A Strange Rebbe Among Us

Copyright Rabbi Eli Hecht
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In a recent film depicting Hassidic Jews, A Stranger Among Us, director Sidney Lumet gives us a rare view of how the Hasidim of Brooklyn live. This 200 year old group represents a special and unique branch of orthodox Judaism which is rarely seen in a Hollywood film. The movie offers an opportunity for the public to understand this unique group of people. As the saying goes, we now get the inside story.

Movie critics claim that Lumet's picture is the real thing.  It isn't.

My neighbors in sunny Southern California have taken a new interest in my Hassidic family and wonder if the mystical Kabbalah is practiced at home. Now that they have viewed the movie they wonder if perhaps we are not the real thing. They think a Hassidic family doesn't belong in a modern California. I know they are wrong but I can't blame them for their misconception.

The film's outrageous portrayal of a grand rabbi, or Rebbe, and his gifted son is so outlandish, it's not wonder they question my Hassidic authenticity.

I remember attending an exciting sermon by a grand rabbi. The subject was the Ten Commandments and the exodus from Egyptian slavery. Suddenly a young man interrupted the sermon and yelled that the rabbi was dead wrong!  He, himself had seen the movie, The Ten Commandments, by Cecil B. DeMille, and the movie version was different! How ludicrous to think that a movie was more accurate than the story told by the rabbi.

In A Stranger Among Us Melanie Griffith plays Molly, a Gentile police detective.  In order to solve a murder mystery she moves into a rebbe's house. She integrates with the people as a Jewess. The rebbe's son, Ariel, portrayed by Eric Thal is seen reading a page from the Kabbalah, a holy book. Eric reads the alleged esoteric words that translate to lovemaking and a graphic description of sexual foreplay.

Imagine a holy rebbe's son reading this to a Gentile police woman.  Nothing more absurd can happen, you might say. Hold on to your seat. There is an incredulous scene where the Rebbe's son (who claims to be the next in line to succeed the present rebbe) visits Molly at home. You guessed it; she kisses him wearing nothing more than an oversized shirt. How that can happen could not be explained by some mystical Kabbalah. It's the work of a misguided film director. Common knowledge of Hassidic life will tell you this can never happen. Kabbalah doesn't teach good sex and young Hassidic men don't visit girls (not even Jewish ones).

On the other hand, to think that the Hassidic community can't produce their own black sheep is simply naive. Every society has its problems and the Hassidic movement is no different. It just has a very small percentage.

The rebbe portrayed in the story is not real for many reasons. The outstanding flaw is his lack of power. A true and natural rebbe knows all; he would never allow his son to flirt nor be with a woman for whatever reason. A true rebbe is holy, quite clairvoyant and not blind to his children's behavior.  His actions are unequivocally clear, definite and precise. As flesh is weak, the rebbe would never, ever allow the situation to continue.

A Baal Teshuva is a Jewish man or woman returning to the fold. A Baal Teshuva is welcomed back and completely accepted in the Hassidic community. There is no "they and us", only a we. A Rebbe can see the heart and sincerity of a Baal Teshuva and, consequently, would know the true character of the person returning. The opposite was shown in the film.

To portray the Baal Teshuva as the villain and blame her for the upheaval in the Hassidic community is blasphemous and misleading. It makes all Baal Teshuvas appear bad and suspect of insincerity, something very wrong and unjust.

Sure 80 percent of the movie is happy and may be correct but the remaining 20 percent damns the film for misleading and deceiving the public. The illusory story would have been a great opportunity for the Hassidic community to be understood and appreciated.

It's important to remember that the Hasidim began their movement with one single man, Rabbi Yisroel Baal Shem Tov (master of the good name), 1698-1760. He was the father of the Hassidic movement. Thousands of his followers branched out to different parts of Eastern Europe, serving as rebbes. Each country had its rebbe and each rebbe had his own philosophy and life style. There are those rebbes who preach isolationism while others preach integration. Some dressed with long black coats and fur hats, called strimels, while others wore fedoras and dressed conservatively during the weekday and integrated with society.

In America and Europe there is a large group of Lubavitch Hassidim, Chabad, an acronym for intellectual philosophy. They are orthodox Jews with Hassidic attitudes much different from those portrayed in Lumet's film. They run modern day care centers, drug rehabilitation programs, and are politically active, something that Lumet chose to ignore.

Too bad for us that Mr. Lumet's film is stranger than life.