 |
|
|
| Sunday, August 24, 2003 |
The Bold and the Bubbes: Imagine the characters on your favorite soap opera donning kippot and continually uttering "praise the Lord." If that's too hard for you, just tune in to Israeli television. A new half-hour show, "The Rebbe's Court," began airing on Azure, a cable channel devoted to Jewish issues, and depicts Hasidic Jews engaging in soapy stories. The show is actually headier than you might think, focusing on issues such as the divide, and often contempt, between secular and religious Israelis.
But a soap is still a soap. The main plot centers on the son-in-law of the local Rebbe, who is expelled to the secular world after being falsely occused of gambling a quarter-million of the community's cash. His wife, the beautiful Zippora, believes in him though and spurns the matchmakers looking to get her a new guy.
As for the challenge of portraying steamy storylines when you can't cross the line of tzniut standards, Ranana Raz (Zippora) comments, "The eyes talk a lot." If the show takes off, the eyes will most definitely have it. Unfortunately, the Hasidic community won't, because their rabbis refuse to let them have TVs.
"Maybe they'll find good neighbors to let them see the program," said Azure's program director. "They will not be able to resist temptation."
|
|
|
