Netflix's "Unorthodox"

I loved it! Shira Haas is amazing.

The German actor who plays the love interest is hot as fuck!

Agreed. It’s a great show and Shira Haas is spellbinding.

She will win awards for this role. She made the show.

Was that actually her singing?

Yes R5

It will get little traction in the media because it is critical of religion.

Enjoyed it.

Never heard of it.

Watched the first episode...loved it

Going to order Netflix today for this and John Mulaney's Sack Lunch Bunch viewing party tonight.

Details? What's it about? Guys in ridiculous hats?

For R12, here's an official summary: The four-part drama inspired by Deborah Feldman's memoir, Esther "Esty" Shapiro (Shira Haas) flees her Hasidic Brooklyn home for life in Berlin, while her husband Yanky (Amit Rahav) and his cousin Moische (Jeff Wilbusch) seek to bring her back.

Anyone have a link to torrents?

[quote]Details? What's it about? Guys in ridiculous hats?

I haven't watched it yet. Apparently, it's (at least partly) about this guy.

"See" queens: Yes, I am aware of the existence of R2. Some things are worth repeating. And where do you think I got the pic?

That actor is named Aaron Altaras -- he was in the soccer movie Mario about two gay players falling in love. Real fucking hot. There are more photos of him at this link

I loved it. The guy who played douchebag Moische is hot. And you see his dick. Big plus!

But yeah, Shira Haas is fucking great. Such a compelling actor.

r16 Mmmm...I wonder who's shaving his chest now.

R17 the guy playing Moishe grew up hasidic.

Not only is the acting great but most of the lead actors don't speak Yiddish and had to learn for the movie.

I started watching it because I had read the book and stayed up until 2:30. I'm fascinated by the Williamsburg Haredim. I am not in the least bit religious but I would love one of those shteimels. The actor who plays Yanky is cute in the series, but ridiculously hot out of costume. The interesting thing was when Esty says that all those sects were founded after World War II and that the large families are meant to replace the 6,000,000 lost in the Holocaust. I never knew that. That said, I loathe their anti-vaccine stances and their ridiculous separation of the sexes.

this should open the door to more stories exposing the misogynistic, repressive Islamic communities as well. Oh . wait. Never mind

Oh, shut up Matt....everyone knows Islam communites have those. Doesn't excuse the orthodox Jews.

Islamic communities will no longer exist in 20 years.

[quote]shteimels

It's shtReimel. Made out of 6 sable skins. Originally worn in the 18th century by Polish, Ukrainian and Lithuanian noblemen. Haredim from those areas adopted the custom.

[quote]this should open the door to more stories exposing the misogynistic, repressive Islamic communities as well. Oh . wait. Never mind

Right, because there's NEVER been a single portrayal of a Muslim as some one dimensional, nefarious caricatures on TV or film. Not a single film or TV show in the history of Hollywood, You are a stupid, predictable motherfucker. Tell you what, how about you list all of the movies where Jews being Jews were portrayed as evil and I'll do the same for Muslims.

The fact you have to lie, shows there are no limits to what bigoted scum you supremacist Jews are.

R26 is the EVERYONE'S A RACIST AND I'M HERE TO SCOLD ALL YOU RACIST MOTHERFUCKERS troll, prowling the threads shrieking at all those she's deemed RACIST, SUPREMACIST, BIGOTED, etc. All that arrogance simply enables her to ignore her own hypocrisy, racism, bigotry and Jew hatred. Lots and lots of Jew hatred.

Judging by the missing posts Matt must be having a shrieking unmedicated meltdown accusing everyone of Jew hatred.

No, we just hate you.

This particular branch of Judaism must go.

Too bad there aren’t any trans people in “Unorthodox”, so Matt “Banned from Twitter” Anscher’s head could *really* explode.

Is he really banned from twitter?

I've got a thing for Hasidic young men.

R32 Douche them out, throw them in the shower and they are very fuckable.

Mmmmm. Aaron looks a bit like Mr Pamuk. Very fuckable, indeed.

Shira Haas is incredible and definitely should be awarded for her performance. It was amazing.

This will surprise nobody because all people are the same. At the Show World porn place on 8th avenue in NYC it was not out of the question to see these men sucking and getting sucked.

[quote]The guy who played douchebag Moische is hot. And you see his dick. Big plus!

Not even long enough to see if the "big plus!" equals a big dick.

^^ yes, it was brief when he was going swimming. didn't see fuck all

Yes, r31. This was its handle.

We loved it. The actor who played Yanky, Esty's husband, is from Israel and is gay in real life.

I kept thinking, r40, as Esty was having all those problems letting Yanky in, how I would not have had any problem. Just take off all those damned clothes.

Amit Rahav is adorable. This may or may not be his boyfriend sitting in front of him.

He looks a lot better without those stupid curls. Get out the scissors again!

Amit-fucking-dorable

It was interesting to hear how much English was mixed in with the Yiddish they were speaking.

I just started watching and I'm curious if it's normal for everyone to be watching everyone constantly in those neighborhoods. Seems like she has eyes on her constantly and are there no other style of wigs they can wear? All the women have the exact wig.

[quote]I just started watching and I'm curious if it's normal for everyone to be watching everyone constantly in those neighborhoods. Seems like she has eyes on her constantly

I read a brief interview with the author whose story the series is based on and she said that when people congratulate her for escaping the patriarchy she's always surprised because she says she was never oppressed by the men - she was oppressed by the women in the community as they hold the true power.

[quote] Too bad there aren’t any trans people in “Unorthodox”, so Matt “Banned from Twitter” Anscher’s head could *really* explode.

Don't forget Julie Andrews.

Here, Matt... this is for you.

Yes, I've noticed the women are the ones watching her more. The men don't see to pay mich attention to women period.

That’s how patriarchy works R48 and R46.

Shira Haas could be Natasha Lyonne’s tiny sister.

[quote]Shira Haas could be Natasha Lyonne’s tiny sister

There was a flashback scene where I honestly thought they CGI's her face onto the body of a kid. She is the epitome of diminutive.

Yes! Eyes are always on you! I didn't grow up Orthodox but I did grow up in a closed, fundamentalist religious community and constant monitoring was the norm. They called it "accountability" and used it to keep people in the fold.

Another show on my watch list.

The doughy cousin got naked for a second, not the cute husband or the cute boyfriend.

Excellent show but they stripped down the wrong actor.

I'm only on Ep. 2 but I'm getting the feeling Yanky's cousin is not in Berlin to do much except have fun.

My Jewish friends have been fascinated by this during the lockdown, and keep e-mailing me asking me if I'm watching this, but this is not for me.

At some deep level i am not interested in the lives of fundamentalists of any kind. It's too depressing.

[quote]My Jewish friends have been fascinated by this during the lockdown, and keep e-mailing me asking me if I'm watching this, but this is not for me.

I've been debating recommending it to a Jewish friend of mine. He has a deep admiration for the Orthodox community and said if he didn't have so many vices, it was a life he would have loved to live. But I think he'd feel that the series is harsh on the community. I found it very balanced and matter-of-fact, but I don't have the connection to it the way my friend does.

[quote]The doughy cousin got naked for a second

I loved when he stripped down. A shame it wasn't a closer shot.

I find it fascinating how they can take a young girl, shave her head on her wedding night and make her wear turbans like a 65 year old elder frau. What's the deal with their own hair?

[quote]What's the deal with their own hair?

According to some Hasidic authorities, the only way to ensure that a woman’s hair doesn’t eventually stray from under her hat/turban/scarf/kerchief/wig/etc. is not to have any. There’s also a concern that hair might create an interposition when using the mikva. Ostensibly, this practice is based upon a statement in the Zohar (parshas Naso) to the effect that the mikva should not see a woman’s hair.

r59, thanks for the info. But could you also please explain these terms you used?

[quote]the mikva.

[quote]the Zohar (parshas Naso)

and why is their entire kitchen covered in foil in one episode?

[quote]the mikva.

The bath that Esty went into.

[quote] the Zohar (parshas Naso)

A book of the Torah.

[quote]and why is their entire kitchen covered in foil in one episode?

To keep everything unsoiled during Passover.

Yes, R59, some of us aren't Jewish and have no clue of what those terms are. Too many rituals for me to even grasp or contemplate. Their lives must be exhausting, I imagine.

To be Jewish in an observant way it to live in hell from birth on.

As long as there are no women spitting in each other's mouths.

*Meant Rachel Weisz. Text to speech brain fart

[quote]As long as there are no women spitting in each other's mouths.

But that also means no Alessandro Nivola, which is a shame.

I wanted to see more of the lesbian mother's scissor sister. She looked like a fun dyke. I really found it difficult to believe the hot bro stud would have any interest in a waify, pasty and freakishly tiny chick that looks more like a 12 year old boy escaping war torn Poland.

[R68] A lot of straight men like tiny, child like women because they secretly want to be with twelve year olds. That’s the reason some of them like Asians.

I thought the mother was Molly Parker. Of course it wasn't but they sure looked a lot alike.

I can’t believe raves this is getting. It’s a ridiculous story. You e heard of Barack the magic ne—o. Well this girl is the Magic Haredi.She seems not to know the customs at all & has to be told how to behave by her relatives, who seem not to really know her. They act like she just appeared amongst them & they are burdened with having to tell this wide eyed naïf how to be Satmar. She doesn’t even have an American accent.

So this sheltered woman hops into a cab in her ratty looking wig & frumpy clothes, lands in Berlin, latches onto the first German man she sees & is immediately accepted by his friends, a group of weakly developed multicultural stereotypes who are music students at a prestigious conservancy. And hey - she likes music too! Maybe she could go to school at the music academy, she tells an incredibly friendly professor she meets after sneaking into the academy & sleeping there on her first night in Berlin.

Why not, says the professor. You’ve been in this country for almost 24 hours, all have to do is audition and get a scholarship & you will have a free exclusive musical education. Go get an application!

We also meet her mother, another person who seems to have been dropped into this magical world. She’s British & like her daughter, she hasn’t a trace of her homeland’s accent. She too has a vague, unplaceable accent and though she was born & raised in the UK, she fled Williamsburg for.....Germany? Because her parents were born there? And her daughter can get citizenship there because her grandparents were born there. Her mother popped up out of nowhere & handed her daughter a folder full of birth & marriage certificates, just in case her daughter can run away if she ever wants to. Don’t lose these papers!

A real masterpiece.

r71 That's partly why i turned it off half way thru, the pacing was a little too fast and i lost interest.

R71 the multicultural instafriends which included a miXed gay couple who makes out at dinner parties in front of everyone was pretty hard to swallow. The dialogue in the car with everyone having stock lines to introduce their backgrounds was very uncreative exposition. I could picture the descriptors in the script.

the scenes within the hasidic community were handled FAR better than the Berlin scenes

The cute little Nigerian girl who sucked at the violin was considerably hotter than Halloween skeletal Esty. Hot Robert shoulda tried to bang her instead.

As someone who landed in Berlin with no clue I think the group accepting her is apt and very much the way society works here.

On my first day I went into a gallery and soon had a party invite for that night with the task of helping to inform some others. I am still, years later close to those I met on that day and yes we went to Wannasee soon after but to the naked side and I had to disrobe in mixed company.

Berlin is nothing like the US.

R64, I have a good friend who is an Orthodox rabbi (not Ultra-Orthodox) who says pretty much the same thing. In his experience, anyone who wants to become Jewish is gently and politely redirected elsewhere, sometimes for years, until it becomes apparent that it is a real and lasting desire of the heart. The Jewish concept of "salvation" does not require that one become Jewish to be saved, only that one live righteously according to the laws given to Noah (the beta version of the ten commandments), so there is no emphasis at all on conversion.

I agree the pacing in the German scenes was far too fast. They should have made a longer series but the inside look at the lifestyles and customs of these people was interesting (and appalling). Made me interested enough to want to read the book.

I thought it was excellent and agree that the guy who played Moishe was hot, as was the love interest. eh husband (Yanky) wasn't bad looking even if he was a whipped momma's boy.

"The dialogue in the car with everyone having stock lines to introduce their backgrounds was very uncreative exposition."

And then they got to Wannsee Lake and the guy pointed and was like, "LOOK, THERE'S WHERE HITLER DECIDED TO KILL THE JEWS!" I mean...

But I agree that the New York part is great.

Moishe was not hot, a doughy blob man.

I wanted the hot hairy boyfriend to get naked, not the dough man.

[quote]And then they got to Wannsee Lake and the guy pointed and was like, "LOOK, THERE'S WHERE HITLER DECIDED TO KILL THE JEWS!" I mean...

You mean what? Why would you not point that out?

The actor who played Moishe

"You mean what? Why would you not point that out?"

R82, they had already established their various ethnic backgrounds (quite awkwardly and unbelievably) in the car, and Esty had said that much of her family was killed in the Holocaust. To then watch them get out for a nice swim and have the actor just BLURT that line out, almost shouting it... Like, enough already. We get it.

Wilbusch is NOT doughy, to whoever keeps saying that. He's cute.

Though she's much smaller, Shira Haas strongly resembles the young Kristy McNichol; not only her facial features (eyes and mouth especially), but her facial expressions and even her voice.

Too bad they didn't find a way to work Michael Aloni in. I would have been happy with just one gratuitous nude scene.

Thanks, r88. Michael Aloni is perhaps the Israeli Justin Hartley?

I can see that, R87. While I was watching I kept thinking she looked like Mia Farrow circa "Rosemary's Baby" had somehow morphed into Alyssa Milano....

There's a similar show on Netflix called Shtisel about an Orthodox family in Israel. I think there has been 3 seasons. The main character Akiva Shtisel is hot.

Here is the video of the hot Moishe from Unorthodox naked.

Two hot men in the cast and they got the lumpy Pillsbury dough boy naked.

Etsy looks like she’s an anorexic on a macrobiotic diet.

Etsy is fat. Etsy has always been fat.

She seems a bit inbred looking and almost deformed, maybe it's just her small size, but her proportions seem off.

She's def part dwarf

Deborah Feldman's autobiography Unorthodox is much more interesting. They should have kept the focus on life in Brooklyn and her escape, not the fiction fantasy of living in Berlin. The author did move to Berlin after her book was published and became a public figure of sorts and made a new life for herself there, but only after a 4 year college education in NY.

I thought the girl who played Esty looked haggard and much older than she was supposed to be. She had deeply etched lines on her face that did her no favors.

something about her looks was off to me, just can't understand. Not a conventional beauty at all, but very entrancing.

Shira Haas was terrific as Esty. You who diss her are a shanda on the Datalounge.

she was not pretty by any means. She looked haggard and so tiny as to be miniscule. She's a good actress, I guess, even though her reactions to things were odd to me.

The lead actress had exactly one facial expression: “shocked/terrified.”

That sexy guy is going to seduce her? Sure!

Why was the wedding scene so long? It didn’t advance the story at all.

Etc. Meh.

I, too, would have liked much more Williamsburg and much less Berlin. I also wish we had seen much more about Esty's father. A thorough exploration of his relationship with his parents, ex-wife, and daughter could have been fascinating.

In real life, her father was mentally "challenged" and had the mind of a 10 year old.

Also on Netflix is "One of Us" which is basically the documentary version of "Unorthodox." If follows 3 people who leave the cult (it is very much a cult). It's heartbreaking for the female (Etty, not Esty). And there are two males, one a kind of putz who thinks he is going to be an actor in LA and the other who suffered sexual abuse (rape) at his summer camp. Just one movie, not multi episodes.

Why not discuss the inbreeding and all the genetic horrors that exists in the ultra Hasidic Satmar community? Etsy looked slightly deformed with a touch of dwarfism.

[quote]Shira Haas was born in Hod HaSharon, Israel, to a Jewish family. Her parents, both sabras, are of Polish, Hungarian, and Czech descent. Her grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, had been imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.[1] Haas trained at an arts high school in Tel Aviv, where she was approached by a casting director.

R107 Possibly 1/4 Szatmár, genetically speaking. Inbreeding fears noted.

Is this worth watching if you’re not Jewish?

Yes, just like 'Big Love' was worth watching even if you weren't Mormon... and, well, fill in your own blank, really.

How does a Hasidic man become an alcoholic? Does he hang around the kosher liquor store drinking Manischewitz out of a paper bag?

[quote] found it difficult to believe the hot bro stud would have any interest in a waify, pasty and freakishly tiny chick that looks more like a 12 year old boy escaping war torn Poland.

She belongs to him. It’s a kick in the face to a Hasidic that his wife disrespects him. He wants her back.

When I read about the IRL sort it says the father was “mentally ill.” Was he really retarded? And the mothers parents agreed to hand their daughter over to a retarded man?

R112: I think that poster was referring to her German "love interest," the music student she met after arriving in Berlin.

very hard to believe the story once she escaped to Berlin.

R114 -

I really enjoyed it, but I did a hard eyeroll when a socially awkward, very sheltered ultra-orthodox girl INSTANTLY becomes the bell of secular German college society.

It wasn't even slightly believable. And I think the awkwardness of adjusting to a totally foreign world would have been more interesting.

[quote]very hard to believe the story once she escaped to Berlin.

That is because the part in Berlin was completely made up. Once she got to Berlin, the show stopped using the story in the memoir.

And it shows. The series suddenly became a fantasy wish fulfillment show on Hallmark.

[quote]It’s a kick in the face to a Hasidic that his wife disrespects him.

Not hard enough.

I'm a wine lover and I've always been curious if there are any good kosher wines. The only reference I've gotten is on a Frasier episode when he and Niles make "kosher" wine for a guest and Niles pours about 1/2 cup of sugar into a glass of red wine.

R40, is he really or just your speculation?

I liked the series, but thought it was unrealistic. It's very loosely based on a book. I actually felt the worst for Yanky and thought Esty was selfish. She should have left him before getting pregnant. Yanky was a decent man. The guy in R2, is barely in it.

[quote]Yanky was a decent man.

He rapes Esty.

She tells him that she is in pain (probably because of a medical condition) and he just fucks her anyway because he's afraid of his mommy.

Esty is no beauty...why not cast an actress with better looks to make the scenes in Berlin more believable?

Esty's Mother was far more attractive, hard to believe her daughter would look like that.

Jews like to pretend that alcohol abuse isn't a problem for them. AA meetings in Brooklyn strongly suggest otherwise.

[quote] why not cast an actress with better looks

The look was adjusted to fit the role. Another "version" of Shira Haas.

I thought she looked pretty -- until that cult gave her a makeover and a ratty Korean wig.

I started watching the series and like it.

But if I had a hot husband like she has, I would never leave. I would jump on him every night.

R121, no he didn't. They were married for nearly a year and didn't have sex because he always stopped when she said it hurt. When they finally went all the way, she told him not to stop, even though she was in pain. I don't know where you get the idea that he raped her.

R127 is right. He didn't rape her, she just wanted it over with. Her husband was actually very nice and a victim as much as she was.

When Yanky cut off his ridiculous hair, was the most emotional moment in the whole series to me. It was a such a sweet gesture.

Of course it was going to hurt because she was abnormally tiny. That means her vagina was probably about the size of a pinprick.

I do take issue with the casting of Esty. They needed someone whose looks would make the story more believable. This actress looks twenty years older than she actually is and is not attractive. I also had a problem with her thick accent. What girl who grew up in Brooklyn would talk like she came from Eastern Europe?

The Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn do sounds like they come from Eastern Europe because their first language is Yiddish.

I thought her looks were realistic. Do you think there are tall, leggy models running around with the Hasids in Williamsburg?

I lived in a neighborhood in Pittsburgh where there are lots of Hasidim, r130. It's a Yiddish accent, though the speakers may be American-born.

R130, really? I thought she looked like she was 12! I also thought she was cute before her hair was shaved.

R131, there are beautiful Hasidic women. Unfortunately, it's hidden once they marry.

It's such a stupid cult.

You can't carry things outside if the magic wire on the telephone pole is broken?

You can't show your hair. So you wear a wig?

The wig thing makes no sense to me. What's the deal with wires again?

R91 Shira Haas is also in this series, did you notice? The oldest daughter of the woman whose husband went to Argentina and then abandoned the family. She is probably 13-14 in the series... but whose face looks like she could be 45.

This is a very interesting Israeli series, for those who want more of your Orthodox fix. The documentary on Netflix about the three who left the community was a mess, I thought.

R130: the author of the memoir on which this series is based, Deborah Feldman, explains below how she grew up in Brooklyn with Yiddish as her first language and says she felt terribly self-conscious about her thick accent as a freshman at a regular American college (one of her professors even commented on it in class).

Love it....Also on Netflix, if you loved Unorthodox check out Srugim, a series about young 30 something Conservative (religious) Jews.

R135, it's an eruv, a wire that delineates an area where the Sabbath stricture against carrying things is not applied. So Jews going to temple can carry babies, keys, a book, etc. That's why when the eruv was down (and it was the Sabbath) at the beginning of the show, the women with babies were stranded outside the apartment building. Because the magic wire fell down and all the magic ran out.

What the hell kind of sense does it make that the wire itself is the important part, even though everyone already knows where the allowed area is?

Why do those little bits of hair in the front curl even if the men do not have curly hair. Do they use a curling iron?

This is why you never ask the Lord for a makeover.

She has flat feet that are too big for her frame, another strange proportion. She looks like a victim of inbreeding, which is very common. Just go to Williamsburg and take a look at the Hasidim walking around, some of them are really unfortunate looking.

[R142] A lot of them have that awful dark red hair, too paired with super white skin.

Answers to various hair questions (Why the wigs? Why the side curls?)

[quote]She has flat feet that are too big for her frame

Did they show her feet?

yes. she always looked very awkward in shoes. they looked huge.

You were looking at her [italic]feet[/italic] ?

I don't know how you fucking missed them, r147

Not a "feet" queen, r148.

You don't have to be a "feet queen" to notice how someone looks from head to toe. Jesus. Maybe you're just not observant.

[quote] She tells him that she is in pain (probably because of a medical condition)

It’s because he doesn’t use any foreplay. He just digs down there & goes for broke. That’s why he asks the prostitute “what do you like a man to do?” He’s clueless.

They deliberately chose this actress because she’s frail looking. When she gets to Berlin & takes off her wig, & you see her shaved head, she is at the lake where Hitler came up with the final solution. It’s symbolic. She’s supposed to look like a holocaust survivor - pale, skinny, hairless. In Berlin, she is supposed to look like a ghost from the holocaust, to be a reminder of the past. That’s what I read in one of the articles explaining the show

Intercourse was painful because she wasn't in love with her husband and he knew NOTHING about sex, arousal, or sex as pleasure and love. Ghesh! Sometimes I really worry about you guys.

Not a Women nor a Lesbian

R60 each month during their periods, women go to the Mikvah (a pool) for cleansing. Their husbands are denied sex at this time of the month.

I read an essay by a woman who used to be close friends with the real woman in the story & boy was she pissed. She said Deborah Feldman didn’t live in Williamsburg but in Monsey, then in Airmont & that she went to school at Sarah Lawrence for 4 years while married to her husband and had a sticker from the school prominently placed on her car. Apparently Airmont is a place where young people leaving the ultra orthodox world go to live an Orthodox area.

The ultra Orthodox are called Hasids or Haredi or Charedim. Like everyone else who is a minority, they change what they want to be called every decade or so. The ultra orthodox are “tall hat” people and the regular orthodox are the “yarmulke” people. Today in NYC you can hardly tell when seeing a young unmarried “regular” Orthodox Jewish woman that she is orthodox. They do not dress like Haredi women.

Berlin Esty with the shaved head reminded me of Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta.

What are those huge hats about that look like a mile of hair got rolled up?

R157, Hasidic Judaism was began in 18th century Poland, and the clothing the men wear is, essentially, the clothing of that time. Fur hats were very fashionable in Europe in the 18th century, so they are worn to this day. They cost thousands of dollars. I've seen one up-close; it was made of sable fur, and it was stunning.

The Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn know how to work the system and get free health care and other things from the govt. They register their private homes as religious buildings and pay no property taxes. It is disgusting how they cheat the system and get away with buying off politicians. DeBlasio is one of their purchased buffoons.

[quote]each month during their periods, women go to the Mikvah (a pool) for cleansing.

A hot tub full of rosé comes to mind. It's actually a minimum of seven days from the end of the period. [italic]Shivah neki’im[/italic], "seven clean days," it's called.

It wish they had gone into some of the crazier details, but there was only that quick part with the sex-ed lady showing Esty the white cloths. When a woman's period ends they can only wear white underwear and sleep on white sheets, but they also have to examine themselves internally twice each day, with a finger wrapped in white cloth, for any trace of blood. If they find any, the timer to seven days resets to day zero. Only after the seven "clean" days have passed are they allowed into the mikvah.

The other thing about the mikvah is that the water has to have access to every part of the body, unimpeded. The reason the attendant commented on how fast Esty got ready is because it involves an insane amount of preparation including combing through all head and bodily hair (even eyebrows and eyelashes) with a fine tooth comb to ensure there are no tangles or loose hairs; sticking toothpicks through pierced-ear holes; internal cleaning of every orifice, even digging around the inner eyelids with a wet q-tip; band-aid reside has to be removed with acetone. Nails and cuticles have to be cut down, and that can be done on the same day as the mikvah but any cutting involving hair, like shaving or getting a haircut, has to be done at least one day in advance, and on and on and on it goes...

Haredi men also use the mikvah weekly before Shabbat and before holidays, although it's probably best to avoid imagining the combing and cleaning that goes on with the ancient, hairy ones.

why do so many of them smell so badly? I've been on trains, planes, and buses and have come across some of the worst Body Odor imaginable

Do they only wash at these mikvah sites?

[quote]You can't carry things outside if the magic wire on the telephone pole is broken?

Not on the sabbath, no. Carrying things or pushing things outside the home is considered work. No work on the sabbath. The congregation goes to the city council and asks for a designation that the homes in an area are part of one household. Once they receive that designation, men from the congregation place a wire around the area and monitor it for breaks.

Houston has at least one eruv. I've seen Orthodox Jews pushing strollers on Saturday up to the synagogue. Without the eruv, the babies would be stuck at home.

R142-R143, you realize the actress isn't really Hasidic?

Lena Dunham would have made an excellent Etsy or Mayim Bialik

r164 I would not have watched her as Etsy. In what would she have played Mayim Bialik?

The actress has very odd proportions. But there’s something compelling about her. Like she’s going to stick a knife in your back when you turn around.

[quote]Houston has at least one eruv.

I live around Houston. Where is it? I didn't know if we had any Orthodox communities. Meyerland, by any chance? Fundamentalism sounds exhausting, no matter what brand. Too many stupid rules. I guess it's a way of controlling you by keeping you busy with bullshit.

I said in another thread that Hasids, FLDS, Domionists and Russians are some of the biggest welfare scammers out there. People bitch about black welfare queens and ignore these groups who are even worse.

The LA eruv is huge.

Just watched and very much enjoyed.

Some thoughts:

1. Hasidim speak Yiddish as a first language and so speak English with a pronounced accent....

2. BUT, many Hasids are Ba'al Tshuvot -- basically born again Jews, e.g., raised in Reform families and become Hasidic (think Matisyahu) and they speak standard American English.

3. The Satmar Hasids are unique in that the Hungarian Jews were not marked for extermination until mid-1944, so many of them survived and thus the Satmars are all descended from Shoah survivors, whereas the other sects have large numbers of Ba'al Tschuvot in both the US and Israel.

4. Satmars are also unusual in that Hungarian Jews spoke Hungarian, not Yiddish prior to WW2 ,so they stood out there even more.

5. The actor who played Robert (photo at R2) Aaron Altaras, is actually a German Jew and graduate of the Berlin Jewish High School . And he is hot AF

6. "Shtisel" mentioned above is an Israeli TV series that is worth seeing. The leas Michael Aloni is sort of the Israeli Ryan Seacrest, he hosts the Israeli verson of "The Voice" -- another popular Israeli series about Modern orthodox, "Srugim" is also on Amazon, IIRC

7. Agree with everyone about the scene in the car with the multi-culti friends and how quickly that all happened and how convenient it was that there was an Israeli there so she could explain the Hasids to them (and to the audience) more easily.

8. Between this and the shit they're getting for not obeying "Shelter in Place" in both Israel and the US, it's a bad month for the Hasids. (Not sure many of you have been following, but Netanyahu sent in an Israeli Army unit to shut down one of their towns, literally lock them in at gunpoint, because they were not obeying distancing and the mayor of a neighboring non-Hasid Israeli town is threatening to build a wall to keep them out.)

9. She seemed to have no trouble with Robert inside her.

10. It does not look like there will be a second season... yet (see link)

Also-- the "Grand Rebbe" of the Satmars, Joel Teitelbaum was heavily criticized by many Shoah survivors, especially in Israel, as they felt that he did nothing to save the community and he got his own ass onto a special train that the Germans allowed people to buy their way onto to escape at the end of the war. (Remember, the Germans didn't start sending Hungarian Jews to the death camps until mid-1944 at which point the whole world knew what was happening there.

From Wikipedia:

Prior to the Holocaust, he ignored the threats to Jews of Transylvania and failed to engage in the preparation of rescue and aid plans. As the situation of Hungarian Jews became dangerous, Teitelbaum equipped himself and his closest circle with certificates or visas that would facilitate their escape to Palestine or the United States, while he thwarted all attempts at cooperation between the heads of the Orthodox communities and the Zionist organizations, which could have helped the rest of Jewish community to escape. His daughter settled in Jerusalem, while he openly called on his followers to avoid immigrating to Palestine.[1]

[bold]Teitelbaum's attempts to leave Hungary were part of a broader general phenomenon, which attracted criticism, even then, of rabbis and other public figures fleeing the country. When the Nazis invaded Hungary, his closest associates sought a safer way to smuggle him out by bribing two junior officers, drivers of a Red Cross ambulance, who agreed to drive a group of Jews to Cluj in return for money. The travelers included his family, and several wealthy families who paid most of the costs. The attempt failed and Teitelbaum was arrested and sent to Cluj Ghetto. Faced with harsh living conditions, he asked his followers to try to transfer him to Budapest or back to the ghetto of Satmar, where Jews were housed in residential buildings, but they were unable to fulfill his requests. Baron Fülöp von Freudiger, director of the Orthodox congregation in Budapest, selected eighty rabbis and other prominent figures and paid for their inclusion in the passengers' list of the Kastner train, which was to depart the state for a neutral country. Teitelbaum put himself on the list, despite the fact that the evacuation was organized by a Zionist group. [/bold]

On June 30, 1944, once negotiations with the Germans had been concluded, the passengers boarded a freight train that was planned to proceed to Switzerland, but was eventually diverted to Bergen Belsen. The group was held in a special section, in better conditions than those of other groups. Although the group included several notable figures, Teitelbaum was given special consideration. The group's physician exempted him from roll calls, and volunteers performed the tasks imposed on him. With the help of Kasztner and SS officer Herman Krumey, the final arrangements were made, and Teitelbaum was transferred to Switzerland with some Jews from the group. Upon his arrival in Switzerland, he was accorded preferential treatment by the authorities. Eventually he decided to immigrate to Palestine, but as his institutions became bankrupt, he left and settled in United states.[1]

R169 R170

Yes R171?

[quote]I live around Houston. Where is it?

It's around United Orthodox Synagogues on North Braeswood. One of my law professors was a congregant there. She was Modern Orthodox. If you shop the Randall's at Meyer Park (someday when things get back to normal), you'll find a decent kosher section.

[quote] I didn't know if we had any Orthodox communities.

A friend (Reform Jew) sent her children to a Jewish day school. On Friday she would pick up challah that a Chabad sold there. Chabad Lubavitch used to have a house in the Medical Center for outreach. Houston

In Bergen County, New Jersey two communities (Tenafly and Mahwah?) objected to the Eruv. Claiming it shouldn't be attached to utility poles. They lost in court. Why doesn't the synagogue just give members a map of the boundaries instead of creating another reason to hate the Jews?

In Bergen County, New Jersey two communities (Tenafly and Mahwah?) objected to the Eruv. Claiming it shouldn't be attached to utility poles. They lost in court. Why doesn't the synagogue just give members a map of the boundaries instead of creating another reason to hate the Jews?

I’ve lived in NYC for 32 years and just learned about the eruv in the last year.

1, It needs to be a physical boundary R175, not a map. (Their rules, not mine.)

2. Both those towns have sizeable non-Orthodox Jewish population and it was the Conservative and Reform Jews who objected because they did not want Orthodox moving in to their towns in large numbers?

Why?

Because Orthodox keep to themselves, don't interact with non-Orthodox neighbors, won't pay for public schools because they don't use them but then force the town to send their kids to special schools and provide school buses for their yeshivot.

Everyone points to the Five Towns on Long Island and Spring Valley in Rockland as an example of what happens when Orthodox take over. (OTOH, they pay a lot for houses to live in an Orthodox town.)

They tend however to gravitate to areas with big underpriced houses and not very good public schools because they won't use the public schools anyway So in NYC area, New Rochelle, West Orange, Elizabeth, Mt Vernon, West Hempstead

not only do they not use the public schools, but in some locales, like Rockland County, they run for school boards so they can take them over and defund the public schools. Kids relying on public schools, poor and minority mostly, are being deliberately fucked by these fundamentalist assholes.

In destroying secular public education, they're worse than fucking Devoss

Not one new York politician is willing to stand up to them because they'll be called anti-semetic

No, that's not the reason R179. Or it's a minor reason at best, given how many NY politicians are themselves Jewish.

Hasids vote in a bloc, for whomever their rebbe tells them to vote for.

So they can swing elections.

Same problem in Israel and that's part of what the coalition between Ganz and Netanyahu is trying to address--in a parliamentary system like Israel, it gives them far too much power and they need to break that.

It is an outstanding miniseries. Not to throw out any spoilers here, but I cried when she sang.

It is a riveting and outstanding series. Not to throw out any spoilers here, but I found myself crying when she sang.

Oops for the repeat post. For some reason, the posts in this thread appear to be disappearing and then reappearing, so I thought it didn't stick the first time. :-/

R182 (and R181) Her voice was beautiful, and she sang with emotion... but not of the quality to allow admittance to a prestigious music conservatory. The whole thing of her studying there was little manufactured.... unlikely.

I did like that she got called out for her mediocre piano playing.

Though I like that [SPOILER ALERT]

*

*

*

*

*

that they left if ambiguous whether she got in or not and whether the professors were equally as moved by her song.

You cannot enter into a music conservatory without training unless it's obvious you are a one-in-a-million talent, which she was not. I agree that the whole conservatory audition seemed implausible. More likely would be that she would get an administrative job there if she wanted to be close to music and the students.

Since the show was pretty much a fairy tale once she got to Berlin, it is safe to assume that she got in.

Not sure most of the Netflix audience knows that R187, it's left open and, as R188 notes, there's the whole fairy tale element to her time there

Anyone have any idea why they wouldn’t observe the Covid 19 restrictions? I lived near a group of Christian fundamentalists and to get them to do anything was like herding cats because they felt they were in this world but not of it and Jesus was king rather than earthly politicians. They had huge issues with paying their taxes and often refused to register their children or get SS numbers. Just curious what the reason might be for fundamentalist Jews. If it’s similar or something unique to their way of life.

R190, they seem to live apart from the rest of the world. As noted above, they do not speak English as their first language, so they are not really connected to modern media. What's going on in the outside world is not relevant to them.

I finished part 1 and then watched a documentary on real life people who escaped. Here’s what I can’t figure - where is the money coming from? The men seem to study the religion all day and they don’t even speak English. Who is providing for these people to live in an expensive place like NYC. Even if I imagine the church is funding them where are they getting the money. People would have to work and earn a good income to be donating enough for that to work. The documentary made a reference to the women learning English and working but then it showed them having little control of their fertility and having large families so that’s not going to work either.

R45, Everyone buys their wigs from the same wig shop. It's a culture where conformity rules. Those that dare to do anything even slightly different are constantly gossiped about and criticized, seen as making the other women look bad in some way.

Group think on steroids. Most of the women are bored with the sameness yet cannot accept the slightest bit of change. True of all insular cultural groups where you have a lot of people living very closely together. Or of a group of woman working in the same office where there's an undercurrent of jealousy and competition played out in very unhealthy ways.

I read somewhere that they had to cover the window of a wig shop in Brooklyn as the young men were finding it a sexual temptation.

In this interview, Deborah Feldman was speaking of Rachel Weisz as the actress in the movie poster.

Here is the excerpt: I remember standing at a bus stop in Stamford Hill when I visited London as a teenager, intent on getting to Harrods so I could buy the newest Harry Potter book. A sexy movie poster for Confidence distracted me; an actress in a low-cut minidress, her hands placed haughtily at her hips, gazed out on to the busy intersection. Two Hasidic women pushing baby carriages down Clapton Common pointed at the poster in horror as they passed by, murmuring in shocked tones: "You know that's so and so's daughter, who ran away when she was 12, with nothing but a knapsack and a few pound notes. Well I guess now we know where she went." The other woman clapped her hand over her mouth in shock, her eyes widening.

I looked back at the brunette actress with renewed admiration. Was that a spark of chutzpah I detected in her smirk? Could you imagine, I said to myself, becoming something like that? Not just disappearing into thin air, but re-emerging years later to gaze triumphantly down at those I had left behind? The thought of it thrilled me. If I left, I knew I'd become something big. Not an actress, but maybe I would write books, like JK Rowling. Maybe I'd show up on a poster, too, and the entire town would gossip about me as they walked past.

Feldman interview...

Another movie poster for Confidence...

[quote]I read somewhere that they had to cover the window of a wig shop in Brooklyn as the young men were finding it a sexual temptation.

This is why I have no patience for these fucking religious cults, whether they be fundamentalist Christians or Muslims, or ultra-orthodox Jews.

Their response to men not being able to control themselves is never controlling men, it's always controlling women.

Fuck them.

I can't seem to find anything online: Does anyone know what the ceremony/ritual that Moishe and Yanky were doing when they arrived in the hotel room in Berlin?

Shacharit, or morning prayers, R199. The tefillin are two leather boxes (one worn on the head; one on the arm) containing parchment scrolls of four texts from the Torah.

do they work out? or are they all doughy and pasty?

Just finished the series. OP, thank you for the suggestion. Some thoughts.

1. Unorthodox, was so good. I'm a big fan of mini series. Some stories don't require 30 episodes. This reminds me of the Handmaids' Tail. It felt like a little love letter to Berlin. I've been there twice and had to cancel a third trip the city. It made me miss the city and yearn to really explore more than the sex and tourist attractions.

3. The actress playing Esty was amazing as others mentioned. So vulnerable, small, but strong.

4. Her husband was cute. Shame he had such a big dick. They could have been happy if he a little less blessed.

5. I hooked up with an Orthodox Jewish guy during a work conference. In one the ball rooms their wedding was going on ALL DAY. He hit me up on Grindr, so he had a smart phone. He warned me first that he was Orthodox, I told him it doesn't matter. What's life without trying out something different. He came to my room and we exchanged oral. He was sweaty because they wear a lot of clothes, and dance a lot, but he didn't smell like BO which was appreciated. Now, I feel guilty because he could have had a naive bride downstairs, while he's messing around with guys. I don't remember if I saw a wedding ring but given his age, he was probably married. His beard and curls were short. Was a good looking guy. His load was huge. He cleaned up and headed back down to the wedding. Then again, maybe I was his little bit of release from the confines of his life. Either way, was a hot experience.

6. Did anyone else get fuck-boy vibes from her German love interests, Aaron Altaras? I mean, he was so sensitive, hot, and just an all around hottie. How the hell was he single? The gay couple were so cute. Actually, all of her new friends were just wonderful.

7. I'm glad the Israeli girl called out her piano skills. In other shows this would have been ignored and an unrealistic situation would occur where some girl taking weekly piano lessons can suddenly get accepted into a legit music school. No, it takes years of consistent practice. The twist to her audition put a smile on my face.

8. Back to her German hottie, I really need to get some cock in Berlin this year, here he is playing a gay love interests in a soccer film. I'm going to keep an eye out for Aaron Altaras other work.

where can one see Mario?

the Hasidim are not an ancient culture--they are a response to the Holocaust where some survivors basically said, fuck society, we can't be part of it. Today it is a full on cult. I've only seen the first episode of this show but the head rabbi does say the reason they are sending out a search party is because it's important they get her back into the fold--otherwise, other women might think of leaving too.

Women are knocked up before they're 20. In arranged marriages. They are pushed to stay pregnant and have huge families. For DECADES, women were forced to stay in these marriages because the Hasidim were bribing New York family court judges, who would give custody to the fathers. Google it. Possibly thousands of women stayed in unhappy marriages because they knew they'd lose access to their children if they dared to do something crazy like divorce an abusive husband, leave their religious group, and get a job.

There are charity groups operating that help women leave, as well as gays and lesbians. They need a lot of help when they do.

The Hasidim also own New York politicians....In one documentary they talk about a policy or law where a parent who leaves cant have custody or expose their kid to anything outside of what the cult allows. So even though a lot of corrupt judges were arrested and prosecuted, its still hard for a parent to leave the cult and get custody. plus, the Hasidim pay for the lawyers of the parent who remains and try to tie them up in court for years--the parent who leaves can't compete with those unlimited pockets. and its done so others dont think of leaving.

[quote] the Hasidim are not an ancient culture--they are a response to the Holocaust

[bold] This is not true at all. More DL #FakeNews [/bold]

The Hasidic movement started in Eastern Europe in the 1700s as a response to the overly intellectual Judaism of the day at a time when there had been a very popular false messiah, the Baal Shem Tov. Hasidism was originally all about joy and singing and feels and making the liturgy more accessible to every day folk.

It got twisted from there as it became all about people following various charismatic "rebbes" and their "courts"

Most Hasids got wiped out in the Shoah--they were easy to spot as Jews and not much for joining partisan gangs in the forests.

Some, like the Satmar depicted in the series, are anti-Zionist, they believe only the Messiah should revive the Jewish homeland in Israel. (This does not stop them from taking advantage of the tax money collected by the State of Israel, which goes to support many of them...)

The Satmar, being Hungarian, had enough members that survived the Shoah (see R170) and just regenerated after the war, while others (Chabad) have survived by "converting" more secular Jews.

You are correct however, that they have become full on cults and this is a problem in the US and in Israel where they wield power because they vote in blocs and Israelis claim they "over-vote" because no one can tell them apart.

Wikipedia brief history of Hasids.

Also:

[quote] Here’s what I can’t figure - where is the money coming from?

You are not the only one R192

Assumption is that some of their businesses do very well (B&H Camera, plus there are extensive real estate holding, etc.) and the rebbes distribute money to families that way, plus many are on welfare in the US and Israel

There are also stories (perhaps more urban myth than truth) that they shake down wealthy Jewish Wall Streeters with the promise that if they donate large sums of money, prayers will be said and the good deeds that will come from that money will offset the bad deeds the Wall Streeter has done.

Christian groups allegedly use the same trick on wealthy Christian Wall Streeters.

And this time with link

R206 R207 R208

I haven't seen the series, but several friends have recommended it to me. If you want to understand the history of fundamentalist movements within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam read the works of Karen Armstrong, esp. "The Battle for God."

[quote]Most Hasids got wiped out in the Shoah--they were easy to spot as Jews

Jews of the various Chasidic movements were not "wiped out". They were exterminated. Exactly like those hard to spot, assimilated Jews of France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Yugoslavia and Hungary. Who truly believed that assimilation would somehow save them from 1,700 years of entrenched, institutionalized Jew hatred. Europeans exterminated Jewish identity and culture thru the lie of "acceptance" and then exterminated the bodies of Jewish men, women and children, Chasidic and totally assimilated. Because for Jew haters, there is no difference.

[quote]this is a problem in the US and in Israel where they wield power because they vote in blocs and Israelis claim they "over-vote" because no one can tell them apart.

More of DL's bigoted "fake news". No surprise. This thread and so many others like it are identical in their woeful ignorance and stereotyping. But then, that's Jew hatred.

They are gross. ugly looking people, totally anti anyone who is different. They HATE GAYS BLACKS and other minorities. Hate should be not be financed by taxpayers and politicians.

My favorite movie about Hasidic Jews was Holy Roller...Jesse Eisenberg.

R212 Given the number of your unashamedly ignorant but so proud Jew-hating posts on this and other threads, one can but hope that there is a virulent germ with your name on it. Make that several virulent germs.

r204, don't forget that the men in this cult are oppressed too. Obviously they're suffering less, but the arranged marriage hits both. The man doesn't have a choice either. The man has to accept who is 'allocated' to him. And from this TV show I got the impression that Yanky was as ill-prepared as she was. The show also seems to make the point that it was really the women in the community who make it unbearable for the young couple. There is the mother who pushes an unprepared girl into this arrangement, and the mother in law who is meddling and heavily influencing the husband. The Men don't seem to take any part in family affairs. They start acting when their community as a whole appears to be in jeopardy. I am not really sure what to make of this.

R214 I pray it gets you first....why hate the people who point out the utter hatred that exists in the Hasidic community. Why don't they eat pork, what do they see in the poor pigs eyes?

[quote]But then, that's Jew hatred.

It's not Jew hatred to call out a cult.

These people are like a Mormon compound.

It's not their religion that is the problem; it is how they use that religion to form an oppressive cult.

So many minks murdered in that picture to make those cool hats. Don't blame them, mink fur is awesome for hats and coats. Even the Texas heat couldn't stop the Ewings from wearing their Minks.

Fabulous

Watched this today and enjoyed the performances and learning about something I have little knowledge about—but as some have said here, the Berlin part was way too unbelievable. I did enjoy the series, overall.

I watched the “Making Of” afterwards, and was pleasantly surprised to see that this series was directed by the fabulous Maria Schrader, who played the bitchy spy Aunt on the series Deutschland 83 and the sequel, Deutschland 86, about East and West Germany in the 80s. Both series are excellent, with great music, cute guys, and gay storylines, too. Worth seeking out!

[quote] You know that's so and so's daughter, who ran away when she was 12, with nothing but a knapsack and a few pound notes. Well I guess now we know where she went." The other woman clapped her hand over her mouth in shock, her eyes widening.

I don’t get this. Rachel Weisz parents escaped Austria before WW2 as children. Her mother was raised catholic & had paternal Jewish ancestry & formally convert to Judaism. Her father was Jewish. They were both interested in the arts & encouraged their children to have opinions. What has this go to to do with Hasidic women? It doesn’t sound like Rachel Weisz would have any reason to run away at age 12.

r221, whoever you're quoting confused the actress with the character.

Yanky’s dick wasn’t too big. Geez you gay men are dumb. He didn’t use foreplay. Trying to push your dick into a woman who doesn’t know you, has no feelings for you and hasn’t been treated like anything more than a convenient hole isn’t going to work. Those plastic dilators are cold, hard and useless. All you have to do is engage in foreplay that is pleasurable to the man & the woman....for more than 5 minutes.

They should have taken their clothes off, to start.

Is forplay forbidden? It looked like they weren't supposed to enjoy it.

r223 it was over a year of their failed attempts. At some point I'm going to think he was just too big. I wonder if she even used the dildos. She could have been loosening herself up before he got home and just gotten it over with. IDK, even the worst bottom could figure out how to take a dick after a year and dildo starter pack. She took the German like a fish to water.

I am sure he wasn't told what to do with a woman. Judging from his encounter with the hooker, he sounded like never felt that he was even allowed to think about women in this way. On the other hand I would think that the community has some rules for the first encounter as well.

I think the point was not how big his dick was but rather that they had no outside sources of information, that they could not use the internet or go to a library--she had to rely on the Sex Ed Yenta and that they were so naive it never dawned on them that there might be another way to do it.

The point was to make a baby.

Hetero friends who have gone through it said that when their wives are determined to get pregnant the sex is not much fun, more like "I'm ovulating, go get hard and stick it in now, the faster you cum the better."

But they've had years of non-procreative sex so a few months trying to make a baby takes on a different tone.

Vaginismus is quite common in very religious women. Or rather it’s not that you can expect a religious woman to have it but rather that out of those women who do have it an overwhelming majority were raised in strict religious environments. With that condition even a tampon or a pinkie is not going in. If a woman can give birth she can take a penis even the largest ones but to make it comfortable the couple will need plenty of foreplay, lubricant and the woman has to be relaxed, attracted to the man and feel safe with him.

Here’s a checklist for women. It’s Skulen, not Satmar, but you get the idea.

Another:

R230 “longer clothes - longer years”. A maxim to live by!

Those are almost identical to the lists you see on fundamentalist religious blogs. Funny how no matter the religion the approach to women is always the side - silence them and cover them up and of course the lists set women up to be blamed. If you miss one of these it was your fault, you were asking for it and he’s just a man what did you expect.

As a country we decried the horrors of the Taliban and how they treat women, but in our own backyard we have the ultra orthodox Jews doing the same. Both are disgusting in their treatment of women. Why isn't the ME TOO movement doing anything to help these women?

I fucked a Hasidic guy once. A few observations:

1. his armpits stank

2. he smoked meth (!)

3. he had a flabby body with womanly shaped hips and bitch tits

4. he had large genitals

5. his pubic hair bush was enormous, and completely untrimmed

R222 The poster at R221 is not talking about the character in Unorthodox. The poster is referring to something Deborah Feldman said in a Guardian interview. She didn't name Rachel Weisz but it was clear that Deborah was talking about Rachel as Rachel is the actress seen in the film poster for Confidence.

R221 Maybe the gossipy women in London were referring more to Rachel's grandparents rather than her parents. This is an excerpt from her bio at imdb.com: " Her father was born in Hungary and her mother was from Vienna, Austria. Both moved to the U.K. around 1938, because of the Nazi threat. Rachel's paternal grandparents, Yair Weisz (from Pressburg) and Katherine Glickel Sternberg (from Budapest), were both Ashkenazi Jews. Rachel's maternal grandfather, Alexander Teich, was an Austrian Jew, and Rachel's maternal grandmother, Anna Bassi, who was Catholic, had Austrian and Italian ancestry. Rachel's mother formally converted to Judaism when marrying Rachel's father."

R223 : He's Jewish. Odds are that it was big.

R237 I wish there was a laugh emoji I could post.

They are famous for tiny meat.

R234 What can MeToo possibly do for these women? Kidnap and try to talk sense into them? As with all the other religious cults in America, female members generally stay voluntarily due to indoctrination (brainwashing from birth), peer pressure, and fear of ostracism for leaving. They lose all of their friends and family if they leave. The government can only step in when laws are broken.

[quote]They are famous for tiny meat.

That's kind of silly because there are Algerian Jews, German Jews, Dutch Jews, Spanish Jews, Iranian Jews, Moroccan Jews, Italian Jews, etc. They have been in these countries sometimes for centuries and are hugely mixed.

Really? I thought it was fine. Some good, some bad acting. Just fine.

R238 makes $40K/year folding shirts at JC Penney is East North Central Flyoverstan

But at least he is not one of those Jews. Or a colored. Or an Italian as they are only white-adjacent.

He is 100% pure white

And that makes him better.

Just ask.

R242

I thought it was a compelling eye-opener and done so beautifully. Sorry not sorry to be from the West but I had no idea about anything about Williamsburg NYC Orthodox Jews. I liked it.

R242 I don't think JC Penney exists anymore, right? This century the stereotype probably should have been Walmart.

JC Penney does exist (barely), but it is a dated reference.

And Walmart is a bit of a cliche.

Maybe "folding flannel at Costco" works better.

It was just that JC Penney seemed so much more in keeping with the DL aesthetic that it is still sometime in the 1980s and racial and ethnic intolerance is socially acceptable.

But folding flannel at Costco works too. (There are Costcos in Flyoverstan, right?)

I do not hate Jews in any way but these particular people are fanatical assholes.

R229 . A result of telling girs all through childhood that sex is evil , to be avoided , a stain on their purity and will send them to hell (or whatever hell equivalent the religion has ) when done outside of marriage . The same girls are then expected to turn into sex kittens the moment they have a ring on their finger like they pulled a light switch .

The lead actress is also in "Shtisel," playing a similar character: weird little somber daughter who smiles with one side of her mouth. A decent actress but doesn't seem to have a lot of range so far.

Range, the girl has range! She will soon be appearing in the remake of Showgirls! You will see range.

Range?

She's going to play Catholic next.

Enjoyed the series a lot.

I read an article about the show with a couple statements of the creator. She raved about her great cast and the precise way the lead actress was performing. She ended the rave saying that Shira Haas would make a great director some day. I thought that was odd, recommending her to leave acting. I probably over-analyze that statement.

All actors want to direct R254

And if you're a director you think that is a major compliment to admit that an actor could actually be a good director.

Young women in this culture get married often knowing absolutely nothing about male anatomy or even their own sexuality. The sexes are totally separated by going to separate schools. They sit apart at social functions and are not even allowed to hold hands with any boy or man.

Small wonder that they may encounter serious sexual dysfunction once married. Or that their new husbands may be clueless on how to please them.

Plus the massive fear of female sexuality.

They fear that seeing a woman's bare arms, calves or hair might drive a man so wild with desire he cannot contain himself. Even if those calves belong to a 77 year old grandmother.

They refuse to sit next to women on airplanes for the same reason. (No-nonsense Israeli stewardesses have a world of fun with this. "So, you think you will have an erection because you can see may arm? This is what you are afraid of? I don't understand"

This was written today, it's written by a gay Israeli and is a good window into how freaked out the Israelis are about Hasids right now thanks to Covid-19 and what can either be seen as a cavalier attitude towards government orders or a complete lack of education and access to outside media.

"Simply go to any social media platform and read the hate speech currently directed at the ultra-Orthodox community. Read about the calls to ostracize and in some cases, commit acts of violence."

R249, No a "bad" girl or young woman won't think she's destined for Hell as that's a Christian concept.

However she will be thoroughly shamed and gossiped about by all. Those who don't conform in the extreme are made to feel that they're disloyal to the entire community as well as her family and close relatives. Worse she'll be told if she doesn't immediately change her ways no "good" man will marry her as he won't his reputation ruined as well.

Tainted by association is huge. The character of the lead actress was always made to feel "less than" because her mother, born into a very poor British family, was married off to a mentally challenged man. The fact that his family was well off didn't improve her status in the community, especially when her mother left for the secular world and partnered with another woman.

#1 priority is to have a very large family. Those who are barren are viewed as inadequate women. Their only hope is to marry a widower and to raise his children as her own according to strict community rules.

A lot of brainwashing goes on in ANY ultra-religious group. Knowledge of the real world is severely restricted. Bet this group doesn't learn about dinosaurs, it's forbidden learning.

[quote] her mother, born into a very poor British family, was married off to a mentally challenged man.

This us horrendous. “You’re poor? You get the retard.”

The lead actress is also in "Shtisel".

I jusht adored watsching "Shtishel"!

[quote]“You’re poor? You get the retard.”

Tells me bouts it.

ditto

R263 I whore but I still not kills someones!

[QUOTE] No-nonsense Israeli stewardesses have a world of fun with this. "So, you think you will have an erection because you can see may arm? This is what you are afraid of? I don't understand"

I don’t see this happening. A native Israeli Jewess wouldn’t treat a Haredi with anything but the upmost respect. The men are religious scholars of the same religion she practices.

Are you kidding R265? From everything I've heard Israeli's think Haredi are a pain in the ass like many American Christians think evangelicals are batshit crazy.

They smell, they cheat, and they don't pay their fair share in taxes. They get millions of taxpayer dollars they don't deserve because they hide their assets. Also, they hate, blacks, gays, and Christians. They never, ever donate their time or money to help any other groups in NYC. A group of people who deserve all the nasty comments that come their way.

[quote] Jewess

Well the Christianess at R265 has revealed herself to be a major antisemite. I suspect she also refers to Mrs. Obama as a "negress"

And FWIW, Israelis loathe the haredim for many reason, not the least of which is they don't serve in the army. (When the state was founded, Ben Gurion, the first PM, thought, as many did at the time, that the Hasids would soon die out in the modern world and so exempted them from army service.)

It's what brought down Netanyahu's government--one of the right wing parties said they no longer wanted to give the Hasids special privileges and would not join a government with them.

I work among the Hasids in Brooklyn. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard them use the N word, I would be retired already. They are very racist and hateful and have no interest in learning about tolerance.

^ On the show they show her husband in two little rollers like a Granny.

[quote] From everything I've heard Israeli's think Haredi are a pain in the ass like many American Christians think evangelicals are batshit crazy.

They are a pain in the ass but they can’t be stopped in Israel any more than they can be stopped in NY. Businesses are now opening catering to Haredi women in the workplace. The men can’t work because they are busy studying Torah.

As anyone who's ever seen "Fiddler on the Roof" knows, Jewish tradition states that Tevye who is poor longs to be a rich man so that he can spend all day studying the Torah. He knows his priority is providing for his large family. Charity is solely for the truly disabled (a blind man) or the very elderly.

Haredi are thus violating ancient Jewish traditions. Women are expected to marry young and to be continuously pregnant until they have multiple sons. Plenty have a baby a year long past when it is medically advisable for the health of child and mother. Disabled offspring get more government aid.

Women have low status so it's not as shocking or tragic if mothers die in childbirth as it is in more modern communities. Women's #1 priority is to have as many children as possible.

In case DL thinks that I'm anti-Semitic, I'm stating that the exact same belief system occurs in countless ultra-religious communities and cults in the US, Israel, and elsewhere. Doesn't make it not horrendously immoral and just plain wrong. Situation is getting dramatically worse due to increased inbreeding with devastating results. Rabbi Hillel recognized this and preached against it. Why do the ultra-orthodox violate his teachings/

Young girls and boys lack a standard high school education and basic skills to survive outside the community. Priority is in speaking Yiddish and Hebrew and not English. Plus few have the confidence or resources or even acquaintances to essentially start over from scratch. Very sad.

Actually not Hebrew R272

They know it for the prayer books but they do not speak it as they consider it a holy language and not to be used in everyday conversation.

Just last week, the Israeli government had to issue Yiddish-Hebrew dictionaries (apps?) to the IDF soldiers who are locking down the haredi towns because they don't speak Hebrew and there's an assumption that part of the reason they do not understand government orders about CV is they don't understand modern Hebrew.

Like many cults, they have become more extreme in the modern world, as a way of allegedly guarding their adherents against the "lures" of the modern world.

Going by his Instagram, Amit Rahav is definitely gay

Haredi claimed that their role in Israeli's wars was to pray all day. Those that were drafted for non-combat roles continually interrupted their service orders to follow religious traditions.

Worse physical exercise is not strongly encouraged in Haredi households. While women of all ages spend a lot of time cleaning and cooking which is very hard work, as is caring for an average of 7 children apiece, boys and men spend most of the day sitting and studying. Therefore they physically are not a good fit as soldiers and are subject to many serious health conditions.

Amit Rahav is dating Etai Ariav.

There is so much in breeding in these communities...Yanky was definitely a "hollywood" hasid...very few look like that.

R277. You must mean the babies look more like this!

Bless his heart R278

Awwwwww! cutie!

Baby Cynthia Nixon.

[quote] Well the Christianess at [R265] has revealed herself to be a major antisemite.

You consider “Jewess” an insult? Is “Jew” also insulting?

“Jewess” always makes me think of Liz in “Ivanhoe.” As a child I was appalled at him picking the obviously inferior girl.

[quote]“Jewess” always makes me think of Liz in “Ivanhoe.”

Rebecca, daughter of Isaac.

Liz was a jewess actress, hollywood godess and enchantress, seductress, adulteress and mistress who was a tigress on a hot tin roof

R284 Alcoholicess, chubbess, the possibilities are endlessess....

A Convertess, not a real Jewess

Marilyn Monroe was also a convertess.

they both converted to jewish dick, not that we blame them

"you must disperse"

the Haredi men are mostly obese, from sitting all day.

The one I fucked was a flabby mess. I never such large areola on a man either, he obviously had high estrogen and low T.

R286, the NYTs doesn't explain why this community was so hard hit, but everyone in NY does and they'll get ZERO pity.

I wonder who paid how much to the NYTs for the propaganda schlock at R286. It is actually a poor attempt at public relations control. No one will forgot what these fucking idiots did, endangering the police, EMS and other citizens.

The conversation in my household this evening (what should we watch first: "Unorthodox" or S3 of "Fauda")

"Should we watch first the repressed Jews or the hot Jews?"

Fauda...never heard of it.

I liked the fact that show tipped its hat to 93Queen, the real-life group of Hasidic women who work as EMTs despite massive backlash from the men in their community. (They were the women who treated Esty's grandmother when she had the heart attack.)

There's a great documentary ("93Queen") about them. Trailer at link.

I’m on the last episode of this. Very interesting, disturbing even ... the lead actress is excellent. Also Yanky is a cutie,

who didn't want to yank yankel?

Thanks for that R295. I had no idea this existed. I only found about about Hatzolah 2 years ago when my step mother was sick in NYC. I will try to find the documentary.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

That thing has a Lens Dunham quality about her.

Soooooooooooooooooo interesting. Totally fascinated by this.

why didn't we get to see Yankel bathing?

I prefer the hot hairy music student to Yankel but instead we got doughboy.

The flashback scenes were the highlight for me, fascinating and well done. The Berlin scenes on the other hand were pure fantasy. It was laughable that Yanky and his cousin would walk around dressed like that and were not harassed at every corner. Even with the baseball caps on, it was very clear that they were Jewish.

I am sorry if young Jewish people will watch the show and think that Berlin is a safe haven for them because trust me, it is not. For various reasons.

Still enjoyed the show though and the lead actress is great.

R304 I live in Berlin currently and before Covid we did in fact have some visitors (usually from the UK ) who dressed this way. I never saw them bothered in any way. We even now have a very small orthodox community with a Kosher butcher. There are a number of people who have left Israel because the politics there disgusts them. The little community who lives here largely stay to themselves but no one bothers them when they use public transit in their unusual clothing.

If you say so, r305. It has not been the experience of my friends who were harassed and called "Scheißjuden" on the streets and on the subway.

As expected R306 you would have orthodox friend giving reports to back up your belief system. Orthodox rarely make friends outside of the cult but they all confide in R306.

I think the story dragged a bit in places and it could have probably been done in three episodes.

I knew when they showed the interiors of Esty's apartment and her grandmother's apartment that they were filmed in Europe. They did replace plugs and light switches with American-style fixtures for eagle eyes like me, but the windows, refrigerator and toilet all screamed overseas. (At first I thought those interiors were filmed in Israel, but the documentary after the series pointed to Berlin.)

r46, the same is true of the victims of female circumcision. Often it is women pressuring for the surgery and performing it.

I fooled around with a Hasidic guy at a Korean Spa. He was pretty hefty. We were in one of the hot tubs he grabbed my cock. I decided to return the favor, and was shocked how big he was. Not just length, but girth. I'm sure he probably just jammed it in his wife as well without giving her a bit of oral pleasure to relax her and caused her holy hell. The little we spoke was heavily accented, though he was born and raised in Brooklyn. I was about 40 at the time and figured he was about my age as well. I asked him, and he told me he was 19....19! Too young for me, I dashed out of the hot tub. A little while later I walked into the sauna and caught him sucking an older black man.

Several years ago there was some uproar about the Eruv in the Hamptons. The Daily Show did a nice piece on it.

The Daily Show lives fo make fun of the Hamptons but don’t usually do it in the summer season so they won’t be excluded from parties & so others will come to their summer homes for socializing.

They asked a bazillion people about the highway billboard & only aired 2 or 3 people who were absolute stereotypes. They made it seem like it was racist. Fact is, the tribe cut down a shitload of trees to put up a huge neon billboard the likes of which cannot be found in NY state. It’s fug & all it does is advertise any group for $. If a bunch of Wall Street investors or a snooty art group tried to put that thing up it never would’ve happened. Then they cleared the other side of the highway of the trees that have been there since the highway was built & put some kind of stumpy things on the ground.

I wonder if Rez shops have lost revenue. Locals would stop off & get coffee, eggs or other stuff in order to support local shops.. But once that billboard went up & they accused everyone of racism, I know a lot of local people stopped going there. Even the hardcore smokers went to the Unkechaug Rez to get cigs. Not a good idea to namecall your customers.

[quote] She had deeply etched lines on her face that did her no favors.

Honey, this was not a glamour role. She's not playing the title role in "Gilda."

I always think I've figured out just how shallow Dataloungers are, and then they go even further than I would ever dream possible.

I hate to say it, but she has the physique of an anorexic- giant head, malnourished body, skinny limbs, large feet.

She's supposed to. Do you really think all actresses are supposed to look like Megan Fox, and that that type would have been appropriate for this role?

I actually liked the guy who played the douchebag cousin Moishe. He had a belly, but he was in shape--fitfat.

r312, was it implied that she was? I missed it then. No, not Megan Fox, but a normal body. Unless they were trying to tie in her look with the Holocaust undertones in Berlin.

The lead actress had the right combination of strength, vulnerablity, resolve, intelligence and screen presence, the same qualities she brought to 'Shtisel' when she was still in her teens. She carried the entire (albeit 'limited') series. Not many actresses in that age bracket who would be able to pull that off.

It would have been hard to find someone who could both act the part and sing so powerfully for the audition scene.

[quote]Not many actresses in that age bracket who would be able to pull that off.

Are you sure about that?

She reminds me a lot of Millie Bobby Brown from "Stranger Things."

She kind of has that Sissy Spacek at the start of her career going on.

I am only three episodes in and love this but I just wanted to say the guy that plays Robert is so fucking hot. I want him inside me deeply. His hairy chest and build are perfection.

+1 R310

re: Berlin and Jews:

There was a much reported story (link is to Wikipedia article on it) in 2018 about an Israeli Arab who wanted to prove to his Israeli Jewish friends that they were just being paranoid about antisemitism in Berlin.

So to prove it to them, he put on a kippah and walked around Berlin... only to be set on by some Palestinian immigrants who beat him, and his friend, a Moroccan Arab senseless because they thought they were Jews.

I enjoyed it overall. It definitely kept me interested. As others have said, the Brooklyn scenes were the best part--an interesting peek behind the curtain of a secretive cult. Berlin was a silly, sappy fairytale.

The actress who played Etsy is freakishly small. The bridal photo of them sitting on the couch together looks like a father and his 12 y/o daughter. She's definitely got some kind of disorder--dwarfism?

There were some other aspects of the story that were embellished for dramatic effect. When the Hasidic landlord threatens to turn off the electricity and water to the piano teacher's apartment? LOL. Try that in NYC and see what happens. While it's true there are a ton of sleazy Hasidic landlords in NY, they can't shut off utilities.....not unless they want squatters who the city will absolutely favor in court. Eviction would take years.

They did a great job replicating the austere interiors of Hasidic homes. I've seen quite a few featured in real estate listings. They're so oddly furnished with a spartan, old world, quasi-Eastern European esthetic. Like little time capsules.

R323 she’s 5’2, it is short but it’s not like she is Linda Hunt size.

^No way. She is definitely under 5'

Hasidic Judaism experts: what's the deal with wrapping a kitchen in tin foil? It looks like a lot of work. Can the foil be re-used?

It was a Cinderella story in Berlin, a prison picture in Brooklyn. Worth a watch.

r326, read the thread, the answer is there.

Why do some people claim men won't watch female-driven productions like this series, The Handmaid's Tale, Orange Is The New Black, Killing Eve, Big Little Lies, Grace and Frankie, and Fleabag? They do, if they're compelling enough.

[quote] There were some other aspects of the story that were embellished for dramatic effect. When the Hasidic landlord threatens to turn off the electricity and water to the piano teacher's apartment? LOL. Try that in NYC and see what happens. While it's true there are a ton of sleazy Hasidic landlords in NY, they can't shut off utilities.....not unless they want squatters who the city will absolutely favor in court. Eviction would take years.

He didn't DO it; he just threatened to do it. Those kinds of threats do happen in NYC,

R329

I hate heradi

Lead actress was good but with her shaved head she looked like a baby Rose McGowan which was unfortunate.

The show’s most honest moment (and my favorite scene) was when the slightly bitchy German girl tells her that her piano playing sucked ass.

R332 I thought she was Isreali and a certified cunt. That’s something you say about someone behind their back.

Yes, Israeli girl in Germany. Had she not been honest the lead character would have humiliated herself at audition.

I think if there were more people like the Israeli girl, we'd be rid of social fucking influencers.

[quote] Etsy looked slightly deformed with a touch of dwarfism.

Shira Haas survived multiple rounds of chemo for renal cancer before she hit kindergarten age.

Avigdor wait!

I loved it.

I guess the lead didn’t win the Emmy, but did I they get any of the other ones they were nominated for?