Is Esther really observant?

I know it’s the question everyone wants answered: Is Esther Petrack from this season of “America’s Next Top Model” really an observant Orthodox Jew?

A little while back, I posted a clip from the show that popped up on YouTube. On it, Esther sold out the Sabbath and then flashed her 30G boobs.

I consulted my wife, and she informed me that Esther is no longer in the running to be America’s next top model. But for those wondering, Esther’s mother wrote on Rabbi Fink’s blog that Esther hadn’t sacrificed Shabbos. Instead, she said, her daughter’s words were manipulated by the evil hand of Haman and the show’s editors:

The fateful words “I will do it” in an answer to the question about working on shabbat were the result of editing. Esther never meant or said that she would give up shabbat for the show, neither did she do it. These words were taken from a long conversation about the principles and laws of shabbat and how Esther was planning to observe them. The producers cut out these 4 words to create a more scandalous storyline; judging from the amount of reaction, they were quite successful!

So there you have it. Then again, mother’s tend to hear and believe what they want to. So while it’s fully believable that the show’s editors were a bit loose with the context of Esther’s answer—I think we can all appreciate that “artistic editing” is basically the only thing that makes reality TV entertaining—it’s also worth taking her mother’s interpretation with a grain of salt.

Then again … I can’t imagine anyone was losing sleep over this.