TV Show Nails the Religious Singles Scene in Jerusalem

If you've ever watched "Sex and the City" and thought, "I relate because I'm single, but none of them go to shul or make Shabbat dinner," you'll want to check out Serugim, a drama about religious single thirtysomethings in Jerusalem. (For the page about the series, click here.)

Originally, this show came to my attention because a new friend of mine, Shira, plays "neighbor Stacey" in this episode (and because I read about it on Israluv's blog). But I watched the whole thing and found it interesting, resonant, funny and disturbingly familiar (even though the post-denominationalist in me wouldn't define my affiliation as Orthodox).

Many of the same dating/relationship issues that New Yorkers deal with, religious Jerusalemites deal with: feeling like you already know everyone from youth movement, parents who sign you up for speed dating, meeting a potential and then having to compete with other single women for his attention, differences in interpreting the roles of men and women in religious Judaism, the dramatic role of Shabbat dinners, friends who tell you what you want to hear to spare your feelings...it's all in there. As the site notes:

בשכונות רחביה, קטמון, הנחלאות והמושבה הגרמנית התהוותה לה "הביצה הירושלמית", שכבה חברתית חדשה של רווקים ורווקות בסביבות גיל ה-30, חלקם הגדול משכילים ואינטליגנטים מאוד, שאינם מוצאים את מקומם במסגרות הדתיות הקיימות. הם גרים בדירות שכורות הפזורות ברחבי העיר, חלקם סטודנטים, חלקם כבר עובדים במשרות מכובדות וכמעט כולם מחפשים אהבה ומוצא מהמצב שאליו נקלעו – מצב המתנה זמני ("עד החתונה") שהפך להיות מצב קבוע

[Rough translation: In Rehavia, Katamon, Nahlaot and the German Colony is "the Jerusalem Swamp," a new social segment of single men and women in their 30s, most of them educated and very intelligent, who don't find their place in the existing religious frameworkd. They live in rented apartments throughout the city, many of them students, others already working in prestigious roles and almost all of them looking for love and finding that the situation they're in--a constant state of waiting "until the wedding"--has become a more permanent situation.]

Wow. Looks like I picked the wrong time to quit writing a Jewish singles column. Maybe it's time to start that book after all.

Comments

[gila]

Hi Esther!

First, the word is "swamp" and not "egg".

Second, are you living in Israel now? Confused!

I heard about the show from Muqata but am a bit afraid to watch it--am afraid it might be too painful....

Gila

[Kay]

Are you watching this in Israel? Because I can't get the videos to load in New York. :(

[Esther Kustanowitz]

Gila, thanks for the correction--I've changed it. (But the letters in that word do translate to egg, so it's not entirely my fault.) I'm in Israel for the next month, and then am going back to NY (unless I get a business or other form of proposal that inspires me to stay). But we'll see what happens...

Kay, I'm watching in Israel, but if you're using Firefox, try Explorer. (I couldn't view in Firefox.)

[VJ]

Yes, Firefox evidently does not do vids for some reason. Neither 2 or 3 evidently. I just wanted to note after another elegiac sort of post over @ JJ I come over here and all your new pics look...well Happy! I'm glad to see that too. Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ' (I say you'll get at least one proposal before you leave...)

[VJ]

I did not know where to put this, so it goes down here. Hopefully you can make some good use of it someplace! Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'

"Pool, hypnotists and poker nights are helping to boost Britain's Jewish population

What makes a teenager give up clubbing and turn to God? Archie Bland hears how pool, hypnotists and poker nights are helping to reverse decades of decline in Britain's Jewish population"...

The Independent, Sunday, 29 June 2008

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/pool-hypnotists-and-poker-nights-are-helping-to-boost-britains-jewish-population-854954.html]

[Esther Kustanowitz]

So apparently the show is only viewable online if you're currently situated in Israel. And the second episode is missing those helpful Hebrew subtitles, which makes my comprehension more difficult, especially since at least one of the leads mutters. But I'm working my connections here and hoping to find someone who can give us Hebrew-speakers-but-non-natives some help...