Deborah Feldman wrote a book about her flight from the Hasidic community. The American publisher called it a memoir. The German publisher called it a novel. A discrepancy I can only attribute to the difference in what passes for truth in America and Germany. One might almost think of it as the ultimate irony. The controversy stirred up by the book’s publication in the USA made it a best seller. But the author found it expedient to betake herself to Berlin. Where she continues to profit from her questionable exposé.

Fortunately, the creators of this series produced a compelling and sensitive work. It is a transformation more than an adaptation. Thanks to the wonderfful work by our own Eli Rosen as consultant in all things Yiddish , the painstaking effort by the creative team to accurately depict the Satmar Hasidic community in every detail, including the Yiddish dialect spoken by the actors, is a testament to their sincerity and empathy. Of course, the thing I love about it is the fact that a great deal of it is in Yiddish ,intelligible Yiddish,  and that our company members played such a large part in making that happen.

It will be interesting to see how the film is received by the German public. The posters are up on billboards all over Berlin. I wonder how they will fare over time.