{"id":24914,"date":"2025-05-29T00:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T21:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/?p=24914"},"modified":"2025-05-28T23:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T20:35:08","slug":"from-the-runway-to-judaism-a-dutch-models-remarkable-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reganews.co.il\/en\/from-the-runway-to-judaism-a-dutch-models-remarkable-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Runway To Judaism: A Modern Day Ruth"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unexpected and emotional encounter changed the course of a Dutch model\u2019s life. Martha Bijl, now Ruth Vaknin, met Israeli Eitan Yechiel\u2014who grew up in an ultra-Orthodox home\u2014at a party in Ibiza. When a serious car accident left her in a coma, Eitan chose to stay by her side. When she awoke, she made a life-altering decision: to convert to Judaism. That decision also reignited Eitan\u2019s own connection to his religious roots.<\/p>\n

Six a.m. at a Party<\/strong>
Martha was born in the Netherlands as the youngest daughter in a warm, loving family. A shy but cheerful child, she eventually embraced the party lifestyle, dividing her time between London and Ibiza. She loved the dance floor and the living in the moment\u2014never looking for more than the next thrill.<\/p>\n

Eitan Yechiel, raised in a strict ultra-Orthodox community in Israel\u2014what he later described as a \u201chalachic<\/em> dictatorship\u201d\u2014grew up with a loving father and a close family. At 16, he left that world, drawn more to money than prayer, and pursued a life of freedom, business, and travel. In 2019, he flew to Ibiza for the first time\u2014never imagining he\u2019d meet someone who would change his life at six in the morning at a party.<\/p>\n

“Mom, Dad\u2014I\u2019m moving to Israel to be a model”
\n<\/strong>They met, felt an instant connection, and exchanged Instagram handles and numbers. Within a week, they planned to meet again. Martha traveled to Israel, met Eitan\u2019s friends, and quickly fell in love with the country. Just hours after arriving in Tel Aviv, she was approached by three modeling agencies. She knew then: this was where she wanted to be. \u201cMom, Dad\u2014I\u2019m moving to Israel to be a model,\u201d she told her parents, setting off on a new path.<\/p>\n

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Three months of nonstop celebration. Martha and Eitan | Photo: Rega Shel Chochma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The model who converted<\/strong>
Three months of nonstop celebration followed. Martha and Eitan traveled between Barcelona, Mykonos, and Mexico. Then, during a routine drive home from a business meeting, everything changed. Eitan, tired behind the wheel, woke up upside down in a jungle. Martha was silent, bleeding, seriously injured. At the hospital, doctors diagnosed her with a severe head injury. She had slipped into a coma.<\/p>\n

“Please let me walk again”<\/strong>
\u201cYou\u2019ve only known her for three months,\u201d Eitan told himself. \u201cAre you really going to stay?\u201d But something deep inside urged him not to leave. \u201cI understood there was something pure here\u2014divine. I stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martha eventually woke up\u2014silent, paralyzed, broken. She didn\u2019t know who she was. She couldn\u2019t remember. Doctors warned her parents: \u201cShe\u2019ll likely never walk again.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Martha and Eitan after she awoke from the coma | Photo: Rega Shel Chochma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her tongue was paralyzed, but inside her heart, a prayer formed. \u201cGod, help me. I know this isn\u2019t for nothing. Please, just let me walk again.\u201d Against all odds, Martha began to recover. A small movement. A first smile. Her strength returned. Eitan sat beside her every day, until one day he saw it clearly: she was coming back.<\/p>\n

When she left the rehabilitation center, Martha was no longer the same woman. Her inner desire was clear\u2014she wanted to convert to Judaism. Eitan was surprised, but he didn\u2019t try to stop her.<\/p>\n

“Dad, I want to study”<\/strong>
Martha chose the name Ruth, after Ruth the Moabite. As Eitan saw her sincere devotion, something inside him also reawakened. She left modeling. She became pregnant. Eitan called his father: \u201cDad, I want to study.\u201d And so, father and son\u2014one in Israel, the other in Ibiza\u2014began learning Torah together once again.<\/p>\n

From a party in Ibiza to a life of Judaism. Watch her full story in a new episode from the \u201cConverts\u201d series:<\/strong><\/p>\n