צולם ביום חול

Haredim - A Documentary Trilogy

A rare journey to the heart of ultra-Orthodox community in Israel

gevald-kid

Approximately 700,000 Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) live in the state of Israel. I have related to them as a homogenous, black, threatening mass more than once. Like the media, I too saw the ultra-Orthodox as faceless and devoid of biographies. I want to look inside and to see the nuances, and more than that – to see how we look in their eyes.

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This trilogy, for the first time, enables the Haredi community to tell its own story, of its efforts to face the challenges and the emotions posed by the state, the modern economy, and secular culture. The series follows the work and worldview of six pivotal figures in different streams of ultra-Orthodoxy, from the ardent anti-Zionist to those who play an active role in Israeli society and the institutions of the state.

The Haredi community has survived in the state of Israel with great success, acquiring budgets and parliamentary influence, and, most significantly, establishing hundreds of yeshivas that have become the most efficient refuge against external influences. The state is a clear, well defined enemy that can be countered with organized ideology. However, the enemy becomes more dangerous and evasive with the introduction of technologies such as the internet and the advertisements reflecting the wealth of the world outside the walls, the career-oriented world developing beyond the narrow confines of the yeshiva. Haredi society creates many solutions aimed at incorporating the modern without damaging the foundation of ultra-Orthodoxy: places of employment with complete separation between men and women, an internet network supervised by religious leaders, and kosher cellular phones. Nonetheless, the differentiation of the ultra-Orthodox community appears to be gradually breaking down. Each of the three films offers an intimate meeting with two characters, involved with the delicate attempt to find the fine line between differentiation and integration.