STUCK

Image credit:
https://www.nytimes.coml

Netflix, if you search hard enough, can be a treasure trove of inspiring real-life stories.

For two nights, we've been glued to “Unorthodox,” a four-episode series about Esty, a young Jewish woman trapped in an arranged marriage which she tried to escape.

It was inspired by the memoirs of Deborah Feldman who left her ultra-conservative Hasidic community in Williamsburg, New York, to build a new life in Berlin. 

Hasid per Wikipedia means pietist or piety. Hasidists are ulra-conservative Jews who are extremely devoted to observing the law and its letter. 

The story was an eye-opener, to say the least---that in this age, a group of people still adheres to whatever Moses and those after him who imposed rule-upon-rule-upon-rule on their people.

We applaud those who observe Mosaic law. But could anyone, really?

This contemporary Hasidic community thought they were doing just that. As the story unfolded, we follow an innocent young woman weighed down by layers of do’s and don’t’s, and rituals and forms:

First, the arranged marriage. Imagine getting hitched with someone you'd never met.

Image credit: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life

Second, the pressure to procreate. Marital sex without love or pleasure, and for the mere purpose of producing an heir could be punishing.

Third, women treated as subordinate to men. Esty practically didn't have a life---forbidden to sing or play the piano or follow any of her passions, because “women simply were not allowed to”. But she did it in secret anyway, and found her voice in Berlin..

In short, a culture of rules without heart. If we search hard enough, we'll discover many more tribes or cultures with even more abusive or stringent demands than these; with women and children mostly at risk.

And isn't it strange that in our day and age, we still find people stuck in ways which value rites or forms—-even cruel practices---more highly than love, compassion and respect.

I can't judge if this movie's producers were biased. But this we're sure of:

God knew we could not follow the law in its entirety. That's why Jesus came---that grace and truth be ours (John 1:7); and the law be etched in our own hearts and minds (Hebrews 10:16---not decreed by man, but with the help of His Word (the bible) and His Spirit in us.

That's why we can do good, love, be patient and self-controlled, kind, faithful, gentle; and most of all experience His peace (Galatians 5:22-23)---none of which can be taken away from us despite difficult situations; and against such, there is no law!

I pray the real Esty would know this---that freedom is found in Christ alone, because physical freedom is not freedom at all unless one's soul is saved from sin which in itself is entanglement. 

Prayer: O God, help me to understand that real freedom is found only in Christ. Help me to understand your Word. Plant it in my heart and mind, that I may follow and obey you and no longer be trapped by what others expect of us. Save me and rule over my life from now on. In Jesus' mighty name.