Unorthodox
Unorthodox is a series on Netflix based on an autobiography of a Deborah Feldman who wrote Unorthodox A Scandalous Rejection of My Hassidic Roots.
I have been fascinated with Jews and been in awe of some famous ones. Jesus Christ was born Jewish, thanks to Shakespeare my favourite villain was Shylock, my favorite Indian philanthropist is David Sasoon, my favorite school teacher Ms. Senji who taught us literature in St. Helena’s High School, Pune wore the star pendant giving away she was a jew, I had a crush on an Israeli (jewish) guy and have hung out at café’s with Israeli’s girls and boys and heard their journeys from violent killers wanting everyone believing in the concept of Palestine dead into master healers practicing techniques like yoga, meditation and past life regression.
On one side I found Israeli jews outgoing and the complete opposite were this community called — Hasidic Jews in NYC. Once, I went to Brooklyn just to observe them — and was amazed to see their life despite living amidst the vibrant New York City. While dominating the finance and diamond trade, strategically placed next to garment district in their backyard — they were unfazed by it. They wore simple traditional black & white clothing with skull cap(yarmulke) and showed of hair locks. For them Friday stood for Sabbath and they were not tempted to visit to a local strip club for a lap dance as the religion did not allow entertainment on any day- forget Friday. There are stories how Orthodox jews do not use any machine including a trouser with a zip to an elevator on Fridays. Some smart ones get inside an elevator but refuse to press the button and then walk up/down according to for their exact floor- fully following Sabbath- literally not using the machine for themselves but since it was going us for another floor they just slid-in.
The Netflix series Unorthdox is a great peek into the life of Orthodox jews. The story unfolds with an 18 Year old girl — Esty in Williamsburg, Brooklyn New York- the heart of orthodox jews in NYC decides to break the barrier to start a modern life and the struggles faced by her. It is amazing to watch a kosher-eating, Sabbath following, young jewish girl conditioned to be baby-making machine stand up for herself and determinedly work against all odds to bag a place a music school.
Before the outburst Esty is happily following strict Jewish traditions in her daily life- getting married early, praying — without pursuing hobbies, trusting the Rabbi/family members and cooking. She truly believes in her responsibility of giving birth to a children to make up for the killing of 6 million jews who died in holocaust and eating ham will make her very sick.
I broke down when I saw her follow the tradition where she shaved off her head after marriage and wear a wig in public. Despite being a 20 year old, guy born in the middle of NYC Esty’s husband of ensures that he has sex purely for procreation and not for pleasure and is oblivious to how Google.com works . The mother-in-law knows every detail of their sex lives and has the awkward conversations with the daughter-in-law on pleasuring her son only. Since orthodox jews believe modern education is useless, women are given sex-education classes as a part of the marriage preparation course with a complete religious angle.
Overall its a lovely series of culture, religion, women empowerment, weaved in some soulful background music and is a must watch. Unorthodox will make each of us more grateful to our good luck as we were born and raised in families whose core values are truly Unorthodox. It reminded me of the pitfall to keep the fire of extremism burning under the guise of fear of the future. I saw all religions and creeds will have its set of extremists and their point of view. It is our choice whether we should continue it or not and absolutely not impose anything on the future generations and truly let them make their own choice and respect it.
Unorthodox, is a series on Netflix based on an autobiography of a Deborah Feldman who wrote Unorthodox A Scandalous Rejection of My Hassidic Roots. Deborah Feldman is currently living in Berlin, Germany.
