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The dictionary definition of trauma is:

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Severe emotional shock and pain,

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caused by an extremely[br]upsetting experience.

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There is no set way to process trauma.

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But, in "Unorthodox," we see how[br]two different communities,

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one in Berlin, and another in[br]Brooklyn,

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cope with the tragedies[br]that have shaped them.

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And, in turn, we learn ways[br]to deal with our trauma.

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In Brooklyn, trauma forms[br]19 year old Esty's,

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and her community's,[br]identity.

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The action follows[br]the secretive Satmar community

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of Hasidic Jews.

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Established by a rabbi[br]who had fled Satu Mare,

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in present-day Romania,[br]during the Holocaust.

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The Satmar community[br]does not mix with others.

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In "Unorthodox,"

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at the head of the[br]sex-segregated table,

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for Pesach dinner,

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an annual commemoration[br]of the Jews who escaped slavery

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in ancient Egypt,

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Esty's grandfather[br]gives his reasons why.

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[Grandfather] We tell ourselves

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the story of Passover

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to remind us of[br]our suffering.

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[Narrator] The show celebrates

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the strong bonds[br]of family and tradition,

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within Esty's community,

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where religious customs [br]and prayers

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can take place safely,

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while deadly attacks

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on synagogues, and [br]other venues frequented by Jews,

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rise, across the world.

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This community defies[br]anti-Semitism, by living devoutly.

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We also see, in this scene,

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how Satmar Jews [br]draw on past trauma,

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to make members scared[br]of the big, bad outside.

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[Grandfather] When we trusted

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our friends and neighbors,

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God punished us.

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When we forget who we are,

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we invite God's wrath.

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[Narrator] The Holocaust

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caused PTSD in its survivors.

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Its impact lives on.

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As Auschwitz survivor,[br]chemist, and writer,

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Primo Levi puts it:

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"Auschwitz is outside of us,

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but it is all around us,[br]in the air.

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The plague has died away,[br]but the infection still lingers,

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and it would be foolish[br]to deny it."

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This generational trauma[br]grows from the roots

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of Esty's family tree,[br]and shapes Esty's personal identity.

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She is discouraged from[br]exploring passions

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that contradict[br]the community's values.

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Her piano lessons[br]are so frowned upon,

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she must take them [br]in secret.

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Her teacher,[br]Vivian Dropkin,

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is derided as 'a shiksa,'[br]or non-Jew.

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But interestingly,[br]though the show never mentions it,

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Dropkin is a secular Jew.

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Despite her faith, her choices[br]are not Jewish enough

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for Esty's devout community.

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Many Orthodox Jews[br]believe that the way

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to undo the trauma[br]of the Holocaust,

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is to repopulate.

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2013 research for[br]the Pew Center

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shows that Orthodox Jews[br]have a birth rate of 4.1,

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as opposed to the U. S.[br]national average of 1.8.

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Esty totally believes[br]what she's been taught to believe,

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later insisting,

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"We are rebuilding[br]the six million lost."

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Jews killed in the Holocaust.

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[Grandmother] So many lost.

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But, soon, you'll have[br]children of your own.

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[Narrator] Six million[br]is no small sum.

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So, alongside the housework[br]needed to keep her home tidy,

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and her husband, Yanky Shapiro,

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well fed and in perfectly[br]ironed suits,

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Esty's job is to have[br]as many children as possible.

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[Woman] You will have no leverage[br]in this marriage,

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until there is a baby.[br]Understand me?

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[Narrator] She is told that sex[br]will give her husband pleasure,

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which, in turn, will give her[br]exactly what she wants:

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what she has been told she wants...[br]a baby.

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The problem with this way[br]of dealing with trauma,

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as we see it through Esty's eyes,

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is, it creates [br]a domino effect.

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There is a field of academic study

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called epigenetics,

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which deals with the concept

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of trans-generational trauma,

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or, the idea that trauma[br]can be inherited.

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Some study suggests that DNA

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changes in response[br]to horrifying experiences,

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and that, then, passes[br]down generations.

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Whether through epigenetics [br]or not,

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in "Unorthodox," traumatized parents

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unintentionally traumatize[br]their children.

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Esty's grandparents are still,[br]understandably,

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bereft by the Holocaust.

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Their son, Mordecai,[br]is mentally unwell.

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As for Leah, her trauma [br]comes, mainly,

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from not quite fitting the mold[br]that's been set for her.

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Esty is tarred by her parents' pain.

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Now that she is a bride herself,[br]she finds the rules troublesome.

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[Mrs. Shapiro] We shouldn't have agreed[br]to this marriage.

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[Yanky Shapiro] Mommy, please!

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[Mrs. Shapiro] The apple doesn't fall[br]far from the tree.

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[Narrator] When Esty tries[br]to argue the case

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for her to be pleasured,[br]rather than traumatized in bed,

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using scripture as evidence[br]of God's will for it,

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she is shut down.

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[Yanky Shapiro] Women are not [br]allowed to read the Talmud!

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[Narrator] This text is for men only,[br]not for women's eyes,

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due to something known as

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"Kavod Hatzibur," or the dignity[br]of the community.

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Esty's story shows how[br]socially restrictive responses to trauma

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often unfairly muzzle women.

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Esty can't get away with half[br]of what her cousin, Moishe, can.

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Moishe is a thief, a liar, [br]an aggressive lout,

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with no consideration[br]for others.

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Yet, his behavior seems rooted[br]In self-loathing.

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His moral decay,[br]his own trauma,

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is catching up with him,

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as he realizes, he has neither

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the commitment of one community,

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nor the tools of another.

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[Moishe cackles laughing.]

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[Narrator] Meanwhile, Yanky,

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a saint next to Moishe,

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ends up meting out trauma,

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through his childishly ignorant[br]commitment

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to maintaining his community,

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by any means available.

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In Brooklyn, we see how trauma,

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sadly, sometimes begets[br]more trauma.

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As Esty's mom puts it:

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[Leah] So much damage [br]done in Brooklyn,

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in the name of God.

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All the rules, all the gossip.

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No wonder Esty can't stand it.

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[Narrator] Berlin, meanwhile,

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has a very different way[br]of dealing with trauma.

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[Classical music.]

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"Unorthodox" presents

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Adolf Hitler's former stronghold

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as a liberal, diverse idyll,

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where people, especially the young,[br]can do

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what they want, when they want,[br]with whom they want.

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Once the epicenter of suffering,

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Berlin counters its past trauma

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by celebrating joy,

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and reclaiming some of its character

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that the Nazis tried to extinguish.

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This is the city

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that once saw the Golden 1920s[br]of the Weimar Republic,

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when Marlene Dietrich[br]rose to fame,

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cabaret was popular entertainment,

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and the Bauhaus art movement[br]was founded.

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This social liberalism[br]comes across in public displays

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of affection, that the naive[br]and modest Esty is struck by.

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She is used to a traumatic sex life,

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that only ever happened in private,

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yet was discussed so publicly.

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In Berlin, the opposite is true.

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This is because pleasure,[br]rather than procreation,

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is the goal.

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Esty begins to realize

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that the world is not[br]as black and white

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as she has been taught.

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[Man] You could try to rescue[br]Robert's attempt at a salad.

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[Narrator] The city's physical spaces

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are examples of how traumatic sites[br]can be reclaimed.

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On Esty's first excursion[br]with her new friends,

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she ventures upon what is,

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to her community back in Brooklyn,

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hell.