Alma Varsano, the eldest of Gal Gadot’s four daughters, marked her bat mitzvah on Saturday with her family, in a moment captured in a photo that Gadot posted to her Instagram account.
Gadot wrote: “My baby is celebrating her bat mitzvah. I can’t believe the amazing person you’ve become. Your joy, humor, curiosity, and big heart of yours are absolutely magnetic. You teach me so much about motherhood, life, and myself.
"Thank you for choosing me to be your mother, for choosing us to be your parents. There is no mountain too high for you and no ocean too wide and deep that you cannot conquer. Love you forever and always, Ima [Hebrew for mother].”
In the photo, Gadot’s husband, Jaron Varsano, holds their daughter, Daniella, 3, while Gadot cradles their youngest child, Ori, who arrived eight months ago.
Alma, wearing a lavender dress, stands in between them, her posture and confidence reminiscent of her mother, who was an IDF combat fitness instructor before representing Israel in the Miss Universe pageant and starring in two Wonder Woman films. Maya, 7, stands in front of her mother.
Jaron Varsano (LEFT), holds Daniella, 3, while Gal Gadot cradles Ori, Alma (CENTER), and Maya (FRONT RIGHT) (credit: Screenshot/Instagram)
Many among Gadot’s 108 million Instagram followers wished the family well, with Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen joking in a comment, “Hold on, you’re Jewish? Well, then Mazeltov.”
Balancing Hollywood with family life
Actress Ginnifer Goodwin and cartoon voiceover actress Tara Strong also wished Alma “Mazel Tov.”
Gadot also posted a picture of Alma as a baby with both of her proud parents.
The international superstar, who appeared most recently in the Netflix movie Heart of Stone, will be seen next as the Evil Queen in a live-action Disney version of Snow White, set for release in 2025. When the trailer was released earlier this year, the Internet was roiled by fans who felt Gadot’s beauty outshone that of Rachel Zegler, who portrays Snow White.
Another controversy loomed as it was rumored that Zegler, who has voiced support for “Free Palestine,” refused to post any photos of Gadot to her social media amid calls from anti-Israel activists to boycott Snow White because Gadot is Israeli. However, the two stars looked cordial in photos from the D23 event at which Disney unveiled the trailer.
Gadot is at work on five other projects, including a remake of Cleopatra, which also drew criticism from those who felt that Gadot, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, was not the correct ethnicity to portray the queen of the Nile.
But Gadot, who is certainly the queen of the Yarkon, a river that runs through Tel Aviv, ignored all the haters and has devoted much of the last year to spending time with her four girls and husband and calling for the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza to be released.
