LAST WEEK SHABBOS I MET A MAN IN THE STREET, HE SAID TO ME WHO ARE YOU TO BE OUR SPOKESMAN ,
THIS WAS ABOUT THE TELEVISION PROGRAM.
I ANSWERED HIM I DO NOT HAVE TO BE VALUED ,BY YOU OR ANYONE ELSE, TO GIVE MY OPINION ON LIFE IN STAMFORD HILL.
AND THAT'S EXQUISITELY WHAT MY WIFE EXPLAINED IN THE PROGRAM.
WE ARE AT A STAGE IN LIFE ( THANK G-D ) WERE WE CANT BE BLACK MAILED ANYMORE.
WE BLACK MAIL THE PARENTS WHEN THEY HAVE TO SEND CHILDREN TO SCHOOL.
THEN WE WOUNDER WHY OSHER SHAPIRO HAS SO MANY DROPOUTS IN HIS ORGANISATION .
DO YOU THINK THAT THESE CHILDREN DO NOT KNOW WHAT A JOB IT IS TO GET THEM INTO SCHOOLS ,
AND THAT THEY ARE NOT VALUED, EVEN BY THE PARENTS THEY NEVER HUG OR KISS THEIR CHILDREN,
CHASIDUS AND LITVSHER ORGANISATIONS DO THE SAME,
AVI BRESSLER WAS NEVER VALUED AND THAT'S WHAT HE SHOWED IN HIS PART OF THE THE FILM.
THE FILM REFLECTED THE TRUE LIFE OF THESE PEOPLE,
AND IF YOU THINK IT DOES NOT REFLECT ON THE REST OF THE COMMUNITY ,ASK OSHER SHAPIRO.
EVERY DROPOUT WHO I TALKED TO HAD A STORY TO TELL ABOUT THE LACK OF LOVE, IN HIS YOUTH ,FROM THE SCHOOLS ,AND PARENTS.
I WISH AVI BRESSLER MAZEL TOV ON HIS FIRST GRANDCHILD ,BUT AT THE SAME TIME FEEL SORRY, FOR THE CHILD IN WHAT A SNOBS SOCIETY IT HAS TO GROW UP IN.
ALL I CAN SAY TO AVI SON AND DAUGHTER IN LAW ,GIVE THE CHILD PLENTY OF LOVE, AND KISSES, AS IT WILL NEED THIS WHEN IT COMES TO OUR TERRIBLE SCHOOL SELECTORS.
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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.
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