Sofi Tsedaka (born October 26, 1975), also known as Sofi Sarah (סופי שרה), is an Israeli singer and actress. She has acted and sung on various television shows and children's video cassettes throughout her career and has also released several musical singles on Israeli radio. Tsedaka voiced the character Ella of Frell (played by American actress Anne Hathaway) in the Hebrew dubbing of the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2017, she produced a documentary about her experience with leaving the Samaritan community and adopting Judaism. She has also released a religious CD track titled Bereshet, which contains the initial verses of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Early and personal life

Tsedaka is originally a Samaritan from the city of Holon, where she was born in 1975. Although the Chief Rabbinate of Israel recognizes Samaritans as ethnically Jewish (i.e., Israelite), the historic question of the community's Halakhic Jewishness has been controversial. At the age of 18, she initiated her conversion to Judaism, along with her sisters. Later, after becoming fully Jewish at the age of 21, she married Roni Azran, an Israeli Jew. The couple had a daughter in 1997 before divorcing in 2002. Tsedaka, who legally adopted the surname Sarah (שָׂרָה) upon her conversion, also has a son, born in 2011.

Political career

In the 2006 Israeli legislative elections for the 17th Knesset, Tsedaka stood for The Greens, but was not elected.