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About Yuval Noah Harari
Yuval Noah Harari was born and raised in Kiryat Ata, Israel, one of three children born to Shlomo and Pnina Harari. His was a secular Jewish family with Eastern European and Lebanese roots. His father was a state-employed armaments engineer and his mother was an office administrator.[3][4][5] Harari taught himself to read at age three. He studied at the Leo Beck Education Center in Haifa, in a class for intellectually gifted children from age eight. He deferred mandatory military service in the Israel Defense Forces to pursue university studies as part of the Atuda program, but was later exempted from completing his military service following his studies due to health issues.[5] He began studying history and international relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at age 17.
Harari is gay and in 2002 met his husband Itzik Yahav, whom he calls "my internet of all things". Yahav is also Harari's personal manager. They married in a civil ceremony in Toronto in Canada.
Harari says Vipassana meditation, which he began whilst in Oxford in 2000, has "transformed my life". He practises for two hours every day (one hour at the start and end of his work day[), every year undertakes a meditation retreat of 30 days or longer, in silence and with no books or social media,and is an assistant meditation teacher.[17] He dedicated Homo Deus to "my teacher, S. N. Goenka, who lovingly taught me important things", and said "I could not have written this book without the focus, peace and insight gained from practising Vipassana for fifteen years." He also regards meditation as a way to research.
Harari is a vegan, and says this resulted from his research, including his view that the foundation of the dairy industry is breaking the bond between mother cow and calf. As of January 2019, Harari does not have a smartphone.
Harari lives in Karmei Yosef, a community settlement in central Israel.
