In a personal interview on Gadi Taub’s podcast "Shomer Saf," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich gave a rare glimpse into how he raises his children in Kdumim. Although he is identified with a conservative religious camp, he described an unexpectedly liberal approach built around personal choice and putting basic decency, or "derech eretz," first.
Smotrich said his son Didi asked for an earring at age 14 or 15, while knowing his father might react badly because he is the son of a rabbi, lives in a yeshiva community in Kdumim, and is publicly identified with a religious lifestyle. Instead of refusing, Smotrich said he asked whether the piercing looked good to him, whether he liked himself that way, then drove him to get the earring and paid for it himself. "It is not an issue for me," he said.
He said this reflects his broader view of education, in which good character comes before religious observance. He added that, in his view, Judaism is fundamentally opposed to coercion: "I do not force them into anything. I do not believe in that, and it is not just me, it is the Torah we study that does not believe in that." Smotrich said, "Coercion is not on the agenda of Judaism, of the Torah. Whoever thinks so is distorting the Torah."
Smotrich also said he grew up in a home without pressure from his own father, and he contrasted his three sons, one of whom was wounded in the army, one who did not go to a yeshiva high school, and the youngest, Didi, who wore multiple earrings. He said he loves, is proud of, and embraces all of them.
