“It’s always funny when I tell the meaning of my name to people outside of Israel,” says Melech Zilbershlag.
“For them it’s just another weird name from a weird country. But when I explain the meaning, a king, it sounds even weirder. I’m coming from an ultra orthodox family, and for the past few years I’ve been working in the communication industry. I did digital content, television, radio and journalism. For the wider audience it may look out of place that someone that looks like me with my religious background will choose to be part of this field. Sometimes it's coming for my advantage, because I’m one of a kind and it’s memorable, but sometimes i’m expected to represent my sector and I will be judged by my actions.”
―――How can you explain your beliefs for people outside of Israel?
For someone who does not come from a religious background, it may seem like we hold on into some kind of force majeure. Although Judaism in its base is about associate results of actions into forces we do not understand. It sometimes makes us justify things that are difficult to handle, like grief, losing money or shaming. Why do I believe in that? I grew up learning that everything has a meaning. Everything that happens, happens for a reason and the results of this something were meant to happen. I believe that there is someone above who is responsible. This divine being created the world, and like I do things for him, he does things for me. In my belief, God is being good for me and carrying me, and in return I love him and follow his orders. I also feel accepted by my community, my Rabi, by my friends and my family.
―――What is your daily routine? How does that come hand to hand with non religious society?
It’s very complicated. Since age 17 people have been asking me if I'm sure about the path I chose. First, I don’t know how many young people are sure about what they are doing with their lives. Everyone makes mistakes, but as someone that represents religion, society has different expectations from me. In my everyday life I ran across situations that I feel like I have to justify why I’m doing them. Not always I succeed, and if I'm being honest, I’m totally fine with that. If I believe in God, even the bad things that happen to me, are part of life and I accept that with all my heart. In Israel there is a big gap between the religious and secular population. And in my job I have the rare opportunity to connect and bridge over those differences. If a person from a religious area with 10 children will know even a little about the hightech employee with a dog from the big city and vice versa, I did my thing.
―――What's the biggest dissonance for you?
One example is going on a stage when a female journalist is there as well, or a meeting with a female colleague. Since I can’t shake their hand or hug them, because in Judaism we are not allowed to touch the other gender unless they're family. It’s because one thing can lead to another and we want to avoid that completely. Another example is about my father. When I was a kid, he got an award for his business from an important magazine. When the CEO of this company, who is a woman, got on stage to bring him the prize he knew he was about to shake her hand and didn’t want to shame her. So he invited my mom to the stage, saying he could have not done this without her. In my opinion, even those small things that can cause problems can be solved in a smart way.
―――Do you feel you represent your sector?
Not really. I don’t work for them but will try to give them a voice when I see necessary. But with that in mind I don’t spare criticism when needed. I think I made a lot of Israelis think differently about my sector but not because I felt obligated to do so.
―――Why do you choose to be on social media? How do people from your sector use it?
It kind of happened by accident. I really like to write and have been doing it all my life. I started to get more followers on Facebook and Twitter and I was recruited by the new national TV channel. And from there things just happened, one day I was making videos about my sector and the next day I was modeling and my instagram blew up. I did not plan any of this. But I felt guided to this direction and felt like I don’t want to miss out. Not sure I was right by doing that, but at this time it was right for sure. In social media you can’t always expres to the audience who you truly really are. My looks make me stand out, but even with people having prejudice about me, I still was able to use social media to show people my true colors and share my life with them.
―――How does social media work in the religious sector?
It’s complicated. The Covid-19 situation has forced them to open to the general society and social media in order to keep updated about what is going on. Because information equals life. The authorities in Israel failed to handle the crisis and people that normally never use the internet now don’t have a choice.
―――What are you aspiring to do in the future?
When I started my job at national television, we started from nothing, it was a new channel. And after a few months it was a huge success. We made very quality content about pretty much everything and we started a new style of creating content. Some of the videos were about random topics, but I guess sometimes people just want to take a break from the busy life and get simple content. They are sick of politics and bad news and want something entertaining. I stopped working there because I realized that I want to change television. Most young people don’t want to get into the TV business. I know it's pretentious to say at 23 that I want to change an entire industry, but I know lots of talented people that think like me and I know we can do it.
―――Thank you!
Melech Zilbershlag Instagram
