I am not naive enough to believe that BBC is very sympathetic to Jews and especially to Orthodox Jews, but not cynical enough to believe fully the logic of 'they' vs. 'us'. Of course that we belong to different world and one of the most obvious example has to do with the 'laws' of marriage, but my conclusion after watching so-called 'documentaries' is that many producers and journalists simply do not do their job correctly. Another topic that you will find often featured in the media is related to nidah laws.
Take, for instance, the BBC Two documentary A Hasidic Guide to Love, Marriage and Finding a Bride. The topic is very interesting and there are a lot of things to be said about, especially when you address the London Jewish community. The author is featuring some marginal Jews or people situated somehow in a countercultural paradigm - who else would accept being called 'Orthodox' and answer about intimate life choices ? - and thus, the meaning is diminished. True is that it is not easy to marry your children, especially in London - when you went into prison, but I suppose that it is not available in the case of London Haredi, but it operates similarly in the case of any high-end family. To take an extreme example, the Queen Mother will not jump of happiness to find out that one of her nephews is entering a family with a splitted family with a bad reputation. Plus, I suppose that people are getting more or less drunk to any wedding, not necessarily at a Hasidic one.
What did you expect, some may say? I think it is a huge potential to try to explain a lot of things about Judaism that the mainstream media fails to do it. Obviously, there are enough talented people around that are able to do it, including among the Jewish Brits.
No comments:
Post a Comment