Srugim: Sippuri Savtah (Grandmother's Stories) Rewatch

October 13, 2017 4:11 PM - Season 1, Episode 2

The one about pants, beds, and laundry and whether a pilot is a better date than a doctor.

The episode begins with Hodaya trying to convince Reut that she should transition to jeans but Reut is reluctant. She wears pants but only if they are loose. However it turns out Hodaya herself still has issues about wearing pants because she hides from her grandmother on the street because she, Hodaya, is wearing pants. Also when she visits her grandmother in the nursing home she is afraid her grandmother does not recognize her because she is wearing pants. Considering that pants do not cover your face or change the sound of your voice this left me a bit incredulous but I suppose she meant that her grandmother would never consider a pants-wearing woman could be a relative.

Reut's bed has broken but she does not want to replace it because in her mind that would lead to a slippery slope of replacing all her furniture and getting too comfortable in her singleness. She tells Amir that if she were to be too comfortable there would be no reason to get married.

Amir and Nati discuss how their interactions could be viewed by the opposite sex. Amir thinks a woman calling you over to fix her bed seems like the basis for romantic intentions. Nati disagrees but explains that the act of taking his laundry over to Yifat's apartment means she will see him in a romantic light because he is showing his need to be cared for by a woman.

Yifat and Hodaya have their own dating discussion, namely is an Israeli army pilot better than a doctor? Yifat is dating both but she has a definite leaning towards the doctor.

Note: I was a bit reluctant to start a Fanfare page about this show even though it fascinates me because I was a bit concerned that I might use the wrong words or descriptions. To begin with, in the show the friends divide themselves from others by calling themselves religious. In the third season they will also describe how they are different from Extreme Orthodox. Wikipedia describes the friends as Religious Zionist. A review in Slate calls them Modern Orthodox. I suppose the way we would describe them would differ if they were living in America which is what I am more familiar with.

I am surprised by how the men differentiate themselves from the non-religious in their clothing (kippahs and tallit katan) yet the women don't except when they cover their heads after marriage. Yifat is asked in the first episode if she would cover her head after marriage and she says she hadn't thought about it so I'm guessing that this rule is not hard and fast.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy (2 comments total)

To begin with, in the show the friends divide themselves from others by calling themselves religious. In the third season they will also describe how they are different from Extreme Orthodox. Wikipedia describes the friends as Religious Zionist. A review in Slate calls them Modern Orthodox. I suppose the way we would describe them would differ if they were living in America which is what I am more familiar with.

Yeah, a lot of the confusion comes from differences in terminology between the US and Israel. The characters in Srugim are what are generally referred to in Israel as Dati Le'umi, or Religious Zionists (or sometimes just as 'srugim', hence the name of the show). These are 100% observant religious Jews, who still dress normally (albeit modestly), have normal jobs, and serve in the Israeli army (which they see as a religious obligation). They still interact with secular society, despite being sort of apart from it. This contrasts them with the haredi, or ultra-orthodox Jews, who dress differently (think black coats and hats), generally do not work (they study Torah full-time and live off of government subsidies instead), and do not serve in the army (they get an exemption from the draft for religious study, which is a source of no small amount of tension in Israeli society). Haredim are pretty much entirely separate from modern society, living entirely within their own distinct community.

In the US, the closest parallel to the dati le'umi is Modern Orthodoxy; in terms of belief, practice, and integration with the broader society they're pretty much the same, the distinctions are very narrow (wikipedia touches on them). Often when Modern Orthodox Americans make aliyah they wind up dati le'umi. But the terms aren't interchangeable, you would really never call someone in the US dati le'umi or someone in Israel Modern Orthodox.

(America also has its haredi Jews, who are essentially identical to Israeli haredim - unlike MO/dati le'umi, the terminology is the same for both. You'll also hear them refered to, both in Israel and the US, as hasidic Jews. Technically these aren't the same thing - all hasidim are haredi but not all haredi are hasidim - but the specifics of the distinction gets in to fairly fiddly details of religious history that I won't get in to here; you can for all intents and purposes think of the two terms as interchangeable)
posted by Itaxpica at 10:25 PM on October 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Oh I see. So there really is a difference between the Modern Orthodox in America and the Dati Le'umi. One of the characters introduced in season 2 will become Ultra-Orthodox in season 3 and the friends all know right away because he wears the broad brim hat. On the other hand, Reut will date a "Yeshiva boy" and while he dresses like all of the other men she is friends with he comes across as more religious because he has no other job besides studying the Torah and still lives with his mother. I would have guessed he had never served in the army but maybe I'm wrong.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:35 PM on October 14, 2017