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Yoram Bilu

Yoram Bilu is an Israeli psychologist and anthropologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who received the Israel Prize in 2013.

born 1942Research on culture and mental healthStudies of saint worship and messianismReligious practices of Moroccan Jews

Born: 6 March 1942, Tel Aviv
Occupation: psychologist, anthropologist
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Yoram Bilu was born in 1942 in Tel Aviv

Yoram Bilu was born in Tel Aviv on March 6, 1942. As a young man he played basketball for Hapoel Tel Aviv.

He earned all three of his degrees at the Hebrew University, including a master's in clinical psychology and a doctorate in anthropology. His doctorate, approved in 1979, studied how Moroccan Jews in Israeli moshavim turned to rabbis and traditional healers with life problems and mental disorders.

From 1968 to 1978 he worked as a clinical psychologist in Jerusalem, including at Eitanim psychiatric hospital. He began lecturing at the Hebrew University in 1980, became a full professor in 1996 and headed its psychology department. He also served as president of the Israeli Anthropological Association.

His research covers culture and mental health, saint worship, messianism and the sanctification of space in Israel. He retired as professor emeritus in late 2010 and was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 2015. He is married to Tamar and they have 2 children.