Orthodox Israeli Soldier Named World’s Most Beautiful Woman

In April 2020, Shelbia joined the Israeli Defense Force, the military forces of the State of Israel. She is currently serving in the Air Force. Yael Shelbia Cohen was born in Nahariya, Israel, to a religious Orthodox Jewish family. She attended a religious Ulpana high school for girls. Her modeling soon led to controversy and opposition in her Ulpana, which threatened to send a letter to the Israeli Education Ministry to expel her. Her family, however, had been supportive of her career, so long as it would not interfere with her religious studies. And after consultation with Israel’s Religious Education Ministry, she was allowed to continue her studies on the condition of following certain guidelines. ^{However, combining a modeling career with a religious lifestyle has led to difficulties, including in terms of modesty of clothing. During a modeling campaign in Milan, she had to live on crackers for four days, as she could not find kosher food. She says she had lost many modeling contracts, due to her keeping of the Sabbath and choices in clothing. In 2019, she began dating American businessman Brandon Korff, son of Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff, and grandson of billionaire Sumner Redstone.}