Ivanka Trump, the model-turned-businesswoman, has spoken up about her conversion to Judaism and how it has improved her family life.
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In an interview with Vogue magazine published last week, the daughter of business mogul Donald Trump revealed that she and her husband, Jared Kushner, keep Shabbat, including not using their telephones on the day of rest.
“We observe the Sabbath,” Trump said. “From Friday to Saturday we don’t do anything but hang out with one another. We don’t make phone calls.”
The subject of her conversion, which Trump, 33, admits she has preferred to keep out of the public eye, came up during a meeting with reporter Jonathan Van Meter in the Trump SoHo hotel. As waiters brought over food, Trump noted, “We don’t eat meat… or, well, we keep kosher.”
The mother of two then went on to speak more about life after her 2009 conversion, a move she made because husband Kushner’s family are Orthodox Jews, but has since been kept discreet. Trump’s father, Donald, is a Presbyterian Christian.
“I just feel like it’s such an intimate thing for us,” said Trump, who is reported to have taken the moniker “Yael,” a popular Jewish women’s name. Yael was an Old Testament woman who, according to the story from Judges 5:24-27, killed enemy general Sisera by driving a tent peg though his head, enabling the Israelites to gain victory in a war.
“We’re pretty observant, more than some, less than others,” Trump explained. “It’s been such a great life decision for me. I am very modern, but I’m also a very traditional person, and I think that’s an interesting juxtaposition in how I was raised as well. I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.”
In addition to her executive position in The Trump Organization, she was also a successful model and has her own line of fashion shoes and handbags.