Haart’s anger is justifiable, and in parts of the show she and her family engage in beautifully nuanced conversations about Judaism and feminism. But watching and judging them on TV isn’t activism.

It’s true that some practices of more Orthodox Jews would be morally reprehensible to many of us. When Haart visits the kosher grocery in Monsey, the camera work turns Orthodox shoppers into a leering monolith. At one point Haart’s daughter describes a rumor about a secret all-girl Monsey relations ring. “They’re fundamentalists,” Haart proclaims again and again, calling her community “dangerous.” Her young son’s religious behavior is “super looney.” The less observant members of the family laugh at and berate the Monsey Jews. They wear five-inch heels as they walk the line between ambition and entitlement.īut the show works overtime to paint ultra-Orthodox Jews as extremists, as evil people. Like that family, Haart’s clan is telegenic, with the rare alchemical skill of turning the mundane (eating salad, doing paid Instagram promotions) into high drama. She and her four children feel like a new generation of Kardashians, but more substantive. Haart is incredible-funny and feminist and, apparently, a very successful businesswoman. So it is hard for me to enjoy My Unorthodox Life, which follows Julia Haart, a woman who left the Orthodox Jewish community of Monsey, to start a new life as a mostly secular Jew in Manhattan. Authorities said the store was targeted because it was frequented by Jews. That same month, just miles away in New Jersey, shooters opened fire at a kosher grocery store, killing three people. Earlier a father of four was attacked standing outside of his synagogue. It was the second time in a month that a rabbi was stabbed in the tiny town of Monsey. Prosecutors said he had googled things like “Why did Hitler hate the Jews.” On December 28, 2019, a man wielding a machete broke into the home of a Hasidic rabbi in Monsey, New York, during a Hanukkah party. I also think that the show will directly contribute to making life more dangerous for some Jewish people. It’s thrilling and unexpected, and it doesn’t give me that terrible reality TV feeling, as if my brain has secretly been removed and stored in a facility. I could watch 18,000 hours of the wildly compelling new Netflix reality show My Unorthodox Life. The new Netflix reality series is addictive, yes-but potentially harmful. Thu, Jul 15 2021, 4:06 am My Unorthodox Life Is Compelling TV That Could Make Life Harder for Some Jews

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