Frume Sarah's World

So I sit down to enjoy one of my favourite television programs and once again am hit with that awful feeling.

The SVU was investigating the rape of a young boy who doctors believed was a frequent victim of sexual abuse. David’s mother, Rachel told the detectives to question David’s father Alvie, a Hasidic Jew who David spent weekends with. Munch and Stabler began to suspect David’s tutor, Jacob, of the abuse.

Oh no! It’s not that sexual abuse doesn’t occur in the Jewish community. It’s that I certainly don’t want that being aired on television.

Munch and Stabler went to pay Jacob a visit at the Torah Vayirah to ask him some questions. They reached a roadblock in their investigation when the Rabbis had already held their own trial and declared Jacob innocent. Stabler later discovered Jacob was only acting suspicious because he was having a forbidden affair with a woman also at the Torah Vayirah. Jacob’s alibi checked out on the morning of David’s rape.

The rabbis declared the alleged rapist innocent? By whose authority? The Talmud agrees that in matters of civil and criminal law, the rabbis have no jurisdiction. Dina d’malchuta dina — the law of the kingdom is the law. In other words, we Jews must obey the laws of the land in which we live and when we don’t, we are to be held accountable by the civil authorities.

David had been kidnapped and the detectives discovered Alvie had obtained a passport for his son. Cragen alerted Stabler, Munch and Rachel that it looked like Alvie was taking David to an Orthodox community in Canada. Once they arrived in Canada, Munch and Stabler were met with obstacles from the citizens of the small Orthodox town who didn’t take kindly to the New York City detectives.

Terrific. Just add kidnapping to the whole mess. And forgery as the mother had not been a party to the procurement of a passport for her minor son. How many mitzvot have been broken now? Are you keeping count? And as if that was not enough, the town (Kehilat Moshe) was described in such a way that it just reinforced what they’ve always said about us. That we are clannish and just not a part of the larger society, beholden to no other laws or mores than our own. [I seem to recall a certain vizier making those exact assertions to the King.]

Leaving aside the unlikeliness that a man who recently became chassidish was able to grow some serious peyos in such a short amount of time, the entire premise was just absurd. The town is clearly meant to represent an enclave of zealous cooreligionists. The mother’s voiceover states that:

…in the town, the women wear long skirts, they are separated from the men at shul and in the Temple, there are no cell phones, no influences from the unclean modern world.

FIrst of all, these cops are from Manhattan. How likely is it that they have yet to run into observant Jews? Dressing modestly is certainly not confined to the febrente (ardent) folks as even the more liberal Orthodox Jews embrace the idea of dressing in a reserved fashion. Praying seperately has been a practice in the modern Orthodox community as well. As for the cell phones, I find that a little difficult to believe having seen my share of observant Jews on their mobiles. The description of this Jewish town might have easily been of an Amish village.

It is the desire to shield our children from the secular influences that most likely seems the strangest. And yet, in our world which is filled with an increased rate of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and adolescnet drug abuse, I admit that I wonder if there is just the smallest amount of wisdom in keeping society at bay.

Ever since he saw High School Musical 2, Beernut has been pleading with us to watch High School Musical. Of course, we had not explicitly allowed him to watch HSM2. He saw it at day camp during winter break. Not wanting to outright ban the movie, I explained that I wanted to view it first in order to determine its appropriateness.

Beernut: Mom, there’s nothing scary about the movie. There are no bad guys and no shooting.

Me: I know, but Beernut, there are other things that might make a movie inappropriate for a 7 year old.

Beernut: Like what?

Me: [Oh, I so did not want to answer this question.] Um…like kissing. Does anyone kiss in the movie?

Beernut: Nah. Everyone knows that kissing isn’t allowed in school, Mom.

Okay, so I’m safe for the time being. But I imagine that the day will soon arrive when our conversations about such imagery will take a very different turn.

I love television. And movies. And magazines. But the images and content are getting more and more revealing. And more violent. I have never considered myself a prude or socially conservative, but I am beginning to worry if there will be a negative effect on our kids.

And speaking of kids, what about the kids who aren’t rape victims in real life but play them on TV? While the trauma has not occurred to the young actors and actresses, I can’t help but wonder if portraying a victim causes nightmares (at the very least) or lingering psychological damage.