Itay Levi's painful acceptance: "I realized it won't happen"
The beloved singer opened up in a Galgalatz podcast about the heavy mental burden, the complex struggle with his mother's health condition, and the shattering realization about the future he will not be able to give her.
Behind the stage presence and the hits that top the charts, singer Itay Levi has carried a complex family burden for many years. In an open and exposed conversation on Avi Ohayon's podcast on Galgalatz, Levi chose to put on the table his daily struggle with the health condition of his mother, Ruth, and the heavy mental burden that accompanied him throughout all stages of his career growth.
The central theme Itay spoke about was the commandment of honoring parents, which he experiences not only as a privilege but as a physical and emotional burden. Levi explained that the word "honoring" (kibud) derives, in his view, from the word "heaviness" (kvedut) — a mental weight that cannot truly be measured or defined in numbers. He described a feeling of helplessness where the constant care overwhelms, a situation where the emotion floods and the usual means are simply unable to contain it.
One of the painful points in the conversation was dealing with the role reversal forced upon him, a reality in which the child becomes the caregiver and the one responsible for the parent. Levi did not try to sugarcoat the reality and called this change painful and complex. Beyond the physical care, he emphasizes the necessity of processing and digesting the new relationship that is created, a reality that requires mental work to adapt to.
Alongside the ongoing care, Levi also touched on the gap between natural family expectations and the actual reality. He shared with pain the acceptance that his mother will not get to see from him the joy that every child hopes to give their parents:
"I realized it won't happen" — to see a family expanding and grandchildren.
The realization that this scenario will no longer materialize led him to a daily description of survival anew, a process in which he is required to recreate himself every morning in the face of a reality that shakes him day by day.
