Orthodox Top Model Now an IDF Tank Instructor
The Shmooze hasn’t heard much about Esther Petrack since she was eliminated from “America’s Next Top Model” 18 months ago. Before then, she sent a flutter of excitement through American Jewry at the prospect of having a Jewish — and Orthodox noch — winner of the show.
Now, Israel’s Channel 2 has reported, she is on her way to becoming a tank instructor in the Israeli army. She has been serving in the Israel Defense Forces since December.
Any words of reflection from her? Apparently — surprise, surprise — soldiers are more pleasant to be around than models. “My nails are no longer what they were, but the girls in the course are nicer than those on the show,” she told Channel 2.
In an interview with Haaretz she said that army service “gives you such a feel for Israel” and reflected on her religious identify — which became a subject of controversy when she was on television. She said, “I am proud of my Judaism and have never really hidden it,” and went on to say of her observance of the Sabbath and the dietary laws: “It’s part of me. But at its core it’s so much more than a religion, or whether you believe in God and go to shul [synagogue] a few times a year or a few times a week. It’s our culture. It’s who we are as a people, as a connected group and with a group history.”
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
