Jan. 8. A cold Monday night. Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen.
The cars start rolling into the parking lot shortly after 6 p.m. even though the event doesn’t start until 8:15 p.m. Traffic controllers wave their hands toward assigned spots. Security guards wait by the door.
People start walking over in groups. Inside, there are lines of people waiting to check in to get their passes. In the social hall, hundreds of local Jews are already talking.
All of them, some 500 congregants and residents, about 98% of them women, are here to see another Jewish woman: Lizzy Savetsky.
She’s an influencer with more than 345,000 Instagram followers. In 2023, she was supposed to join the cast of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” but she resigned due to antisemitic backlash. On social media, television and any platform she appears on, Savetsky is outspoken and strong in her Judaism and pro-Israel stances.
Gail Dizengoff, an Ambler resident, is here to listen to the influencer’s thoughts on antisemitism.
“How to combat it,” Dizengoff says. “What to say.”
“I’ve been following her since Oct. 7,” adds Hollie Roizman, an Ambler resident standing with Dizengoff. “I found it helpful to hear what she had to say.”
“She gives a different vibe than most influencers in the Jewish community,” says Lauren Lipowicz, a Penn Valley resident. “You’re not looking at your typical 65-year-old Hebrew school teacher.”
To the event on Jan. 8, Savetsky, 38, wears an all-black outfit with shiny sequins. Her brown hair flows below her shoulders. Her Star of David necklace hangs around her neck.
The influencer walks out into the packed sanctuary to applause. Jessica Roomberg, the former Fox 29 executive producer, interviews her on the bimah. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Women’s Philanthropy Group is hosting the event with Beth Or.
Her Background
Savetsky tells Roomberg and the audience that she grew up in a “proud Jewish household” in Fort Worth, Texas. She was one of the only Jews in her community and school. From an early age, she felt she had to represent Jews and “speak on behalf of my people.”
Savetsky met her husband, the plastic surgeon Ira Savetsky, when she was 19 and a student at New York University. They were married by their early 20s. The influencer went on to have three kids, start a fashion and accessories blog and build “a devoted following,” she said.
But it wasn’t until the 2021 conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas that she decided to make “Jewish content and Israel advocacy” the “primary content” she was posting.
“I’m grateful to be able to have some purpose in this nightmare,” Savetsky says of the current conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Oct. 7
Savetsky was in Israel with her husband and three kids on Oct. 7. They had gone for Sukkot.
That morning, an alarm started going off in their hotel. Savetsky’s daughter told her mother that she thought it was a fire drill. The influencer had to explain to her that they were in Israel, and that there were no drills.
They went into an underground bunker and waited. While there, Savetsky realized something.
“All we can do right now is rely on our faith,” she says.
On the Best Way to Combat Antisemitism
Roomberg asks Savetsky about the post-Oct. 7 rise in antisemitism. Estimates are that it’s up more than 300%, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
“I think the best way to combat antisemitism is to be a strong, proud Jew,” Savetsky says.
The women in the sanctuary clap and cheer.
On Israel
Before Oct. 7, Savetsky got to observe her children taking in the sights and history lessons of Israel. She says the trip cemented her love for the Jewish state “in a deeper way than I ever thought possible.”
“It’s our home. It’s who we are. It’s mentioned hundreds of times in the Torah,” she says.
On Her Fox News Interview
Savetsky did an interview with Fox News on Oct. 8.
“I knew that the narrative was going to shift in about 24 hours,” she says. “The whole focus from the media and on social media was going to be on Israel’s response to this attack and not the attack itself.”
“There’s two wars going on,” she adds. “There’s this war on the ground and this war in the media and on social media.”
On Jewish Survival
“It’s a privilege, but we have a job to do,” Savetsky says. “We have to carry the torch to the next generation.”
“To teach our kids what it means to be a Jewish person,” she adds. “What it means to take care of your community, to have a spiritual connection with God, family values.”
“I’ve never been more proud to be Jewish,” she concludes.
The crowd applauds.
