PADDY WIVELL CAME TO ME YESTERDAY
HE ASKED ME A QUESTION (ON CAMERA ) HOW COME THE TRIBUNE ARE AS MUCH AGAINST YOU AS THE J.C
TWO PAPERS ONE ORTHODOX ,AND ONE NOT ORTHODOX ,HAVE THE SAME VIEW.
I TRIED TO EXPLAIN TO HIM WHAT A B.T. IS
A NONE ORTHODOX PERSON BECOMING ORTHODOX.
I EXPLAINED TO HIM THAT A NONE ORTHODOX PERSON BE COMING ORTHODOX ,
DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE NONE ORTHODOX VIEWS HE HAD BE FOR, GO AWAY
DEEP INSIDE HIM THEY ARE STILL THERE, AND THE DISLIKE OF AN ORTHODOX JEW.
THE TRIBUNE EDITOR IS A B.T. AND DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING AND EXP LINING 613 MITZVOT
A JEWISH PERSON HAS TO THE WORLD .
EVEN MOST OF THE STAFF AT THE AGUDA, ARE IGNORANT PEOPLE, AND THEY THINK LIKE THE J.C.
YOU CAN SEE THIS FROM ALEX STROMS ARTICLE,
THAT THE MAIN AIM OF A JEW IS TO MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION ON THE WORLD
AND THEN THERE WILL BE LESS ANTISEMITISM.
THE DIRECTOR OF THE AGUDA IS ALSO A B.T. AND HAS LEARNT A BIT MORE THEN THE EDITOR
BUT BY FAR THERE IS STILL A LOT HE DOES NOT KNOW OR UNDERSTAND
HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE SEED PROGRAM
BUT THAT DOES NOT MAKE HIM KNOWLEDGEABLE IN TORAH AND MITZVAOT.
2 comments:
On May 18th I sat down and watched one of the most open and honest documentaries I’ve seen in a long time. Paddy Wivell managed in a space of an hour to humanize Britain’s Chasidic Jewish community, which is typically closed to all interaction with the outside world.
The documentary follows Avi Bresler who has served four-and-a-half years in prison for money laundering, has separated from his wife and is suffering with a seriously tarnished reputation in the community. Wivell follows Bresler as he tries to find a shidduch or match for one of his sons, despite his situation. It goes without saying that Bresler is not your typical orthodox man and his situation is far from typical.
The Jewish Chronicle newspaper was quick to pick up on the fact that the film followed what they described as a ‘renegade chasid’, awarding the documentary a measly 2 out of 5 and charging it with misrepresenting the community.
Yet what Paddy Wivell’s film has achieved is quite the opposite. He has managed to document a human side to Chasidim. Even orthodox Jews, who from the outside seem so rigid, inward looking and proper, have the same temptations as everyone else in society. They battle with temptation, emotion and financial difficulty and struggle especially in matters of love, marriage and finding relationships.
The Jewish Chronicle’s reaction to Wivell’s work is as much testament to the success of the film as opposed to its shortcomings. Britain’s national Jewish paper is at best a Jewish Daily Mail. Its editorials and commentaries are nearly always focused on anti-Semitism and the paper is obsessed with guarding its own jealous, neatly manicured view of Jewish life in the media.
What Wonderland did was to breach this carefully produced narrative and show the real side of the Chasidic community. Wivell showed that Orthodox Jews, who wear funny clothes, speak with a yiddishy accent and practise an almost medieval form of segregation are the same as everyone else.
The JC says claims that “Avi is no more representative of the Chasidic community than Amy Winehouse is of young Jewish women.” The paper is wrong. Bresler is a typical Chasid. He wakes up early in the morning to pray, he cares dearly for his family, he wants the best for his children and has of course made mistakes in his life.
Films like this can only benefit the Jewish community in Britain, because they breach the kind of isolation which fuels xenophobia and racism in this country. Avi Bresler the Chasidic Jew is more like me than I ever knew. Wivell’s film is a masterpiece. It is well shot, well edited and touchingly and sensitively produced. At no point do you get the impression that any of the characters are being pushed to bleed their hearts out to the camera. It is simply honest and should be commended. The film isn’t a straight forward representation of Stanford Hill’s Jews, but that’s the point.
YOU HAVE TO READ A FEW MORE BOOKS ON
WHAT IS A CHASSIDIC JEW
NOT JUST THE CLOTH
YOU ARE LACKING A LOT IN KNOWLEGE OF CHASSIDIC JEWS
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