Haredi Education for Children and Going to Synagogue on Shabbat: A Perspective on Boaz Bismuth You Didn't Know
Boaz Bismuth, editor of 'Israel Hayom', always had Jewish pride, but his wife's conversion process strengthened his inner faith significantly. In this captivating interview, he explains why he chose Haredi education for his children, how he felt during his wife's conversion, and why he smiles when looking at both Hashem and the home he built for them.
Boaz Bismuth (Screenshot)Boaz Bismuth, the editor of 'Israel Hayom', always had Jewish pride, but his wife's conversion process strengthened his inner faith core significantly. "The core was there, and someone just came and watered it," says the conservative journalist in an interview with Yair Sherki and Gideon Dukov from 'Channel 7'.
The desire to convert came from his wife who "wanted and insisted", and although it was a long and difficult process - it was worth every moment. "I remember we were sitting in a restaurant one evening, and they called my wife and told her to come before the committee for the conversion, and she just started crying with excitement," he recalls. "That moment when she says 'Shema Yisrael' and joins the Jewish people, and the moment when my son David was born already Jewish - I experienced such great heights, and next to all this you feel so small. I truly reached a peak."
Although he grew up in a traditional family and his grandfather was a rabbi at a synagogue in Ashdod, his spiritual process was somewhat different. "Unlike others, such as Zvi Yehezkeli who I highly respect, he kind of returned to faith. So how is it that I speak like this and yet don't wear a kippah? Because again, we return to the topic of traditionalism. It’s not something I discovered; it's always been there: I always wore a kippah and didn't turn on the TV on Shabbat. Then I become weaker-then stronger, but the core was always there."
Within that core are things he performs without questioning why, how much, and how. One of them is the regular visits to the synagogues of the three religious communities he belongs to in North Tel Aviv. "It's part of me," he says. "Every Shabbat I'm at one of the synagogues. On Friday you're exhausted, you sit with friends and then come home. But for me, going to the synagogue has reached a stage where it's automatic, it's not a question. And my son with *tzitzit*."
"Baruch Hashem, I look at Hashem and this house, and I smile"
Yet, Bismuth does not hide the fact that his sons are educated in a Haredi institution of Torah Judaism. "My child walks with *tzitzit* in North Tel Aviv, and everyone looks shocked. I am not trying to pretend to be something I am not. I believe, but in my own way. Chabad calls me 'the ambassador of Chabad in the secular world'. For the sake of the matter, I am the ambassador of the secular people in the Haredi world, and I find myself in all worlds."
When asked why he chose a Haredi education, Bismuth replies that it is a good education and close to home, yet does not rule out the possibility that at some stage, he will certainly choose another school. "But it's nice that he gets a foundation. Take, for example, my wife's mother, whom I greatly thank and appreciate for what she did. The distance between her and Judaism is like the distance between me and the history of penguins in Antarctica. She doesn't understand it, and she's not interested in it.
"When she comes to help my wife sometimes, I hear her shout: 'Vanessa, the child forgot the *tzitzit*'. Baruch Hashem, I look at Hashem and this house, and I smile. Here is a person who a few years ago thought all this was crazy and a cult, and suddenly the mother is running after him with the *tzitzit* with pride. Truly, there is something amazing and captivating in Judaism," he concludes.
More on Boaz Bismuth, click here.
