Ultra-Orthodox Dropouts - New Life for Jews in Germany
ARTE
In recent years, Germany of all places has become a refuge for Jews who have left their ultra-Orthodox, strictly religious communities. Rabbi Akiva Weingarten helps them find their way into a new, secular life.
Worldwide, more than 1.3 million Jews live in ultra-Orthodox communities. A kind of parallel world in which God's rules alone count. Every aspect of everyday life is clearly regulated: The women take care of the household and raising the children, the men devote their lives to the study of religion. According to estimates, ten percent of Jews in Israel alone leave their strictly religious community, and the trend is rising. Young adults in particular are fleeing, surprisingly to Germany. Akiva Weingarten grows up in a New York suburb, with the Satmarers, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect. In 2014, he makes a radical break. He leaves his wife and three children and starts a new life in Berlin. Without a family, without a credit card or a bank account - and without ever having learned a trade. In the meantime, a free community of former ultra-Orthodox has grown up around him, whom the rabbi helps with practical life and also theological questions. Dropouts Moshe Barnett and David Lamberger have been living together in a shared flat in Dresden for only a few months. They are not only looking for a new life, but also a new relationship with God.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews - How difficult is it to leave the community in Jerusalem?
Y-Kollektiv
Those who grow up in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community have their lives predetermined: what to wear, what to believe in, who to marry. Those who want to break out of the rigid system of the ultra-Orthodox are usually cast out. They have to leave their families behind, their children, their support. Finding their way in modern society, without the familiar rules, can be overwhelming.
The reporter duo Theresa Breuer and Vanessa Schlesier accompany Esti, who has already been to a rehab clinic several times for alcoholism. She left the ultra-orthodox Jewish community and her husband two years ago and is therefore rarely allowed to see her son. In the ultra-religious Jerusalem district of Mea Shearim, the reporters meet Nachi, an artist who grew up here. Nachi explains to them how he manages to walk between both worlds. He also takes them to Joelisch Kraus and his extended family, a well-known ultra-Orthodox who talks to them about the clear rules of the religion.
But how difficult is it to leave this closed community?