A Life Apart: Hasidism In Amer

• Chosen

1. Most of what the scholars say is funny, and not to be taken seriously. They seem to show an uncanny ability of not understanding. 2. Some of the critiques of chassidim show a non-Jewish perspective. (The feminist views were funny. I find it hard to believe that a man who has to rise early and go to work in the cesspool of Manhattan is exposed to more spirituality, then a women who stays home in a pure enviornment raising pure holy children. It seems women get more spiritual benefit from that lifestyle then the men.)3. I never got an understanding of why Pearl Gluck left the community. In general they did not point out that people leaving is very rare, and women leaving is even rarer.4. Some of the Yiddish translations are not so correct.

However, the positives far outweigh the negatives. And in any case, there really is nothing out there that gets as close to the truth as this does.

Unfortunately this video is merely window dressing. There are some good stories, some vignettes, plenty of shots of the neighborhoods (which are hard to get if the director of THe Believer is right) but a lot of it is reinforcement of the romanticized image vs. the distaste that non-observant Jews have with Chasidic Jews. It shows the female "rabbi" complaining that the Chasidic Jews didn't want her talking to their son because she was dressed immodestly. It has the formerly Chasidic woman talking about her life outside the community and her continued affection for it. It shows the professors painting the communities with broad strokes (don't go to college, only gets married, doesn't take jobs that require advanced degrees, stay poor, etc.) ignoring the exceptions like the Lubavitchers going to college or the diamond businesses. Most of it rings true. Some rings rather false - especially the non-Chasidim passing judgment on the Chasidic - as with the Macalaster professor smugly stating that if men are distracted by women's voices why would G-d want to use them (the flip side of that argument is why would G-d create men that are so uptight that they can't feel a stirring at a woman's singing voice)

The narration is amusing just because Leonard Nimoy is in full "In Search of..." voice as if he's talking about some strange tribe that eats bugs while piercing their noses and not his own relatives. Sarah Jessica Parker's narration is so entwined with Sex and The City that you expect her to say "Do Frum Jews have sex? Do they enjoy it?"

It's a nice video. A good introduction to the world of Chasidim. There's nothing too deep about it. YOu aren't going to hear about the Yeshiva drug scenes or the ways in which Chasidic Jews embrace and pull away from the communities. They don't even mention WHY the Gaon of Vilna excommunicated the Chasidic movement which has a lot more to do with Shabbtei Zvi's lunacy of a generation before and a lot less to do with any dogma on his part. Nor is the movie going to even mention that the Modern Orthodox students playing hockey are just as frum as the Bobov Rabbi that's teaching them - just in different ways.

The movie ends with the wedding of the great granddaughter of the Bobov Rebbe and the subtitles read that he was the last rebbe to bring his community over from teh Holocaust. The sheer number of people celebrating that wedding is astounding but that's the main point of the movie - Chasidic Jews are nuts but they keep Judaism alive. Like Sholem Aleichem it seeks to romanticize a people that it doesn't want to join, rather than the works of I.B. Singer which engages them like real flesh-and-blood people. However, it does an excellent job of presenting a general overview - even if it's superficial.

Hasidim are singular in their way of living. The men wear the same type of clothing that was worn in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century, hats, which often serve to distinguish one Hasidic sect from another, black pants, black jackets, and white shirts. The men are bearded and sport the traditional "payess", or side curls. The women cover their heads with scarves or elaborate wigs and are always modestly clothed, covered from head to toe. The Hasidim adhere to the same customs as when they were first founded, speak Yiddish, seem to have a universal, collective mind, for the most part, and adhere to a strict, ultra-orthodox interpretation of Judaism.

The Hasidim came in large numbers to America sometime after World War II, peaking in the nineteen fifties. The narrators explain some of the reasons why the Hasidim, strangers in a strange land, were able to flourish. Many settled in New York City, and there are large communities of Hasidim in Brooklyn, where they try to co-exist with their non-Hasidim neighbors, not always successfully. They chiefly occupy the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Boro Park. They even have their own town in upstste New York, Kiryas Joel. The documentary films the Hasidim in their downstate milieu and gives token recognition to how they are perceived by their non-Hasidim neighbors, who tend to view the self-imposed seclusion of the Hasidim as exclusion of themselves. To some extent they are correct, though not in the way one might think.

While there are a number of sects, such as the Bobovs, the Satmars, the Lubavitchers, just to name of few of the most prominent here in America, each sect is ruled by its own Rebbe who is the acknowledged leader of the sect and highly revered. The film dwells upon the commonalities, rather than differences, that exist among the various sects. Their differences, however, are a story for another documentary. This film focuses more on giving the viewer a somewhat loving view of the Hasidim, touching only briefly upon the differences between the Hasidim and the non-Hasidim. Quite frankly, in some neighborhoods, there is a cold war going on between these two factions. One need only come to Brooklyn, New York to see this.

The Hasidim tend to shun the media and do not watch films or television, for the most part. In fact, in watching the film, the viewer can see many Hasidim shielding themselves from the eye of the camera, so as not to appear. Some who did appear, however, expressed a justification for doing so. The Hasidim do not, as a whole, send their children to college to pursue a higher, secular education. The lack of higher education, however, precludes them from professional jobs such as lawyers, doctors, accountants, pharmacists, etc. They tend to work at jobs within their community where possible, though they will venture out into the larger non-Hasidic community for employment, when necessary. This is a source of concern for them and a test of their strength and resolve to adhere to their own ways, as such employment forces them to interact with a community with whom they normally would not.

The film also takes the viewer into one of their schools or Yeshivas, allowing the viewer to see how the children are acculturated from early on. The Hasidim are essentially fundamentalists, and, as are many fundamentalists, they are extremely narrow in their world view. The film also interviews Paula Gluck, an obviously intelligent and articulate, young woman who left the Hasidic community to live her life as she chose, to write and seek a higher education among the non-Hasidim. The film balances this defection by interviewing a man who affirmatively chose to become Hasidim, though his Jewish parents, holocaust survivors, were not. It is an even handed handling of two issues germaine to the Hasidim, those who leave and those who join. The Hasidim are not part of mainstream America, nor do they wish to be, though they cherish many of the values cherished by other Americans: family, home, hearth, and community. Marriages, however, are arranged by the parents, often through a matchmaker. This documentary memorializes a Hasidic wedding and illustrates the division of the men from the women, even during such a joyous occasion.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with their chosen way of life, however, this documentary is a most interesting film. Working in Brooklyn and finding myself often having to interact with the Hasidim, I absolutely loved this documentary, even though it was a bit of a white wash, leaving out some of the darker aspects of this segment of the Brooklyn community. One of the most important issues with respect to this community was entirely omitted. This was on the issue of their importance politically, as a group with which to be reckoned. This group holds a great deal of political power, because they will follow their Rebbe's lead and vote as a block. Politicians in New York do not hesitate to curry favor with this group and court them because of it. Most recently, the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel in upstate New York made headlines for the way they voted in the race for U.S. Senator from New York and was the subject of much heated debate.

Still, for those unfamiliar with the Hasidim, this documentary will be an interesting and delightful revelation and will hold the interest of the viewer throughout. The documentary is well done, beautifully filmed, and clearly, a labor of love. Those viewers who are interested in other cultures, ultra-orthodox Judaism, or the religious beliefs of others will have a deep appreciation for this wonderful and informative documentary.

Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker, we learn the history and get to meet some of the people. We see the large and close-knit families, the early education, the rituals of the classroom. All marriages are arranged and we meet a marriage broker and listen to a young man tell about his wedding. We see the way the girls are educated to be wives and mothers although there are some women who speak out about the inequality of this, and we meet Pearl Gluck, a writer who has broken away from the community. We also meet an African American man who raises questions about his Hasidic neighbors and their aloofness and inability to see his religion as important as their own.

I found the video well done and quite interesting, with good choices of subjects and cinematography, especially in showing the faces of the children. I know I learned a lot but I wanted to know more. The film makes their lives seem idyllic. Too much so. But it's a good introduction to a way of life of a people who are sometimes shrouded in mystery. And it certainly is a part of this grand mosaic that is America. Recommended.

• Genres > Television Central
• Genres > Documentary
• Genres > Special Interests > Religion & Spirituality

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