G-d given talent

Shuli Rand is not your typical leading man. With his long beard, traditional dress and devotion to Orthodox Judaism, the Israeli actor looks more suited to a yeshiva than on a film set. Yet he is one of Israel’s most respected performers, and has spent much of his life wrestling with faith and fame.

“I constantly ask myself whether I am doing it L’Shem Shamayim — for the sake of Heaven — or whether other forces are at work within me,” he says.

This question also troubles Moishe, the flawed wedding entertainer Rand plays in Gidi Dar’s The Wedding Entertainer, which they co-wrote together.

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Born into a religious family in Bnei Brak, Rand attended yeshiva before leaving to pursue acting. After studying at the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio, he went into theatre, won acclaim for his performances, but then in 1996, returned to faith full time, eventually joining the Breslov Hasidic movement.

For several years he abandoned acting before finding a way to do both and his breakthrough with international audiences came in 2004 with Ushpizin, which he wrote and starred in. Also directed by Gidi Dar, it is set in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community, that world so rarely seen on screen were it not for Shtisel and the memorable Unorthodox.

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The creative partnership with Dar continued recently with the director’s extraordinary Legend of Destruction, which tells the story of the destruction of the Second Temple through static paintings, that somehow burst with life.

Rand also a successful recording artist appeared in Shtisel and Autonomies, but now he has reunited with Dar for the story of Moishe, a once-celebrated badhan (traditional Jewish wedding entertainer) whose career and personal life have unravelled.

“The figure of the badhan has always fascinated me,” says Rand, who first encountered these performers in Yiddish literature, e.g – the works of Sholem Aleichem.

“There is something about the fine line they walk between acting L’Shem Shamayim and the world of performance, which is driven by ego and other impulses, that feels very close to my own experience.”

Moishe the protagonist desperately wants to provide for his daughter’s wedding, but the possibility of reclaiming his former glory threatens everything.

“He is struggling with the inner demons that sometimes lead him to act immorally,” Rand explains. “His actions are not rooted in malice, but in pain and weakness. And who among us doesn’t struggle with their own weaknesses?”

Rand believes the film’s  appeal reaches beyond Jewish audiences. “It’s built on a love of humanity, and the language of the heart is universal.” But taking Israeli culture abroad has become increasingly difficult.

“Everything has become more difficult since October 7,” he says. “Unless, of course, you are willing to vilify Israel or spread baseless blood libels against it — in which case, the doors seem to open quite easily.”

Still, Rand is defiant. “We survived Pharaoh, and we will get through this too.” His own journey has been one of constant questioning. “I didn’t always know what I was searching for, but looking back, I realise that I was searching for my connection with HaKadosh Baruch Hu — the Holy One, Blessed Be He.And the search continues. I am afraid of the day I stop searching.”

The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), is screening at the UK Jewish Film Festival as its Centrepiece Gala on Thursday 12 November at Curzon Mayfair https://ukjewishfilm.org/