Bar Belfer, Israeli Actress and Musician Who Returned to the Stage After a Serious Crash, Dies at 37

She was 17 when Someone to Run With made her a star. After years of rehabilitation, she returned to acting and began performing songs of her own.

Bar Belfer was still a teenager when she played a young musician searching the streets of Jerusalem for her brother in Someone to Run With. The 2006 film made her a familiar face in Israel. Years later, after a road accident disrupted her speech, sight, and ability to walk, she returned to the microphone and found an audience for music she had written herself.

Belfer died on November 8, 2026, at age 37. A family representative confirmed her death and asked for privacy. Her talent agency, Zohar Yakobson, later said she died following a severe epileptic seizure. She is survived by her husband, musician Shahar Cohen, and their daughter.

The role that introduced her to Israeli audiences

Belfer grew up in Ramat Hasharon and studied music in high school. At 17, she was cast as Tamar in director Oded Davidoff’s adaptation of David Grossman’s novel Someone to Run With. Music was part of the role. Belfer sang on screen as Tamar searched for her brother, while a boy who found her missing dog tried to track her down.

The performance earned Belfer an Ophir Award nomination for best actress. When the story aired as a television miniseries, she won an Israeli Television Academy Award for the same role. She also built a career off camera, joining Israel’s Army Radio as a reporter and later working as a foreign news editor.

Returning to the microphone after the accident

In March 2010, Belfer was struck by a passing vehicle after getting out of her car when it broke down. She sustained a serious head injury that affected her speech, vision, mobility, and memory. She spent weeks in intensive care before beginning months of rehabilitation.

During her recovery, her parents showed her Someone to Run With. Belfer later recalled recognizing the route she had walked through Jerusalem in the film, even though she couldn’t tell someone where it was. By September 2010, she was back on air at Army Radio. The following month, she broadcast her first report since the crash.

She returned to acting and performed her own songs

Belfer completed her studies at the Rimon School of Music in 2014 and went on to perform songs she had written and composed. She also returned to acting, appearing in the television series Mama’s Angel and the film Don’t Forget Me. In 2023, she reunited with Davidoff on The Malevolent Bride, more than 15 years after he directed her first film. Her radio work continued at Kan Tarbut, where she wrote, produced, and broadcast.

After her death, the Israeli Actors’ Association, Shaham, remembered the mark Belfer made on film and television from a young age and the work she went on to create as a singer and musician. For audiences who first heard her sing as Tamar, her later performances offered the chance to hear her tell stories in her own words.