A Life Apart - Hasidism in America

This film is informative but rather superficial. If you know well the hassidic world or search for a deep understanding of his ways and thinking, this will be not enough for you. It gives information and (bless God!!) is sympathetic, but if the mind and professional expertise of the fim makers is there, the soul is not. And the soul, the neshameh, is an important thing in hassidism after all...

The adherents of all religions seek purity of one kind or another, but only a handful of nonmonastic religious communities believe that radical separation from the world is a necessary condition for it. In the US, the Amish, the Hutterites, some of the more extreme fundamentalist Mormons, and the Hasidim are the religious groups which continue to live enclaved existences. In "A Life Apart," directors Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky explore the Hasidic community in NYC.

Most Hasidim came to the US in the wake of the holocaust. Four out of five European Hasidim were exterminated by the Nazis. After the war, the five surviving heads of Hasidic communities brought their people to the US to begin anew--not in search of the great American dream, as the film makes clear, but in search of a safe place to survive as an intact religious tradition. Accordingly, Hasidim keep to themselves, retaining their mode of worship, their distinctive garb, their community mores and norms. Their marriages continue to be arranged, their families continue to be hierarchical and patriarchal, children are educated apart from the world (and thus have many professional avenues closed to them), homes continue to lack television and computers. Goyim are shunned, as are non-Hasidic Jews. There is, as one interviewed scholar observes, a voluntary forsaking of the rich pluralism of American culture for the sake of a spiritual purity that, while rich in certain ways, can also be in-bred, sultifying for some, and arrogantly judgmental of outsiders. (But enclaves in America are hard to maintain, and more and more Hasidim are forced by economic straits to work outside of their community. The segment in the film devoted to this migration wonderfully features a klezmer rendition of "New York, New York" as background music.)

"A Life Apart" does a good job of highlighting the benefits and disadvantages of Hasidic exclusivity, and in doing so helps viewers appreciate the challenges faced by all enclaved religious communities. But the film fails to convey adequately the incredible spiritual richness of the Hasidic tradition. A few obligatory words are said about the Baal Shem Tov's focus on joy in religion, and his move away from legalistic and bookish Judaism. But nothing is said about the specifics of his teachings nor of the Hasidic rebbes whom he inspired. The upshot is that the film focuses on Hasidism primarily as a culture rather than a spiritual phenomenon.

Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker narrate the film. It's worth pointing out that Parker's annoyingly amateurish schoolgirl mode of delivery, as well as her public image from "Sex and the City" as a material girl, make her an odd and distracting choice.

I ordered this DVD from Amazon, and have been most impressed with it. The producers have really done a fine job of showing a glimpse of Chasidic life. My wife said after viewing it for about the third time that this makes her want to be Chasidic !! A warm, positive look at a world most of us don't often see, let alone understand. It even contains some detractors such as former Chasidim amd non-Jews looking in. Very well done.

I loved the documentary. I learned a lot about the Hadsidic community that I didn't know. Highly recommend it!

The focus of this documentary is the Brooklyn Hasidic community. The sharp-eyed viewer can spot the twin towers of the World Trade center, rising above the apartments, in one of the scenes.

The Hasidic movement began as a reaction against what some had considered the excessively rule-oriented and punitive view of God that characterized Orthodox Judaism. In Vilna (Wilno, Vilnius), the then-current rabbis denounced the new movement as a heresy, and its members were excommunicated. Yet Hasidism went on to become the dominant form of Judaism in eastern Europe. In the 19th century, some of its member turned away to substitute religions--Zionism, socialism, and Communism.

For centuries, the Hassidim viewed America as a wild land that was amoral and materialistic. Many Hassidim who did come to America, having seen what they considered to be the sterility of conventional American Judaism, were ever more determined to retain their traditional way of life.

The Hasidic movement stresses encounters with God in everyday life. Asceticism is rejected. The seeker of God should try to lose oneself in a mystic state. Gladness is the key to encountering God, while sadness is a barrier to the same. One Hasid is quoted as thinking of God having committed sins against the people even as he was repenting of his sins against God at Yom Kippur.

The Hasidim believe in traditional family roles, and do not believe that anyone should take on a different role. Women dress modestly. Many Hasidic families are huge--sometimes with 10-14 children.