Boaz Bismuth: A Personal Journey Through Faith and Family

Boaz Bismuth, who previously served as editor of the newspaper Israel Hayom, has always carried a deep sense of Jewish pride. Yet his wife’s conversion process strengthened his inner faith many times over. “The core was always there. Someone simply came and watered it,” the right wing journalist says in an interview with Yair Cherki and Gideon Dokov of Channel 7.

A Long and Emotional Conversion Journey

The desire to convert came specifically from his wife, who “wanted it and pushed for it.” Despite the fact that it was a long and difficult process, Bismuth says it was worth every moment. “I remember sitting in a restaurant one evening when my wife received a call telling her to appear before the conversion committee, and she simply began crying from excitement,” he recalls. “That moment when she says ‘Shema Yisrael’ and joins the Jewish people, and the moment when my son David was born Jewish, those were peaks. Next to that, you feel so small. I truly reached a peak.”

A Traditional Core That Was Always There

Bismuth grew up in a traditional family, and his grandfather was a synagogue rabbi in Ashdod. Still, he describes his spiritual journey as somewhat different to others. I always wore a kippah and did not turn on the television on Shabbat. Later I weakened and strengthened again, but the core was always there.”

Faith as a Natural Part of Life

Within that core are practices he does without asking why, how much, or how. One of them is his regular attendance at synagogues belonging to three religious communities in northern Tel Aviv. “It’s part of who I am,” he says. “Every Shabbat I’m in one of the synagogues. On Friday you are exhausted, sitting with friends and then coming home. But for me, going to synagogue reached a point where it is automatic. It is not a question anymore. And my son wears tzitzit.”

Living Between Worlds

“Thank God, I look at the Holy One, blessed be He, and at this home, and I smile.”

At the same time, Bismuth does not hide the fact that his sons are educated in a Haredi institution affiliated with United Torah Judaism. “My child walks around with tzitzit in northern Tel Aviv, and everyone looks at him in shock. I am not trying to pretend or be something I am not. I believe, but in my own way. Chabad call me ‘the Chabad ambassador to the secular world.’ In practice, I am an ambassador of the secular world in the Haredi world, and I find myself moving between all worlds.”

Why Choose Haredi Education

Bismuth explains that it is good education, and also close to home. At the same time, he does not rule out the possibility that at some point his son may attend a different school. “But it’s great that he’s getting a foundation. For my wife’s mother, whom I deeply thank and appreciate for what she has done, 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 it doesn’t interest her either.”

A House Filled With Pride

“When she comes to help my wife sometimes, I hear her shouting, ‘Vanessa, the child forgot his tzitzit.’ Thank God, I look at God and at this home, and I smile. Here is a person who a few years ago thought this whole thing was crazy and cult like, and suddenly the mother is running after him proudly with tzitzit. There is truly something amazing and captivating about Judaism,” he concludes.