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Question about Jewish tradition and sex after Shabbat dinner

posted 16 years ago by ppllkk
4 replies | jump to latest

When the girls are in bed in Scarsdale after Shabbat dinner, after the lights go out, there is a brief bit of dialogue.

- Wait, Jess. What are you--

- Shh. Stop talking.

It's day ten.

I take the last two lines to be Jessica speaking, and I wonder about the significance of "It's day ten." It is sort of slipped in there; I had to turn on the subtitles to figure out what was being said.

Is this the 10th day of the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? Does it being the 10th day mean that the period of repentance is over, or is this a particularly inappropriate time to have same-sex sex in your parents home.

I do have a feeling that both the girls are experiencing a normal adolescence, if somewhat belated, for the first time. Perhaps Jessica initiating sex for the first and, I believe, the last time in the movie is a bit of adolescent rebellion. A bit of rebellion against a mother who is constantly trying to fix her up with people. It is certainly a striking circumstance for their first real sex.

Along the same line, I wonder if there is any particular significance in the Jewish tradition to all this taking place on Shabbat?

Phil King

[–] ramfrommaine 16 years ago

Remember earlier in the film, during the kissing sequences, when Helen and Jes are off camera, on the floor making out, and they get back up on the couch and they are talking back and forth and Jes say: "We should get there (going all the way) in about two weeks" and later follows up with "How about ten days" and Helen replies "Ten days is better." That's your "day ten."
Do or do not! There is no try!

[–] ppllkk 16 years ago

Thank you. You are quite right. I now notice there is even a reference to Day Ten when the girls are getting into a cab before the dinner.

I still wonder if there are any religious resonances connected to placing the big sex scene in a specifically Jewish religious context. Particularly since the movie opens with a Day of Atonement service. Maybe it was just the easiest way to get them all together, but I wonder.

[–] SarahRose 15 years ago

I don't think it's that deep. It's just Day Ten for them as a couple.

It's also not the last time they have sex either. They reference sex later.

[–] scrapindy 15 years ago

I'm not sure if they meant to make this point in the movie, because the Jewish characters did not seem all that orthodox: that having been said, the Sabbath is considered to be an especially holy time to have sex.