If you're a regular reader here, you'll know that I've recently fallen for a show on Israeli cable network YES! (I know, it's a little exuberant, but the other one is called HOT) called Srugim. (You can read my other post about it here.) Basically I've been gushing about the show to everyone I meet, and that included an accidental gush to the director/writer/creator (before I knew he was the director/writer/creator), whom I met at a Shabbat dinner. People all over Jerusalem are talking about it, and I hope that word is spreading, because this TV show belongs at Jewish film festivals in the US.
But now Srugim's really on the verge of making it. How do you know? Because in the same day, an Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem banned the show (hat tip to Jameel), and independent developers have launched the Hebrew Facebook "Which 'Srugim' Character Are You?" quiz application.
Banned in the J-L-E-M
R. Aviner, whose name was invoked in one of the last three episodes of the show in a discussion of whether it was permissible to date more than one person at a time, apparently sent a weekly message to people on his list calling the show "cheap, low and stupid content and its a disgrace to the religious Zionist community."
Admittedly, my modesty standards are different from those of R. Aviner's community. (And I happen to be a big fan of the show, feeling that the issues are presented sensitively and truthfully.) But having seen a bunch of these episodes and as a result of my involvement in the UWS Jewish singles scene, I would suggest that religious authorities in general have much to learn about the issues faced by and the real experiences of the religious singles community (in Jerusalem and elsewhere).
There's a Jewish concept of rebuking your neighbor when you think he's doing wrong. But the definition of "wrong" here is a little murky. While an ultra-Orthodox group might believe that TV itself is immoral, and that any TV show is licentiousness, when that show holds a mirror up to Orthodoxy and says, "look at yourself and look at what's really happening," that's a certain kind of loving rebuke as well. It's not "look at yourself, this is why we hate you and we are so out of here," it's "please see what we're experiencing and try to be a bit more supportive."
I hope that the ban was issued after someone actually watching it, instead of a knee-jerk reaction based on hearing about something being on TV that's critical of the religious community. But as I noted on Jameel's site, I do think there SHOULD be a warning before every episode, and that it should end with, "In some extreme cases, may lead to dancing." (G-d forbid.)
"Which Srugim Character Are You?"
I saw this and thought it was hilarious, for playing on the apparent addiction of people to "Who Are You?" style quizzes, as if any of us need a quiz to determine whether we're a Carrie or a Miranda, or a Chandler or a Ross. We identify with who we identify with, regardless of the outcome of the quiz. For instance, my taking this quiz resulted with my being assigned to the following character:
Nati is a handsome and successful doctor. Like a fish he swims in the religious "Jerusalem singles swamp." Nati lacks the ability to be happy, although surrounded by women, he doesn't find love.
OK, aside from pointing out what I hope is obvious (I'm not a man), Nati (played by Ohad Knoller) is one of the most exacerbating characters in the series, especially for single women. He's the kind of guy who knows you like him and still doesn't want to date you; he just likes having you around to make him feel like a prince. He seems like a total catch, but he's the kind of guy that women should look at and understand immediately: he's commitmentphobic and disrespectful of single women's time and energy. But because he's oblivious, so are we: instead, we fall right into a bright smile or a pair of eyes that seems to sparkle in a special way when he's around us. We see the potential, and what we want to see.
Dude. I mean, come on. I don't care what the quiz says: I'm not that guy. If anything, I'm his victim.
I'd take the quiz again to try to get different results (at least perhaps one of the women characters?), but sounds like maybe the creators need to create a separate quiz for men and for women. (And take out that question about the cake at shul, which I don't understand at all--maybe it's in the three episodes in the middle that I missed...)
What will next week hold for Srugim? Rumor has it that Jerusalemite is interviewing the creator next week, and Jameel's a constant souce of info and commentary, so stay tuned.
[Nati] just likes having you around to make him feel like a prince.
I agree with everything you said about Nati except for this point. The reason Nati hung around so much with Yifat wan not because it made him "feel like a prince", but rather because he genuinely felt completely comfortable and at home in her company. The tragedy of Nati -- and of the archetype that he represents -- is that he he has an irrational fear of drawing the obvious conclusions from this, and acting upon them.
R. Aviner... sent a weekly message to people on his list calling the show "cheap, low and stupid content and its a disgrace to the religious Zionist community."
See my response to R. Aviner's attack over at the Muqata.
Posted by: Lurker | September 05, 2008 at 04:07 AM
Thank you Citrin and Shabot for this informativ blog. As an "outsider" it is interesting to get what other cultures affects. Thank you once more and keep on posting. Greetings, Niki
Posted by: Niki | September 05, 2008 at 06:38 AM
See, honey, that's the problem with traditional rabbis: too Jewish! :)
Posted by: MichaelMichael | September 06, 2008 at 11:42 AM
i love being jewish.
watch friends online
Posted by: watch friends online | March 19, 2009 at 11:43 AM