A Life Apart - Hasidism in America

Starring:Leonard Nimoy, Sarah Jessica Parker
Director: Oren Rudavsky, Menachem Daum
Studio: First Run Features
Product Type: DVD

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Hasidic Jews seem alien, and even hostile, to those outside their culture, which frequently includes other Jews. They dress differently, don't mingle between the sexes, speak Yiddish, and wear side curls, all in an attempt to rigorously follow the commandments of the Torah. They tend to keep to themselves, shunning television and the media so outside influences cannot corrupt their values and views. Yet filmmakers Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum were able to enter their world, and the result is the fascinating documentary A Life Apart: Hasidism in America. Using interviews with academics and members of the community and some historical footage, the filmmakers trace the growth of Hasidic groups in the United States. Groups formed around particular Rebbes (learned leaders) and they took their names from their Eastern European home cities (the Samovar Hasids, the Breslover Hasids, and so on). Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker narrate, explaining how this movement came to America and how it was able to flourish. Dissenting voices also appear, in the form of neighborhood people who are distressed at the Hasids' refusal to speak to members not in their community and of a young woman, Pearl Gluck, who left the community in order to pursue her writing and to follow a life of her own choosing. Many Hasids refuse to speak on camera, and we see many shielding themselves with hands or coats so as not to appear on film. But those who do appear are poignant in their discussions of why the Hasidic life is important to them. One man speaks to the directors, even as he acknowledges that he will never see the movie, but he will do it "in order to help a Jew make a living." One couple, Holocaust survivors, are not Hasidic, but their children are, and the reasonings of both the parents and the children are interesting. This film, shown on PBS, is a consequential look into a lifestyle many of us don't understand, and it may help in increasing an understanding. --Jenny Brown

Description

In New York City, the Hasidim are a common sight, but their way of life remains a mystery to those outside their community. With their use of Yiddish, their distinctive clothes and their strict observance of Jewish ritual and law, the Hasidim are considered by many an insular people with little connection to mainstream America. And yet their values are those that many Americans find most precious: family, community, and a life of meaning. In this extraordinarily intimate film, seven years in the making, we are taken into the depths of the Hasidim's joyous, sometimes harsh, and often-beautiful world. From mystical tales to mesmerizing music, Rebbes to Holocaust survivors, A Life Apart reveals a strange, insular world few outsiders have seen, and fewer yet could imagine.

Customer Reviews:

Very intimite insite into the lives and families of Hasidim.......2007-01-04

I got this DVD and can't quit playing it. The music is wonderful, there are intimite glances into the family lives of hasidim, their gatherings, etc.

Great Introduction but Left me with more Questions..........2006-01-11

Some of the other reviews here are by people with much more knowledge of the Hasidic way of life than I have, and point out problems with things said in the movie that went right by me. So my perspective in reviewing this is as a curious outsider with some understanding of Judaism, a little understanding of the Hasidic path, and the curiosity to know more.

A Life Apart: Hasidism in America is a window into the insular Hasidic communities of New York City. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker (I was rather shocked by the choice of SJP--could they have found anyone more a polar opposite of the women portrayed in this film than the woman who brought Carrie Bradshaw to life? But both Nimoy and Parker do a very good job and have excellent "documentary" voices for narrating) the film is an overview of the Hasidic way of life as a whole, focusing on a few representative members talking about their own paths.

On the whole I found it very enjoyable and educational, and learned a lot from it. For someone with little to no knowledge of Hasidim but some curiosity, it is a great introduction. There is a historical overview of the origination and philosophy of the Hasidic way and the destruction of much of it in the era of the Soviets and the Nazis. I was surprised to learn that Hasids steadfastly refused to emigrate to America, viewing it as a place that endangered their souls with its secularity, even up to the brink the Holocaust. I had sort of thought that there was something of a Hasidic community in New York pre World War II, that grew and deepened with the arrival of postwar refugees. But in reality, it was entirely a movement of postwar refugees and a few charismatic rebbes who gathered in the traumatized survivors and helped them recreate communities on this side of the ocean. The size and fervor of the communities that have emerged after 60 years is a testament to their work and to the will to survive as individuals and people.

I found Jack Gold, the patriarch of a large Hasidic family, to be one of the most interesting people in the documentary. He looks like an Orthodox rather than Hasidic Jew, wearing a kippah but without the hat, beard or side curls that his sons and grandsons wear. But like them, his appearance is as much a testament to his own journey--from concentration camp survivor who had lost all religion, to someone who began to embrace it again in order to give his children something, but who still wears the scars of his own life. As one of his sons says, he may not look it on the outside but he has a Hasidic heart.

While the glimpses of the various ceremonies and festivals were fascinating and give a hint to the level of joy in the Hasidic style of worship, the lack of explanation as to what was going on and what festival was being celebrated could often be confusing. Footage jumps from Sukkot to Purim to a wedding to Shabbos to Chanukah with no explanation as to what you are seeing and what it all means. I recommend watching the documentary once through and then with the directors commentary because it adds a lot to the understanding of these scenes. But I shouldn't undermine the accomplishment that having any of these scenes is, because as a rule the Hasidim keep to themselves and do not like to interact with or be filmed or photographed by outsiders.

But even with the commentary I was often left with more questions--particularly about the roles of women. The relatively few glimpses of the Hasidic women and insights into their lives left me wanting more, and I was also interested in the hints in both the documentary and commentary about the family members who had left the Hasid community (they had one female representative but even here there wasn't enough detail--I could have enjoyed an entire documentary just about her and her life) and people who had been raised less religious who had joined the Hasid community (again, there was one representative but I was particularly curious about the women who have done so and what the attraction and the result was for them).

On the whole this is a good introduction to both the joys and the difficulties and tensions of this way of life and is recommended for anyone curious about it.

A MUST SEE.......2003-09-09

I was given this Video to look at by a friend who had converted to Judaism. Since much of it was filmed where I live and I know personally some of the people in it, I have a different perspective. I have suggested to a number of people to see this in order to see what real chassidim are like. It is the closest you will ever get to it unless you actually live in the community. It is NOT perfect, and there are a few things that I would like to point out.

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.

In Search of...Jews.......2003-09-01

With Manis Friedman and Shmuely Boteach popularizing the philosophy and beliefs of Orthodox Judaism, particulary the Chasidic branch of Lubavitch from which they both began (although Rabbi Boteach parted ways with Chabad over a decade ago) the world of the Hasidim is larger than ever before. Of course, the Lubavitch branch of Hasidim is merely the most popular and "evangelistic" (using that term loosely since they only reach out to Jews and they are much less eager to tell non-observant Jews what's good about them than what's wrong.) but there are several branches and most are based in NYC. Many filmmakers have recently used the Hasidic lifestyle in their movies - Price above Rubies, Kadosh, Stranger Among Us, The Chosen - and interest continues.

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.

OY VEY!.......2002-08-18

This wonderful documentary by Oren Rudavsky and Menachem Daum, which is narrated by Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker, offers the viewer a birdseye view of an interesting, insular, and little known, yet often misunderstood, sect of Judaism. Founded in Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century, it is characterized by mysticism, prayer, and religious zeal. It is not a lifestyle for everyone, but it is certainly a lifestyle about which everyone should know.

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.

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