Israeli mother of 12 reaches political pinnacle

Rivka Ravitz isn’t your typical Israeli. Maybe having 12 children – nine girls and three boys – isn’t so unusual for an ultra-Orthodox woman. But she simultaneously ran the affairs of Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, between 2014 and 2021. Ravitz spoke to the SA Jewish Report about her unusual journey.

She was born in Jerusalem to ultra-Orthodox parents who had made aliya from the United States. She had her heart set on being a teacher. She was married at the age of 18 to Rabbi Yitzchak Ravitz, the son of Rabbi Avraham Ravitz, a haredi member of Knesset (MK). Avraham Ravitz was made head of the Knesset’s finance committee in 1997, and turned to his young daughter-in-law, Rivka, when he needed an assistant. She was talked into the role. “At first, the Knesset seemed so big and [I thought] I would get lost,” Ravitz said, “but it soon became my second home.”

She had to learn a lot, and learn it fast. “It was a professional and important committee. I saw words I couldn’t even pronounce, and I had to learn how a budget worked. I took piles of papers home, learning them the whole night long for meetings the next day.”

When Ravitz was pregnant with her first child at the age of 19, her mother was pregnant with her tenth. Her sister was born two weeks before her daughter. “It wasn’t easy,” she said. “I was basically pregnant every year and a half. My eldest is 26 – she’s a mother already herself – and my youngest is three.”

A new law prevented MKs from employing family members, so Ravitz had to look for a new job. She found one with Rivlin, then head of the Likud in the Knesset. “I wasn’t sure, as a religious person, that I could do this job,” she said. “At 23, I was running his office, and was with him when he became speaker of the Knesset. All the other aides were men.” She had three young children at that point, and worked from eight in the morning to eight at night.

Her children sometimes didn’t like her job much, but were proud of her. “We didn’t use babysitters,” she said. “My husband and I made a point of being there ourselves, even if it meant going back to the office in the evening.”

She advised Rivlin when he became a minister and eventually became his chief of staff when he was made Israel’s tenth president. “I had to learn on the job, in a very secular environment, in the heart of the Likud party.”

Ravitz asserts that being religious helped her get through tough situations. “Being a believer gave me power,” she said. “I was tested and stood up. People respect you when you respect your beliefs.”

Ravitz rubbed shoulders with powerful people. She recalled a dinner Rivlin had in the Kremlin in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There were gold knives and forks, and all the food was kosher. There were nine courses!” Ravitz said Putin told them that he had had Jewish neighbours as a child, and looked up to them.

She met former United States President Bill Clinton (after he was in office) and spent Chanukah at the White House with President Barack Obama. “He was so nice, and speaks so well,” she said. She met President Donald Trump in Jerusalem when he moved the US Embassy there in 2018, as well as in the US.

ביקור הנשיא המדינה ראבון ריבלין ורעייתו נחמה ריבלין בותיקן רומא איטליה
צילום חיים צח / לע”מ
photo by Haim Zach / GPO

In 2021, Ravitz accompanied Rivlin to a meeting with US President Joe Biden in the Oval Office at the White House. Biden wanted to shake hands with Ravitz, but Rivlin explained that she didn’t shake hands with men for religious reasons. When Biden heard that she had 12 children, he fell to his knees in respect. He showed her a framed picture of Obama, Biden, and Biden’s mother.

“This shows the power of a mother. Even the most powerful man in the world remembers and loves his mother. He has her picture in the Oval Office!” Ravitz said.

Ravitz hasn’t ruled out running for a political position in the future, but says haredi parties don’t welcome female members and need to sort that out first.

She believes the rift between secular and religious Israelis can be breached by getting to know one another better.

When asked why she was coming to South Africa, Ravitz said, “I believe in young people, young communities, and was delighted to have been invited by Aish. I will deliver a message of being able to succeed without giving up your beliefs.” She will also speak to women, telling them that a woman can achieve her goals even with a big family.

• Rivka Ravitz will be speaking at the Aish Gala Dinner in Johannesburg on 7 November. To book, email charmaine@aish.org.za or call 073 486 4104.