Jewish influencer Ellie Zeiler swaps jet-setting for Jerusalem, taking her 20 million followers along
Zeiler, who has been an influencer for half her life, has enrolled in an Orthodox seminary to study Judaism.
(Design by Jackie Hajdenberg)
(JTA) — The video that the influencer Ellie Zeiler uploaded for her millions of followers on Monday included her content’s regular fare: outfits, selfies and jet-setting around the world.
But there was a big change: Instead of filming herself in Ibiza, or promoting jewelry, Zeiler, 20, was posting from Jerusalem. And she had news: She was now enrolled in a seminary for Orthodox girls and would be focusing her content on life as an observant Jew.
The caption was “Ellie in Israel Era” and Zeiler’s video showed photos and clips of her evolving style over several years.
“You guys have seen me grow up and go through a lot of eras on the internet,” she said. “But post-Oct. 7, a lot in my life felt meaningless. As you know, I posted a lot about my pride for being Jewish and my support for Israel. And as I continued to post, my beliefs grew stronger and stronger. I started keeping Shabbat, and now I can never see my life living without it, as well as keeping kosher, and now I grasp at any piece of knowledge that I get to learn about connection and religion.”
Zeiler’s change of pace is an influencer case study in the shift that some Jews have experienced since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel and sparked a global reckoning about Jewish identity. Some Jews — including second gentleman Doug Emhoff, whom Zeiler has interviewed in the past — have reported feeling more connected to their identities and interested in spending time more often with other Jews. Some, like Zeiler, have taken on new Jewish observances.
But while several influencers have made Israel and their Jewish identity a more central component of their content in the last year, Zeiler is the first major influencer to relocate fully to Israel and to devote her time to Jewish learning.
Zeiler did not reply to requests for comment. But her posts indicate that she has enrolled at a seminary run by an Orthodox outreach organization that operates a yeshiva for men and a seminary for women in the Old City of Jerusalem, and whose programs have long been popular among non- or newly religious Jews seeking to intensify their observance.
Zeiler launched her Instagram account in 2015 with a post celebrating her elementary-school graduation and now has more than 10 million followers on that platform and another 10.5 million on TikTok. She has long posted about Jewish topics, Holocaust remembrance and antisemitism — and engaged in those topics offline, too.
In high school, she co-founded a teen movement called “Together as One” for people of different cultural backgrounds to share their experiences of prejudice. “I had a lot of people make fun of me for being Jewish in high school,” she told The Teen Magazine in 2020.
While she was still in high school, Zeiler was known for her dance and cooking videos and was part of a team of content creators deployed by the White House in 2021 to promote the COVID-19 vaccine. (She also had a leadership position in a Chabad youth group in San Diego, where she grew up.)
But the frequency with which Zeiler posted Jewish content increased after the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 — as did the criticism she received over it. Even before Oct. 7, some of her posts about Israel would occasionally receive anti-Israel comments, or “free Palestine” or Palestinian flag comments from Instagram users. Since Oct. 7, her posts have been filled with them — both those that mention Israel as well as some that focus on Jewish observance — and the post
Now, as she settles into life in Israel, Zeiler is shifting the kinds of content she posts — though she doesn’t appear to be pulling back from social media at all. While her previous Instagram highlights showcase outfits such as a sleeveless embellished minidress by Carolina Herrera, she’s now posting “tznius,” or religiously modest, outfit inspiration — stylish versions of the seminary de rigueur floor-length skirts, high necks, and long sleeves.
“Your Mama and your family could not be any more proud of you … then and now. I love you.♥️,” her mother Sarah Zeiler said in a comment on TikTok.
Zeiler is also giving her followers a window into the daily life of a seminary student. In a video about her first day of class, Zeiler shared that she ate an Israeli breakfast in the morning, moved on to a class on Judaism and gender, learned about Shabbat, and then had a class on humility and confidence. She also showed herself drinking three cups of coffee throughout the day, calling it “longest day ever.”
By the end of her first week of classes, some of the shine appeared be coming off — but Zeiler, whose rapport with her online audience stretches back nearly half her life, found relief from her followers.
“I was in a very bad mood because [I was] having regrets on how I used to live my life and how I’m being taught to live life now, and I, like, felt this overwhelming wave of anxiety,” she said in a video she shared ahead of Shabbat on Friday afternoon.
She added, “And then I went outside, and I met so many of you guys before Shabbat, and I honestly could do none of this without you.”
The next day, she was back with a new video — from her morning coffee to her dating class to her lessons on keeping kosher. And on Monday, she posted again, this time without the production values typical of her posts.
@elliezeiler We are all feeling the same way so lets be kind to ourselves and to others❤️ i love you all sosososo much. Our life will be the same when we get back but we will be better people!
♬ original sound - Ellie Zeiler
“The truth is, I am tired. I am homesick. I am confused. I am having regrets. I am having so many feelings I didn’t think I would have coming here,” she said.
Then she offered advice for people who, like her, have struck out on their own for the first time and are struggling with it.
“For the sake of your mental health, if that means ditching your last class to go get your nails done because it’s going to make you feel better about taking care of yourself, then go do it. Spending extra money to buy a sweet coffee — who cares? Do it. Going to get a cute sweater so you can wear it at the end of the week on Shabbat? Go do it,” Zeiler said.
“This is the only time that we will have to be selfish,” she added. “All of the things that we left will be there when we get back, I promise you, but I also promise you that we are all going through the same thing and going through it right now. And I’m here for you guys, and I love you so much.”
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