A friend and I (neither of us are Jewish) saw this movie on DVD last night and found it a fascinating look into the Orthodox community. One thing puzzled us: exactly what was it that the "visitors" did which offended the neighbors so much? Was it just playing a boombox outdoors (on the Sabbath, perhaps?). Or cooking outdoors? Or non-kosher meat? Please forgive our ignorance, but perhaps someone can enlighten us on the issues involved here!
shareI can't quite remember, but I'm quite sure that they were playing the music on a high holiday - Succot. Like the Sabbath, on days like these it is forbidden to turn on anything electric, such as music.
Also, as this was an extremly orthodox neighbourhood, they cannot listen to any non-jewish music. They are forbiden to listen to women singing (including music.) I'm pretty sure the music they were listening to broke these rules!
There are no rules prohibiting you from cooking outdoors specifically. Perhaps the meat was unkosher, I don't think the movie specifically told us. Also, if it is a high holiday cooking is forbidden (lighting a falme for the BBQ.)
Hope that helps!
i think the neighbors wouldve been offended by any of the perceived transgressions - non kosher meat, loud non jewish music, cooking on a holiday. when you add to it two outsiders acting like psychotics in a normally very quiet community, well, theres the outrage.
sharei doubt in a religious community (let alone it being in israel) they would sell non-kosher anything
shareDid they buy the meat in the neighborhood? They went out shopping, so I'm not sure. The returning husband definitely looked at the kabobs, and the wife used one as a weapon... so it may have been one of the offenses. Wouldn't dancing be another? And drinking hard liquor by the bottle in the street? And being loud? Neighbors yell about the volume early on in the film. I think that in very traditional neighborhoods, any of these behaviors would be license for loud censure from surrounding homes...
shareIt was not on the holiday itself, it was on the intermediate days when shopping is permitted. And cooking is permitted even on the holiday itself (though not on Sabbath). And the meat was surely kosher as they purchased it locally.
In short, their "offence" was not against any specific techinical law on the books. It was playing loud, secular music, carrying on in public, and in general acting to disturb the uniformity and haredi ambience of the neighborhood.
IMO, it's like this: Things in this world can be used for "ruchnius" or "gashmius" purposes, spiritual or mundane (or base), respectively. You see her singing a song and him dancing and them eating in an elaborate hut out in the middle of the courtyard, but no one give it a second glance. It's all for the glory of God.
What they did was take each of these elements and avoid any hint of the spiritual. They make meat to eat, but like pigs rather than in the sukkah. They play music, but to descend rather than transcend. They berate and antagonize the residents when they themselves are guests in their home. And all in public, flaunting it where these people try so hard to focus every bit of their actions in life towards service of the Lord.
One of the things he's pointing out is that like the Rabbi said to Moshe, avoid anger. These are the masses amongst the Orthodox. They mean well and follow the Torah (the Jewish laws), but sometimes still have much to improve within themselves. While there are times to be angry (again, when it's in the service of God), rarely is it to anyone's gain.
Part of the irony is that it's the Rabbi (the epitome of the spiritual Jew) and Moshe (recent returnee to religious religious observance) who get the internal elements and really care about what God wants of them, with everyone in between all affronted by the apparant 'evildoers' in their midst. If they stopped to think about how God wants them to react to those two, and each other, it would have been a very different scene. But then again, who's to jusge!
One of my favorite jokes is about a yeshiva (school for Torah study) that focussed on Nevardik mussar (a philosophy of ethics stressing the smallness of man in the context of God and his creation). So, a man walks into a Nevardik yeshiva for the afternoon prayers (orthodox Jewish men try to always pray three times a day with 10 or more adult Jewish males) but arrives early. While waiting in the main hall, he notices they are all shukling (swaying back and forth in concentration) and saying "ich bin gor nisht" (I am nothing) over and over. It still not being time to pray he takes a seat in the back and, after a minute or so, begins to shukle some and mutter "ich bin gor nisht" intially to himself, but gradually becoming more confident and louder. Finally he's really in the swing of it, chanting I'm nothing! I'm nothing! Right along with the other students whereupon the student on his right turns to his other neighbor while pointing to the man and says with a snort "Look who thinks he nothing!"
Glad you enjoyed it!!! I just saw it and thought it was fantastic. If you want to know what an Orthodox Jew dreams of being like (well, at least this one), catch the moment when the Ushpizin return after being tricked. The wife is so happy you see her proclaiming her love and infatuation with the kind and generous and sweet, sweet...God!
[deleted]
Unless you're religious yourself, which the neighbors were, so the question makes sense, and flamers just waste all that otherwise good digital ink for nothing...sigh.
shareits like when my upstairs neighbors get loud and annoying with their rap music, but i cant really do much about it because the walls or floors are to thin to prevent it. BUT, if the entire apartment complex was quiet and not wanting to hear that music, then the entire complex would go into an uproar because it disrupts the normal flow of life.
also, the drinking to intoxication didnt help.
Even though they guests were disrespectful, I felt the movie was strongly against secular Jews (My personal opinion).
As a secular Jew, I didn't enjoy the movie .
I don't think it was at all.
In fact, it shows that anyone can repent and turn back to Hashem and the Torah, no matter what they've done.
These men were secular, but that wasn't the main idea, they were criminals. This is why they displayed their awful behaviour. The reason they were secular was probabley because someone who follows the Torah wouldn't end up as a criminal.
[deleted]