israel Defense Forces, a year before her compulsory service would have drafted her. She attended the Jerusalem Music Conservatory where she obtained a first prize in piano. During her 18 months of army service, she was appointed producer of the entertainment troupe of the IDF Central Command.

In 1958, she married Hungarian-born composer Y...