Unorthodox

    When I first saw Unorthodox on the coming soon tab on the Netflix app, I got excited because I didn’t know much about the Hasidic Jewish community in the United States. I then realized this series was based on an actual person’s experience, that of Deborah Feldman, and her book Unorthodox: A Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. The Netflix series is a loose interpretation of the experience that Feldman had, but it has the same amount of gravity.
     This Emmy-nominated limited series follows the story of Esther “Esty” Shapiro, a Hasidic Jewish girl living in Williamsburg, New York. All her life, she knew what she would do as a wife and as a woman in her community, but after she found out she was pregnant, she realized she wanted more in life. With some help procuring German citizenship from her piano teacher and mother, Esty was able to leave the United States and fly to Berlin. Unbeknownst to her, her husband and his cousin chase her to Germany because of a mandate by the rabbi to bring her back home. Throughout, Esty slowly begins her journey of acceptance of her new role in a foreign place and learns to make her own goals––goals not dictated by one of the male figures in her life.
    A recurring theme of the series was Esty’s worldview being challenged in many ways. One of my favorite scenes happened in the first episode. The students that she met from the music school in Berlin took her to Wannsee Lake to swim and relax after practice. One of the students, Daniel, points out the house overlooking the lake that Hitler used to meet with his top officials to create the “Final Solution,” otherwise known as the Holocaust. Shocked, she immediately asks how all these people can swim in the lake. He answers, “The lake is just a lake.” Even though there was a reminder of the terrible things that happened to her family and people all around her, she could not blame people for wanting to enjoy life and spend an afternoon swimming in a lake. She even got up the courage to wade in the water, ultimately leaving behind her wig, called a sheitel, worn by married women in the Hasidic Jewish community as a head covering. To me, this symbolized her acceptance of leaving the community in Williamsburg and starting a new life in Berlin, with many possibilities.
    This limited series is a must-see. It is heartwarming to see a person who has left everything behind still be optimistic and strive for what they truly want most. All four episodes are now streaming on Netflix for your enjoyment.