The late Israeli author Amos Oz. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

A number of leading celebrities have expressed their sorrow following the death of acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz on Friday at the age of 79 from cancer.

Israeli-born actress Natalie Portman — who made her directorial debut turning Oz’s 2002 memoir, A Tale of Love and Darkness, into a movie in which she starred as his mother — wrote in an Instagram post after Oz’s death was announced, “My heart is broken.”

“Today we lost a soul, a mind, a heart,” she continued, “Amos Oz, who brought so much beauty, so much love, and a vision of peace to our lives. Please hold him in your hearts and read his gorgeous books. My most loving embrace to his family, who he loved extremely.”

Oz, a winner of the Israel Prize in literature, was buried on Monday at Kibbutz Hulda, the communal farm in central Israel where he lived for many years.

Actress Barbara Streisand called Oz “a wonderful man and writer” in a Twitter post dedicated to the respected novelist, and also shared a black and white photo of them together.

Israeli actress and “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot called Oz a “beacon of light for peace” on Instagram and said his words “meant so much for so many.” She also posted a lengthy quote from Oz’s book How to Cure a Fanatic.

 

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In the memory of this special man, Amos Oz. You were a beacon of light for peace. Your words meant so much for so many. May you rest in peace 🙏 please read all the way its so sweet and beautiful. I believe that if one person is watching a huge calamity, let’s say a conflagration, a fire, there are always three principle options. 1. Run away, as far away and as fast as you can and let those who cannot run burn. 2. Write a very angry letter to the editor of your paper demanding that the responsible people be removed from office with disgrace. Or, for that matter, launch a demonstration. 3. Bring a bucket of water and throw it on the fire, and if you don’t have a bucket, bring a glass, and if you don’t have a glass, use a teaspoon, everyone has a teaspoon. And yes, I know a teaspoon is little and the fire is huge but there are millions of us and each one of us has a teaspoon. Now I would like to establish the Order of the Teaspoon. People who share my attitude, not the run away attitude, or the letter attitude, but the teaspoon attitude – I would like them to walk around wearing a little teaspoon on the lapel of their jackets, so that we know that we are in the same movement, in the same brotherhood, in the same order, The Order of the Teaspoon.

A post shared by Gal Gadot (@gal_gadot) on Dec 30, 2018 at 4:16am PST

Oz is survived by his wife, Nily, and three children — Fania, Galia and Daniel.