MovieChat Forums > W ciemnosci (2012) Discussion > Why did the Jewish man bleed himself?

Why did the Jewish man bleed himself?

posted 12 years ago by dreemasharon
6 replies | jump to latest

Hello there, please excuse my ignorance! I was wondering why one of the Jewish men in the sewers wrapped a tourniquet around his arm and appeared to bleed himself? All the while, another man was screaming at him to stop praying, so I suspect it may be a flagellation type religious ritual? Or have I got the completely wrong idea? Can anyone shed some light on this? Much appreciated! :D

[–] Buff70 12 years ago

He was not bleeding himself.

That is an elaborate Jewish Orthodox praying ritual called 'Tefillin'; "there are two small leather boxes that contain verses from the Torah. They are worn on the head and on one arm and are held in place by leather straps. Observant men and boys who have had their Bar Mitzvah usually wear tefillin during the morning prayer services."

[–] dreemasharon 12 years ago

Thankyou for your answer, much appreciated!

[–] Cinamon 12 years ago

Thanks for the clarification.
I watched this very late one night ( or very early in the morning) and was tired, so I thought the guy was doing drugs, but somehow I knew he probably wasn't; came here to get it stratight.

[–] remifontainemoi 11 years ago

I thought he was shooting heroin.

[–] vpking77-276-694061 10 years ago

Absolutely, he was a drug addict. More likely he was using Morphine which was more readily available back then.

[–] osp80 10 years ago

i thought he was shooting up too,forgot some jews do that arm tying prayer thing.

then again their are nearly 0% jews in a 200mi radius of me.