No. 01
Leadership & Public Life
Lessons from two decades at the heart of Israeli public service: judgment, responsibility and trust under pressure.
On the line — between meetings
An excerpt
The Woman in the Presidential Suite
Or, Eating Kosher Instant Noodle Soup from a Foam Cup with a Tiny Plastic Spoon
The presidential suite was magnificent. There is no other word for it. It was in one of New Delhi's finest hotels — the kind of suite usually reserved for kings, presidents, and people who travel with more security than luggage.
And there I was, sitting on the edge of that royal bed in my sheitel, eating kosher instant noodle soup from a foam cup with a tiny plastic spoon. The soup had traveled with me from Israel.
That is one of the strange things about public life. From the outside, it can look very polished — presidents, flags, red carpets, motorcades sweeping through foreign capitals. From the inside, it is often a woman in a presidential suite trying to balance a soup cup on a saucer because there is no normal table near the bed.
People have asked me, many times, "How do you do it?" Sometimes they mean: how did you work in the highest levels of Israeli public life as a Haredi woman? Sometimes they mean: how did you serve as chief of staff to President Rivlin while raising twelve children?
And sometimes, to be honest, they are just looking at me as if I might secretly have another six hours in my day that I have not told anyone about. I do not.
