Israeli billionaire heiress covertly paid celebrities thousands to promote 'family purity' and advocate against having sex on period, report says

Joshua Zitser
Updated ·2 min read
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Israeli billionaire heiress covertly paid celebrities thousands to promote 'family purity' and advocate against having sex on period, report says

  • A Russian-Israeli billionaire's daughter covertly paid celebrities to feature in her campaign, per The Jerusalem Post.

  • The campaign promoted Orthodox Jewish rules on family purity, forbidding menstruating women from having sex.

  • The celebrities were paid up to $14,000 to feature in videos for the religious campaign.

An Israeli billionaire heiress is facing criticism for covertly paying celebrities to participate in her social media campaign to promote the Orthodox Jewish rules on "family purity," according to The Jerusalem Post.

Ruthy Leviev-Yelizarov, the daughter of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev, gave thousands of shekels to non-observant Israeli celebrities to participate in her religious campaign, the newspaper said.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the "She'asani Isha" project aimed to spread the word about "niddah," referring to the status in Jewish law of a married woman who is menstruating.

According to Jewish religious laws around family purity, a woman who becomes "niddah" is considered impure. The laws say that she is forbidden from touching her husband until her period is over, and she is made pure by immersing herself in a mikveh — a Jewish ritual bath.

Celebrities, including TV host Yael Bar-Zohar, MasterChef Israel mentor Michal Ansky, and reality star Shay Mika featured in videos for the "She'asani Isha" campaign.

In videos, The Jerusalem Post reported that Bar-Zohar and Mika spoke about wanting to visit mikvehs and following the rules surrounding niddah.

According to the newspaper, Bar Zohar received up to 50,000 Israeli shekels ($14,103) for participating in the campaign. Ansky received a similar amount, the newspaper reported. And Mika received up to 20,000 Israeli shekels ($5,638) for her involvement, per The Jerusalem Post.

Insider was unable to contact Leviev-Yelizarov for comment, but during an interview on Israeli television, she said that celebrities should be paid for their participation in such campaigns.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, she said: "Everything that happens today starts with internet stars. It does not matter if it is a product, or yogurt, or anything else. We paid them as they are supposed to be paid."

Leviev-Yelizarov is the daughter of Lev Leviev, a Russian-Israeli billionaire, who garnered international attention after the "Tinder Swindler" posed as his son. Leviev made his fortunes as a diamond magnate and has been a significant financial supporter of the ultraorthodox Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement.

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