Bad Jew on a Christian pilgrimage
Rita Simons' latest adventure finds seeing Judaism in a whole new light
RITA SIMONS is a self-confessed ‘bad Jew’ who wanted to be a ‘slightly less bad Jew’. Which is why she went on a Christian pilgrimage. In some ways, though, it does make perfect sense.
The former EastEnders actress, whose uncle is Lord Sugar, is the latest Jewish star to appear in Pilgrimage, the BBCs reality show in which seven stars of different faiths go on a long walk to a Christian shrine. Now in its fifth series, Pilgrimage is unlike other reality shows: there is little bickering, no snogging, and people aren’t voted out or given strange things to eat. Instead, they talk philosophy and religion, history and personal stories.
Her epiphany, as it were, comes when she is eating a piglet in a Portuguese town famous for this delicacy. And then she discovers that the Jews had been forced to eat piglets in that very town; if they failed to, they were killed. Interestingly, she is berated by the Muslim of the group, comic Nabil Abdulrashid, who tells her what happened in that village and how that was antisemitism.
“I’m not kosher and I’ve never been kosher and I struggle with people who think that because you are Jewish you must be kosher but when I heard what happened there it did make me stop and think,” says Rita, 46. “If I’d have known about what happened in that town, I would not have eaten the pig but he told me when I was in the middle of eating it.
“I was disgusted by what I was hearing and suddenly the pig didn’t taste very nice – not that it was anyway. It was an interesting moment but it hasn’t stopped me eating pig.”
Later on she says she was pleased when the trip stopped at a synagogue after dozens of churches and a mosque. “It was towards the end of the trip and I’d been away from home for what felt for a long time and I was surprised to find myself comforted by being in a shul,” she says. “The two people who ran the synagogue were pretty much the only Jews in the village but it was so nice to be somewhere familiar.
“It allowed me to look at synagogue in a different light; normally I only go for weddings and barmitzvahs and I do it as a matter of duty. I want to get out of them as quickly as possible, with my head down and before I’ve had to stop and talk to everyone. This time I wanted to be there. I wanted to take it all and show it to my fellow pilgrims.”
It was a journey in more ways than one, says the star, a mother of two who divorced hairdresser husband Theo Silvesten in 2020. “I’d been through a rough few years. Divorce. A couple of breakdowns. But I went into it in a good place. This was one of the first jobs I’ve done in years where I didn’t have private life drama going on and it was just something I really enjoyed. Everyone was gorgeous, everyone bonded like you couldn’t believe. I’ve never enjoyed a job so much and I’ve been doing this job for a long time.”
What is astonishing is that she enjoyed this job despite traipsing around Portugal, headed towards the Shrine of Fatima where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three children, with a huge backpack and having to sleep in forests, youth hostels and even the stairwell of a fire station.
“I am not your average Jewish Princess!” she jokes. “I’m not one in the least. I’ve done the I’m a Celebrity jungle and compared to that, this was a piece of cake. Yes, the backpack was heavy, and I do have scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, which wasn’t fun. But I wore a back brace and dumped a few things to lighten the load along the way.
“There was one moment when [Hi-di-Hi actress] Su Pollard did have to help me though. I was naked in the bathroom with Su and I just remember looking the mirror and I was like, crack: ‘Oh Su, I’m stuck.’ I was stuck on the side and she had to help me.”
It all sounds incredibly tough. Another issue she was dealing with was having a horrific period while also on the journey; it helped her to decide to have a hysterectomy after years of worsening cycles which had come to dominate her life.
When we speak, she’s been recovering from her operation for just over two months, and says that while she is tired, she is like a new woman.
“I was not only bleeding a lot but my hormones were massively affecting my mental health,” she says. ‘”My anxiety, my OCD would really peak every month. It got the point where I asked my agent not to put me on jobs if I was due or when I was ovulating. Things were so bad that there was a window of just five days a month where I was totally ok.
“I’d tried all sorts of drugs, HRT, but it kept getting worse and worse. I dreaded every day – I was so up and down and it was all linked to my cycle. It was becoming so unbearable and that’s why I had the operation.”
Her hysterectomy, she says, has given her freedom and one of the first things she was planning to do was a trip to Porto – a city that the pilgrims walked through and she fell in love with.
Another is celebrating Passover with her family – although she doesn’t usually see Uncle Alan, who is married to her dad’s sister, because her father lives in America. “Passover is one of the things we do always do – mainly for my mum,” she says. “Last year, the first after lockdown, my mum’s entire extended family had a Seder at a rugby club in Radlett which was, quite frankly, horrific. It was noisy and chaotic and because I have ADHD it was too much. This year we are going to my mum’s. I might be a bad Jew but I haven’t missed a Passover yet. We do the apple and honey at Rosh Hashanah – also for my mother because she loves to see it. And sometimes we do Chanukah presents – as well as Christmas ones.”
Does she still feel like a bad Jew? “Yes, but maybe not as bad as I thought I was!”
Pilgrimage: The Road Through Portugal is on BBC2 on Fridays at 9pm.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
