Hadas Levinshtein Says the Soul Needs Refueling Amid War and Faith

Hadas Levinshtein spoke at the Channel 7 booth during the “Bechol Levavcha” conference at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center, saying the event itself feels spiritually sustaining. She compared it to air force planes that can refuel on the ground for nearby missions, but must “refuel in the air” for a strike in Iran. In her words, “We came to this conference to refuel in the air,” and she said the war has made the Torah feel different, deeper, and more mature than in the first or second year of the fighting.

Levinshtein, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Maj. (res.) Elisha Levinshtein, was killed in fighting in Gaza, has since remarried. She said her outlook is based on seeing “the glass half full.” “I come from what is,” she said. “The loss is part of me, but I try not to let it take center stage.” She said her classes are marked by humor, especially self-deprecating humor, and by examples that resonate with women, calling that approach both a choice and a discipline.

She said Elisha is still present in the way she speaks and teaches. Closing one talk, she recalled repeating something he used to tell her when she complained about being physically exhausted when they were younger: “You are beautiful.” Levinshtein said that is the message she believes Israeli women need to hear.

Her marriage to Hod a few months ago, she added, has given her more stability, though it has not erased the absence left by Elisha. “It changed everything,” she said. “The lack of Elisha, which was endless and unbearable, was not solved or erased by my remarriage, but there are new levels now.” Since marrying Hod, she said, she has been teaching twice as much Torah.