Will Rivka Ravitz Break the Glass Ceiling of Ultra-Orthodox Politics in Israel?

Rivka Ravitz visits Qasr al-Yahud in the West Bank in 2018 as she manages then-Israeli President Reuven Rivlin’s program to restore the Land of the Monasteries—a project approved by the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Egypt, and the pope. (Source: Courtesy of Rivka Ravitz)

One evening in 2001, on a dusty hilltop in the West Bank Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit, Rivka Ravitz was bathing her children. She was a 25-year-old mother of four at the time—and the chief of staff for Likud party Knesset member Reuven Rivlin.

Her phone rang—Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was on the line.