0:00:00.939,0:00:03.189
The dictionary definition of trauma is:

0:00:03.189,0:00:05.055
Severe emotional shock and pain,

0:00:05.055,0:00:07.523
caused by an extremely[br]upsetting experience.

0:00:07.523,0:00:09.771
There is no set way to process trauma.

0:00:09.771,0:00:12.873
But, in "Unorthodox," we see how[br]two different communities,

0:00:12.873,0:00:15.089
one in Berlin, and another in[br]Brooklyn,

0:00:15.089,0:00:17.671
cope with the tragedies[br]that have shaped them.

0:00:17.671,0:00:21.056
And, in turn, we learn ways[br]to deal with our trauma.

0:00:22.696,0:00:26.088
In Brooklyn, trauma forms[br]19 year old Esty's,

0:00:26.088,0:00:27.990
and her community's,[br]identity.

0:00:27.990,0:00:30.673
The action follows[br]the secretive Satmar community

0:00:30.673,0:00:32.039
of Hasidic Jews.

0:00:32.039,0:00:34.571
Established by a rabbi[br]who had fled Satu Mare,

0:00:34.571,0:00:37.055
in present-day Romania,[br]during the Holocaust.

0:00:37.055,0:00:39.854
The Satmar community[br]does not mix with others.

0:00:39.854,0:00:41.206
In "Unorthodox,"

0:00:41.206,0:00:43.505
at the head of the[br]sex-segregated table,

0:00:43.505,0:00:44.805
for Pesach dinner,

0:00:44.805,0:00:47.690
an annual commemoration[br]of the Jews who escaped slavery

0:00:47.690,0:00:48.889
in ancient Egypt,

0:00:48.889,0:00:51.055
Esty's grandfather[br]gives his reasons why.

0:00:51.055,0:00:52.689
[Grandfather] We tell ourselves

0:00:52.689,0:00:54.258
the story of Passover

0:00:54.258,0:00:56.458
to remind us of[br]our suffering.

0:00:56.458,0:00:58.282
[Narrator] The show celebrates

0:00:58.282,0:01:00.290
the strong bonds[br]of family and tradition,

0:01:00.290,0:01:02.026
within Esty's community,

0:01:02.026,0:01:03.789
where religious customs [br]and prayers

0:01:03.789,0:01:05.372
can take place safely,

0:01:05.372,0:01:06.589
while deadly attacks

0:01:06.589,0:01:09.068
on synagogues, and [br]other venues frequented by Jews,

0:01:09.068,0:01:10.555
rise, across the world.

0:01:10.555,0:01:14.252
This community defies[br]anti-Semitism, by living devoutly.

0:01:14.252,0:01:16.040
We also see, in this scene,

0:01:16.040,0:01:18.088
how Satmar Jews [br]draw on past trauma,

0:01:18.088,0:01:20.757
to make members scared[br]of the big, bad outside.

0:01:20.757,0:01:22.641
[Grandfather] When we trusted

0:01:22.641,0:01:25.958
our friends and neighbors,

0:01:25.958,0:01:28.409
God punished us.

0:01:28.409,0:01:31.041
When we forget who we are,

0:01:31.041,0:01:35.508
we invite God's wrath.

0:01:35.508,0:01:36.954
[Narrator] The Holocaust

0:01:36.954,0:01:38.356
caused PTSD in its survivors.

0:01:38.356,0:01:39.889
Its impact lives on.

0:01:39.889,0:01:42.041
As Auschwitz survivor,[br]chemist, and writer,

0:01:42.041,0:01:43.576
Primo Levi puts it:

0:01:43.576,0:01:45.340
"Auschwitz is outside of us,

0:01:45.340,0:01:47.539
but it is all around us,[br]in the air.

0:01:47.539,0:01:50.789
The plague has died away,[br]but the infection still lingers,

0:01:50.789,0:01:53.007
and it would be foolish[br]to deny it."

0:01:53.007,0:01:55.408
This generational trauma[br]grows from the roots

0:01:55.408,0:01:58.559
of Esty's family tree,[br]and shapes Esty's personal identity.

0:01:58.559,0:02:01.077
She is discouraged from[br]exploring passions

0:02:01.077,0:02:03.707
that contradict[br]the community's values.

0:02:03.707,0:02:05.841
Her piano lessons[br]are so frowned upon,

0:02:05.841,0:02:07.696
she must take them [br]in secret.

0:02:07.696,0:02:09.375
Her teacher,[br]Vivian Dropkin,

0:02:09.375,0:02:11.774
is derided as 'a shiksa,'[br]or non-Jew.

0:02:11.774,0:02:14.676
But interestingly,[br]though the show never mentions it,

0:02:14.676,0:02:17.173
Dropkin is a secular Jew.

0:02:17.173,0:02:20.028
Despite her faith, her choices[br]are not Jewish enough

0:02:20.028,0:02:21.990
for Esty's devout community.

0:02:21.990,0:02:26.480
[Man speaking Yiddish.]

0:02:26.480,0:02:28.540
Many Orthodox Jews[br]believe that the way

0:02:28.540,0:02:30.591
to undo the trauma[br]of the Holocaust,

0:02:30.591,0:02:32.140
is to repopulate.

0:02:32.140,0:02:34.791
2013 research for[br]the Pew Center

0:02:34.791,0:02:38.256
shows that Orthodox Jews[br]have a birth rate of 4.1,

0:02:38.256,0:02:41.388
as opposed to the U. S.[br]national average of 1.8.

0:02:41.388,0:02:44.709
Esty totally believes[br]what she's been taught to believe,

0:02:44.709,0:02:46.022
later insisting,

0:02:46.022,0:02:48.679
"We are rebuilding[br]the six million lost."

0:02:48.679,0:02:50.662
Jews killed in the Holocaust.

0:02:51.452,0:02:54.141
[Grandmother] So many lost.

0:02:59.535,0:03:05.269
But, soon, you'll have[br]children of your own.

0:03:05.269,0:03:07.540
[Narrator] Six million[br]is no small sum.

0:03:07.540,0:03:10.521
So, alongside the housework[br]needed to keep her home tidy,

0:03:10.521,0:03:12.445
and her husband, Yanky Shapiro,

0:03:12.445,0:03:14.624
well fed and in perfectly[br]ironed suits,

0:03:14.624,0:03:17.256
Esty's job is to have[br]as many children as possible.

0:03:17.256,0:03:19.725
[Woman] You will have no leverage[br]in this marriage,

0:03:19.725,0:03:21.544
until there is a baby.[br]Understand me?

0:03:21.544,0:03:24.582
[Narrator] She is told that sex[br]will give her husband pleasure,

0:03:24.582,0:03:27.308
which, in turn, will give her[br]exactly what she wants:

0:03:27.308,0:03:29.359
what she has been told she wants...[br]a baby.

0:03:29.359,0:03:31.923
The problem with this way[br]of dealing with trauma,

0:03:31.923,0:03:33.941
as we see it through Esty's eyes,

0:03:33.941,0:03:35.508
is, it creates [br]a domino effect.

0:03:35.508,0:03:37.284
There is a field of academic study

0:03:37.284,0:03:38.597
called epigenetics,

0:03:38.597,0:03:39.991
which deals with the concept

0:03:39.991,0:03:41.642
of trans-generational trauma,

0:03:41.642,0:03:43.809
or, the idea that trauma[br]can be inherited.

0:03:43.809,0:03:45.259
Some studies suggest that DNA

0:03:45.259,0:03:47.675
changes in response[br]to horrifying experiences,

0:03:47.675,0:03:49.908
and that, then, passes[br]down generations.

0:03:49.908,0:03:51.911
Whether through epigenetics [br]or not,

0:03:51.911,0:03:53.976
in "Unorthodox," traumatized parents

0:03:53.976,0:03:56.328
unintentionally traumatize[br]their children.

0:03:56.328,0:03:58.744
Esty's grandparents are still,[br]understandably,

0:03:58.744,0:04:00.443
bereft by the Holocaust.

0:04:00.443,0:04:03.251
Their son, Mordecai,[br]is mentally unwell.

0:04:03.251,0:04:06.261
As for Leah, her trauma [br]comes, mainly,

0:04:06.261,0:04:08.959
from not quite fitting the mold[br]that's been set for her.

0:04:08.959,0:04:11.775
Esty is tarred by her parents' pain.

0:04:11.775,0:04:15.260
Now that she is a bride herself,[br]she finds the rules troublesome.

0:04:15.260,0:04:17.949
[Mrs. Shapiro] We shouldn't have agreed[br]to this marriage.

0:04:17.949,0:04:19.481
[Yanky Shapiro] Mommy, please!

0:04:19.481,0:04:22.129
[Mrs. Shapiro] The apple doesn't fall[br]far from the tree.

0:04:22.129,0:04:24.295
[Narrator] When Esty tries[br]to argue the case

0:04:24.295,0:04:26.934
for her to be pleasured,[br]rather than traumatized in bed,

0:04:26.934,0:04:29.332
using scripture as evidence[br]of God's will for it,

0:04:29.332,0:04:30.228
she is shut down.

0:04:30.228,0:04:32.948
[Yanky Shapiro] Women are not [br]allowed to read the Talmud!

0:04:32.948,0:04:35.855
[Narrator] This text is for men only,[br]not for women's eyes,

0:04:35.855,0:04:37.089
due to something known as

0:04:37.089,0:04:39.503
"Kavod Hatzibur," or the dignity[br]of the community.

0:04:39.503,0:04:42.516
Esty's story shows how[br]socially restrictive responses to trauma

0:04:42.516,0:04:44.003
often unfairly muzzle women.

0:04:44.003,0:04:47.260
Esty can't get away with half[br]of what her cousin in law, Moishe, can.

0:04:47.260,0:04:50.159
Moishe is a thief, a liar, [br]an aggressive lout,

0:04:50.159,0:04:52.160
with no consideration[br]for others.

0:04:52.160,0:04:54.760
Yet, his behavior seems rooted[br]In self-loathing.

0:04:54.760,0:04:56.759
His moral decay,[br]his own trauma,

0:04:56.759,0:04:58.378
is catching up with him,

0:04:58.378,0:04:59.948
as he realizes, he has neither

0:04:59.948,0:05:02.011
the commitment of one community,

0:05:02.011,0:05:03.457
nor the tools of another.

0:05:03.457,0:05:05.178
[Moishe cackles laughing.]

0:05:05.178,0:05:06.560
[Narrator] Meanwhile, Yanky,

0:05:06.560,0:05:07.730
a saint next to Moishe,

0:05:07.730,0:05:09.074
ends up meting out trauma,

0:05:09.074,0:05:11.202
through his childishly ignorant[br]commitment

0:05:11.202,0:05:12.893
to maintaining his community,

0:05:12.893,0:05:14.770
by any means available.

0:05:14.770,0:05:18.194
In Brooklyn, we see how trauma,

0:05:18.194,0:05:20.279
sadly, sometimes begets[br]more trauma.

0:05:20.279,0:05:21.944
As Esty's mom puts it:

0:05:21.944,0:05:24.018
[Leah] So much damage [br]done in Brooklyn,

0:05:24.018,0:05:25.612
in the name of God.

0:05:25.612,0:05:27.733
All the rules, all the gossip.

0:05:27.733,0:05:30.443
No wonder Esty couldn't stand it.

0:05:30.443,0:05:32.843
[Narrator] Berlin, meanwhile,

0:05:32.843,0:05:35.544
has a very different way[br]of dealing with trauma.

0:05:35.544,0:05:42.160
[Classical music.]

0:05:42.160,0:05:43.512
"Unorthodox" presents

0:05:43.512,0:05:45.311
Adolf Hitler's former stronghold

0:05:45.311,0:05:46.824
as a liberal, diverse idyll,

0:05:46.824,0:05:48.820
where people, especially the young,[br]can do

0:05:48.820,0:05:51.243
what they want, when they want,[br]with whom they want.

0:05:51.243,0:05:52.933
Once the epicenter of suffering,

0:05:52.933,0:05:54.524
Berlin counters its past trauma

0:05:54.524,0:05:55.739
by celebrating joy,

0:05:55.739,0:05:57.660
and reclaiming some of its character

0:05:57.660,0:05:59.944
that the Nazis tried to extinguish.

0:05:59.944,0:06:01.345
This is the city

0:06:01.345,0:06:04.260
that once saw the Golden 1920s[br]of the Weimar Republic,

0:06:04.260,0:06:06.241
when Marlene Dietrich[br]rose to fame,

0:06:06.241,0:06:08.214
cabaret was popular entertainment,

0:06:08.214,0:06:10.530
and the Bauhaus art movement[br]was founded.

0:06:10.530,0:06:13.110
This social liberalism[br]comes across in public displays

0:06:13.110,0:06:16.278
of affection, that the naive[br]and modest Esty is struck by.

0:06:16.278,0:06:18.359
She is used to a traumatic sex life,

0:06:18.359,0:06:20.309
that only ever happened in private,

0:06:20.309,0:06:22.160
yet was discussed so publicly.

0:06:22.160,0:06:24.178
In Berlin, the opposite is true.

0:06:24.178,0:06:26.877
This is because pleasure,[br]rather than procreation,

0:06:26.877,0:06:28.310
is the goal.

0:06:28.310,0:06:30.216
Esty begins to realize

0:06:30.216,0:06:32.127
that the world is not[br]as black and white

0:06:32.127,0:06:33.341
as she has been taught.

0:06:33.341,0:06:36.094
[Man] You could try to rescue[br]Robert's attempt at a salad.

0:06:36.094,0:06:38.004
[Narrator] The city's physical spaces

0:06:38.004,0:06:40.544
are examples of how traumatic sites[br]can be reclaimed.

0:06:40.544,0:06:42.842
On Esty's first excursion[br]with her new friends,

0:06:42.842,0:06:44.324
she ventures upon what is,

0:06:44.324,0:06:46.044
to her community back in Brooklyn,

0:06:46.044,0:06:47.231
hell.

0:06:47.231,0:06:49.127
[Man] When the Berlin Wall was up,

0:06:49.127,0:06:50.744
East German guards shot anyone

0:06:50.744,0:06:53.177
who tried to swim across this lake[br]to freedom.

0:06:53.177,0:06:55.345
[Esty] And now?

0:06:55.345,0:06:58.261
[Man] Now, you can swim[br]as far as you like.

0:06:58.261,0:07:00.221
[Mystical music.]

0:07:00.221,0:07:02.845
[Narrator] It might be[br]the location of trauma,

0:07:02.845,0:07:05.146
but it's not the source[br]of trauma.

0:07:05.146,0:07:07.278
Unlike the Mikvah that [br]blessed Esty,

0:07:07.278,0:07:09.759
a secular body of water[br]cannot bless, or condemn.

0:07:09.759,0:07:11.142
Only people can.

0:07:11.142,0:07:13.747
Of course, some people[br]will never be able to find joy

0:07:13.747,0:07:16.145
in the same waters Hitler [br]gazed across,

0:07:16.145,0:07:18.502
as he decided to end[br]millions of Jews' lives.

0:07:18.502,0:07:19.746
But in this scene,

0:07:19.746,0:07:21.280
Esty has [br]an opportunity to help

0:07:21.280,0:07:23.275
begin her new life,[br]within its waters.

0:07:23.275,0:07:24.929
Esty removes her wig[br]in this lake,

0:07:24.929,0:07:27.249
in a more extreme version[br]of the breakup haircut.

0:07:27.249,0:07:28.772
While the shorn hair[br]beneath it

0:07:28.772,0:07:30.226
is the imposition of a sect

0:07:30.226,0:07:32.278
that sees women's hair[br]as so tempting to men

0:07:32.278,0:07:33.761
it must be shaved off,

0:07:33.761,0:07:36.064
it is also an uncanny[br]and unintended reminder

0:07:36.064,0:07:38.078
of the ways in which[br]Esty's ancestors

0:07:38.078,0:07:39.843
were dehumanized[br]by the Nazis,

0:07:39.843,0:07:42.378
their heads shaved[br]in the concentration camps.

0:07:42.378,0:07:44.479
[Esty panting.]

0:07:44.479,0:07:47.212
[Narrator] Without this wig,[br]she can float in the water,

0:07:47.212,0:07:48.725
free to forget her trauma,

0:07:48.725,0:07:51.027
and all the rules and regulations[br]that led to it.

0:07:51.027,0:07:53.027
The lake scene proves how

0:07:53.027,0:07:54.735
expression of individual freedoms

0:07:54.735,0:07:57.750
can pay tribute to past generations[br]who were once restricted.

0:07:57.750,0:07:59.495
By swimming in the waters,

0:07:59.495,0:08:00.899
Esty and her friends

0:08:00.899,0:08:03.596
do what many from [br]previous generations could not.

0:08:03.596,0:08:05.547
Joy is, for them, a far more useful

0:08:05.547,0:08:07.566
tool of remembrance,[br]than guilt.

0:08:07.566,0:08:09.413
[Man] A lake is just a lake.

0:08:09.413,0:08:11.162
[Narrator] Esty's new friends

0:08:11.162,0:08:12.970
prove that trauma comes[br]in many forms.

0:08:12.970,0:08:15.538
Each carries with them[br]their own difficult histories.

0:08:15.538,0:08:17.200
Some come from war-torn countries,

0:08:17.200,0:08:18.454
have lost loved ones,

0:08:18.454,0:08:20.304
or grew up gay[br]in homophobic countries.

0:08:20.304,0:08:22.263
The friction between[br]Esty and Yael hinges

0:08:22.263,0:08:25.226
on how their shared trauma[br]is dealt with so differently.

0:08:25.226,0:08:27.516
[Esty] My grandparents[br]lost their whole families

0:08:27.516,0:08:28.779
in the camps.

0:08:28.779,0:08:30.762
[Yael] So did half of Israel.

0:08:30.762,0:08:33.095
But, we are too busy[br]defending our present,

0:08:33.095,0:08:35.079
to be sentimental [br]about our past.

0:08:35.079,0:08:36.362
[Narrator] Both Jewish,

0:08:36.362,0:08:38.649
Esty and Yael's ancestors[br]may have very well died

0:08:38.649,0:08:40.930
alongside each other [br]in the death camps,

0:08:40.930,0:08:42.584
but their responses[br]to this trauma

0:08:42.584,0:08:44.396
couldn't be more different.

0:08:44.396,0:08:47.047
Yael used music[br]as an escape from military duty,

0:08:47.047,0:08:49.046
and its inevitable traumas.

0:08:49.046,0:08:52.429
With her violin in hand,[br]she expresses herself as she chooses.

0:08:52.429,0:08:55.820
Esty quickly learns that,[br]in Berlin,

0:08:55.820,0:08:57.081
men and women,

0:08:57.081,0:08:58.145
secular Jews,

0:08:58.145,0:08:59.728
Muslims, Christians,[br]and others

0:08:59.728,0:09:01.110
play music together.

0:09:01.110,0:09:03.178
The only rules [br]are that they turn up,

0:09:03.178,0:09:04.932
stay focused, and [br]collaborate.

0:09:04.932,0:09:07.861
Esty no longer[br]muffles her own screams,

0:09:07.861,0:09:09.762
but unleashes her pain[br]and trauma,

0:09:09.762,0:09:11.894
using the creativity[br]she has always longed

0:09:11.894,0:09:13.347
to be able to wield.

0:09:13.347,0:09:15.867
Using Yael's unfiltered freedom[br]as a template,

0:09:15.867,0:09:18.894
Esty finally expresses [br]her personal identity.

0:09:18.894,0:09:22.310
[Singing]

0:09:23.452,0:09:25.510
[Narrator] The Berliners[br]of "Unorthodox"

0:09:25.510,0:09:27.744
haven't forgotten their trauma,

0:09:27.744,0:09:30.649
or that of the city[br]they live in,

0:09:30.649,0:09:32.795
but have found ways[br]to deal with it,

0:09:32.795,0:09:35.883
reclaiming Hitler's land[br]for their own, joyful purposes.

0:09:35.883,0:09:38.219
Wanting personal freedoms[br]for everyone,

0:09:38.219,0:09:39.645
especially women.

0:09:39.645,0:09:42.946
Using creativity as a conduit[br]to exorcise their trauma.

0:09:42.946,0:09:45.526
That is not to say[br]Brooklyn is totally opposite.

0:09:45.846,0:09:47.779
Like everything else in the show,

0:09:47.779,0:09:49.778
from the costumes to the sets,

0:09:49.778,0:09:52.829
"Unorthodox" handles trauma[br]sensitively and beautifully.

0:09:52.829,0:09:55.195
No one is outright good,[br]or outright evil.

0:09:55.195,0:09:57.033
Some people struggle in Berlin,

0:09:57.033,0:09:59.898
in the same way others thrive[br]in Brooklyn.

0:09:59.898,0:10:02.162
Human trauma[br]is complex and individual,

0:10:02.162,0:10:04.012
not black and white.

0:10:04.012,0:10:05.879
In "Unorthodox," we see

0:10:05.879,0:10:08.579
the classic tale of a Jew[br]escaping European trauma

0:10:08.579,0:10:10.363
and captivity, in reverse.

0:10:10.363,0:10:12.565
In Berlin, Esty discovers

0:10:12.565,0:10:14.370
that undoing trauma[br]can be as simple

0:10:14.370,0:10:15.681
as going for a swim,

0:10:15.681,0:10:17.428
communicating with outsiders,

0:10:17.428,0:10:19.198
and singing her heart out.

0:10:19.198,0:10:20.572
All on her own terms,

0:10:20.572,0:10:22.267
and in her own time.

0:10:22.267,0:10:33.815
[Soft music.]