Due to the overwhelmingly positive response from the April session on 'Unorthodox', we have decided to offer an evening session and include a male perspective to the conversation. If you were unable to join us in April, we welcome you into this riveting conversation. If you joined us in April and would like to continue to explore the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, we welcome you back into the discussion to delve deeper into these insular communities.
Layah Kranz Lipsker will moderate a 90-minute discussion with a woman currently living and raising a family in the Satmar community, the community from which Esti, the main character in 'Unorthodox', fled. Singer Shulem Lemer, also living and raising a family within the Chasidic ultra-Orthodox community, will also join the discussion to address misconceptions of the community.
Using situations illustrated in the Netflix show, the discussion will explore topics such as the women's role in the community, from growing up to education to the matchmaking to having children to shaving head/wearing wig and wearing makeup; how the families support themselves and their employment; the feeling of isolation, community within the community; the role the outside world has on the community and access to google, smartphones, television; and, views on LGBTQ people/community.
Unorthodox is a Netflix miniseries about a Hasidic Jewish woman from Brooklyn who flees to Berlin from an arranged marriage and is taken in by a group of musicians — until her past comes calling.
Layah Kranz Lipsker is a Boston based Jewish educator and spiritual coach. For three decades, Layah has been sharing Jewish wisdom through engaging text study in Biblical literature and Midrash, through the lens of Kaballah. A research associate at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute, Layah is passionate about issues related to religion and gender and is the director of the Boston Agunah Taskforce, an organization focused on eliminating gender disparities in Jewish divorce practices. Layah serves as scholar in residence for spiritual retreats, trips to Israel, and lectures widely. She lives in Swampscott, MA and is the mother of six amazing human beings.