Strictly Jewish: Australia's Most Orthodox Jewish Sect (Religion Documentary) | Real Stories

paper was light gold in medieval times [Music] i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] [Music] hidden in the heart of melbourne's latte society lives a secret religious sect an ancient jewish community whose traditions date back to biblical times just because the world has changed we haven't changed its followers are ultra-orthodox ultra-insular and ultra-strict not just in their dress code but in every facet of their daily lives to outsiders their ancient rituals may appear strange but these strict religious practices dictate their daily lives five seconds left and are at the epicentre of their faith [Music] steeped in piety and prayer strictly segregated by sex they marry within and for the most part shun the trappings of the modern world no devices in this house except for my telephone nothing like a community lost in time their strictly jewish world revolves around their sacred synagogue [Music] their clothing may be weird but we don't think we're mad at all now for the first time television cameras have been allowed inside this closely guarded sect [Music] but not everyone is happy about it welcome to the secret world of australia's adas israel community [Music] i was walking up the road and there was a punk on the other side of the road with a mohawk and he calls out from the other side of the road hey dude where'd you get your hairstyle i said no no this is a hat and he was like got the shock and he was like wow i need to get one of those what's with a hat have you seen any movies in the 50s and 60s everyone's wearing a hat we haven't changed if someone landed in riponly i often wonder what they would think seeing the garb which probably stands out the most within our community of the men but then i think hello i can go into town and see some very weird things that don't exactly explain themselves either arya razil and [ __ ] are all members of adas israel the most ultra-orthodox jewish sect in australia over the next jewish calendar year they will open doors into their homes and lives as they follow the 613 jewish laws the foundations of their faith even though we don't have televisions in our home just as i'm interested in other cultures i'd expect that other cultures are interested in what we do [Music] around 2 000 strong and growing adas members live in the melbourne suburb of ripon lee near trendy sinkhilda [Music] outwardly they're easily recognised by their furry hats known as strymles white stockings and long black coats that can be traced back to 19th century europe [Music] but the inner world of this secret sect has always been a mystery until now [Music] will never retire from his strictly jewish way of life this is all about the laws of men and women getting married born and bred into a desk if you like the wake of kosher he knows virtually everyone in the community everyone looks after everybody else and uh yes a little bit they stick their nose in other people's business too because everybody is virtually related to everyone by now this is a community directory telephones are dressed as emails of everyone in the community but [ __ ] doesn't need the directory to find his way around in this one square kilometer block adas members have recreated the lost world of their european jewish stettles or villages [Music] a circumcision to grave community that's virtually self-sufficient [Music] this is the local shopping center ripper lee these are our neighbors who will come down to the famous coffee shops over here [Music] here we have joe the barber he's italian but he's been the jewish barber for 44 years i started here but i was only 20. and uh i must admit i i think the jewish community looked me like one of their own honorary right joe this is the famous yummy's fish shop how are you this is where the yummy dip empire began the most popular product is hummus and turned it today to a almost multinational what's happening we have echel which is famous caterers razer fogle and yankel vogel because it's one-stop shopping we have a section of groceries like [ __ ] razil was also born into the adas community while she runs the deli with her husband she's first and foremost the matriarch of her ever expanding tribe we have 37 grandchildren and one great grandchild [Music] i don't think there's a human way to describe the joy the pleasure sense of loving and belonging when you have grandchildren you know they'll drop even the morning on their way to create and you hear them coming in they're going bobby bobby they call me bubby which is jewish for grandmother sometimes i just hold them and their hearts are racing because they know they're always going to get this huge welcome and they're just the best part of our lives as the children grew up and i had more time on my hands i became a jeweler a doula supports women in childbirth this is one of the little babies i do live and i call them all my babies at least 200 i've done but i haven't got a full count unfortunately because i didn't keep records when i first started [Music] unlike razel and [ __ ] ariea was not born into the secret world of adas okay let's go he's a rare exception [Music] born a secular jew rea spent his first decade living a dinky die aussie life 25 kilometers away from the adas community my parents bought a house out in greensboro no jewish community there and they enrolled me in the local kindergarten over there and at the end of the year party i played the role of jesus one night during the festival of lights of chanukah they were lighting the candles and i was singing jingle bells and then they decided there's a bit of a conflict over here and that they wanted to provide me with a jewish education and back into the community it was really a moment of truth i was 19 years old and i decided that moment that yes i actually want to pursue this way of life that i wanted to become a rabbi that i wanted to teach and that i wanted to live a committed pure jewish life living a committed jewish life means absolute adherence to jewish law which they practice more stringently than other australian jewish sects we have 613 commandments in the torah and there's special laws for men and they're not relevant to me but on an average day that i keep kosher i pray i don't cheat i don't lie that's just the start to be a religious jew it's something which keeps you busy 24 hours a day the mats are actually awesome we have 248 proactive mitzvoth deeds that we need to do actively then there are 365 mitzvot lotta say things that we're not allowed to do [Music] as a rabbi part of arya's job is to teach the 613 commandments to the next generation okay the purpose of the 613 mitzvot are to enable you to connect to god our culture our torah which is the bible we live by hasn't changed nothing's going to change that the man who oversees the community's strict adherence to these commandments is the adash chief rabbi abraham beck [Music] an 83 year old who survived the holocaust he's in charge of the school our synagogue is in charge of all the kosher stuff like an archbishop or grand mufti rabbi beck is the ultimate authority he's a very highly respected man some would say a holy man he's the one who has the official and the final say on matters of halacha of jewish law it's september and rea is preparing for sukkot the first festival of the jewish year the jewish world follows the lunar calendar hence new year begins in september sukkot relives the time when the jews wandered through the sinai desert more than three thousand years ago sukkot is called manchester which is the time of our intense joy and the reason for that is because we leave all the materialistic world behind arya is building a sukkah a temporary dwelling in his garage to recall how the jews lived at that time you meant to sleep in here eating here do everything that you'd normally do at home you're meant to do in this we like to beautify it as best that we can to show god that his commandments are not for us a burden it's not difficult for us we love doing them with the hard yakka complete arya now needs an ancient fruit for a ceremony central to the festival alright who's this my son it may look like a lemon but this is no ordinary lemon it's a citrus grown in israel that can cost up to hundred and fifty dollars i like that one yes this is the traditional israeli one it's a very nice ethrog the etrog is one element of a ceremony that replicates the service in the ancient jewish temple in jerusalem i think i'll take this one it's beautiful [Music] [Music] this ritual also dates back to biblical times ari is following the letter of the law by eating meals and celebrating in his sukkah [Music] he also takes the commandment to dwell in his booth literally so we've got the camping bird here but there are two problems the first is street noise [Music] the second is native wildlife i sleep with the lights on because that keeps the possums away so i don't want any possums in here with me orthodox jews all build a sukkah but unlike arya not all of them actually sleep in them put on the face mask to keep nice and dark throughout the night and i'll be seeing the morning beautiful [Music] exposure to the outside world is a serious challenge to odessa's insular way of life so much so that some do not use the internet at all sometimes i do it daily sometimes i only do it once or twice a week [ __ ] is busy preparing one of his regular newsletters harnessing the power of the internet he's become odessa's unofficial multimedia guru i send them off in one email to a thousand people or so women and girl haircuts twenty dollars here somebody imports marx and spencer's shirts yamakus [ __ ] filters news from the outside world ensuring nothing taboo gets through to this ultra conservative community okay well it's all ready to go i'm going to press the send button and off it goes without having the computer without having email or internet i couldn't do it the computer is such a big part of most people's lives particularly in business but we do have filters technology poses a big challenge to our community yep part of living a hasidic jewish life or sanctity is paramount violence pornography these things can have a very detrimental effect on a person's spiritual growth the risk of spiritual contamination is even greater with mobile phones adas is the only jewish sect to actually police content i need my phone for the internet yes i have to have it because i run my business when i'm out of the business many adas members don't have a smartphone but razel does tag the stuff i don't need but keep the stuff that i really need for day-to-day living checkups by the community's technical wizard ensure her filters keep non-kosher content at bay and what about all the apps let's say my kids want to go into um noddy or thomas the tank or something like that and their parents don't want them to be able to access that yeah so if that i could that's the kind of thing that i need blocked their parents would rather play kick a ball outside okay all done all good fabulous thank you very much obliged okay i'll call you if you've got any problems okay thank you for coming good night but modern technology has its advantages [Music] a smartphone was used to film this shocking assault on adas members and instantly went viral good evening alarming video has captured a reservoir man's nasty racist attack on the steps of the melbourne synagogue what's going on yeah i'm talking nicely what's going on that is nothing is forced into self-defense [Applause] he would start with you know with 50 people around you you'd have to be stupid for [ __ ] this type of incident is neither new nor surprising walking home last friday night with my wife and some friends a car suddenly we hear them yelling us cursing and whoops an egg we prefer eggs to the bottles they used to throw you know [Music] the scourge of anti-semitism has left a deep hole in this ultra-orthodox sect with most families barely surviving the holocaust when i went to school here in adults we didn't know what the grandparent was hitler killed them all [Applause] most adas members descend from hungary and the former czechoslovakia where more than half a million jews were exterminated by the nazis the first holocaust survivors landed in melbourne in the late 1940s adas means a community of israel there was about 50 60 families originally then families kept on coming out from europe everyone was working towards that idea that we have a cahilla a community exactly as it was in europe i've grown up here my whole life my father was here my children here my grandchildren adas members rebuilt their old world in a new land retaining their strict religious beliefs even bringing their own language in their luggage yiddish a mixture of hebrew and german they can install zogo [Music] have their own schools and are the only orthodox jews in australia who actually teach in yiddish they teach everything in your dish except for the secular studies hello men [Music] it's december and after a busy week melbourne's strictly orthodox adas are preparing for their holy day of rest the sabbath the tradition is to have two khalat on the sabbath very tasty we just love it we look forward to it every week delicious one poppy seed color as the sun sets on friday the street empties and the shops close raisal's busy cooking up a traditional jewish feast fish filter fish fried fish chicken chicken soup but all the normal nice ice creams i've made nice desserts side dishes salads leave plastic on the whole table the sabbath must be welcomed like a bride and like everything in adas its members take this tradition to the extreme being orthodox and jewish means that we don't travel on shabbos our sabbath starts friday from sunset to saturday night sunset we don't use the phone we don't use our cars we don't switch on lights on and off we don't use anything electrical like email ipod ipad music it's really shut down time it's just like nothing else exists just your family and the sabbath as the sabbath approaches raisal's grandchildren deliver the special bread over at arya's house his wife shoshi is readying for the self-imposed power outage as soon as the sun sets i'm putting the food on a hot plate because we can't cook on sabbath so the hot plate keeps it hot [Music] in jewish households women hold the honor of heralding in the sabbath with the customary lighting of the candles [Music] voiceover it's just such a good wind down time going to bed on a friday night knowing you don't have to get up to work early saturday morning and knowing that you've got the whole day to just chill out and be with your loved ones it's magic [Music] on the sabbath the holiest day of the week driving is not permitted while the sabbath laws are sacrosanct they can be broken if it's a matter of life and death yumi the fishmonger was one of the founders of odas's unique paramedic service we're sitting in the synagogue in shaw and someone collapsed and we couldn't save his life they looked overseas to a jewish life-saving organisation we decided that if there's a tool in new york why don't we make one in australia [Music] so even in the day of atonement if you save someone's life it doesn't matter what it is like you save the whole world here we go on air yeah no worries with that i'll be within a couple of minutes [Music] that was headquarters i gotta go these fully trained ultra orthodox paramedics demonstrate the adas community's trademark self-sufficiency saving a life is like you saved like a whole world it doesn't matter which life it if you're jewish or non-jew saving someone's life it is a great reward in almost 20 years hatsola has grown from serving adas to the wider jewish and non-jewish communities it's even one plaudits from the highest office in the land it's february and business as usual on rippon lee's high street as shops run by das members serve their community yumi began his working life with a modest fish shop most fish are coasters today he and his brother michael run yumi's the most famous export to emerge from the adas community [Music] umi's dips and spreads line supermarket shelves across australia not bad for a family startup catering to an ultra kosher community everything that we make is kosher but we we manufacture to fit the australian market kosher means food that's fit for consumption according to jewish law it's supervised by a rabbinical authority to ensure that it's not being contaminated by forbidden ingredients like pigs and prawns [Music] because adas has very strict standards it has its own kosher authority under chief rabbi beck [Music] yumi's non-jewish staff must dress to adhere to the jewish laws of modesty women especially should be covered to elbows no cleavage to be highly exposed no short dresses above the knees and we don't shake hands with michael or yumi this complies with the adas dress code for women who wear stockings and long skirts never trousers or jeans and must cover their hair lock razor with a head scarf or a wig known as a shadow our dress code is pretty much one of modesty we keep our hair covered our clothes are not too tight not too short not too exposing of our private bodies we feel our bodies are something that are very special and doesn't need to be out there we like to dress well we like to look good we like to be up to date with our clothes but they're always under the umbrella of being very modest [Music] for 364 days a year a das jews dress modestly in black and white but for one day in march they burst into colour for the festival of purim welcome to our streets welcome to purim it's nice to have you here all the best hurom celebrates the jewish people's survival against their enemy in ancient persia today's commandment is be joyous at having survived [Music] [ __ ] the elder is hosting a purim party [Music] masks are popular they're beautiful fancy dress is customary too [Music] as our gifts of alcohol to drink and be merry this is amazing homemade liqueur wow it's for him today and everybody's bringing shalakhmanas which is gifts of food and things like that and the kids are getting presents and everyone's dressed up that's how we celebrate the whole world for jews all over the world today i just need to text that the police are patrolling the area here so i'm sending out a to the community warning them that they should make sure the kids all got their seat belts on and that they're not drunk the only thing taken seriously on purim is the commandment to give to charity adas members raise tens of thousands of dollars for the poor and needy here and in israel [Music] we're in the process of koshering the sink and the kitchen for passover it's april and arya is preparing for the eight day festival of passover time to get rid of everything with yeast and the process of that is using heat source to remove whatever's been absorbed into the actual surface and the laws of passover the dietary laws of passover are very strict this law dates back to the israelites exodus from egypt they fled before their bread had risen and survived on the unleavened dough they took with them [Music] the kosher supermarket can't sell anything with yeast in it eddie you've got to come we're going to cover up all the helmets now it rules our beer pasta and a host of other goodies bread is obviously out in its place matzah a yeast-free cracker is in what's the shahakal charcoal is gluten-free mata gluten-free color free and tasty [Music] adas members are ultra vigilant on the eve of passover homes are rigorously inspected [Music] aria scours every nook and cranny for the smallest breadcrumb using some high-tech equipment [Music] a ritual burning of offending particles completes the process and then we make a declaration that whatever we haven't burnt should be null and void like the dust of the earth just hours before passover begins and it's time to make the matzah crackers the festival staple food but not any matzah will do for adas members they're the only sect in australia to bake their own it's 18 minutes from when the water touches the flower then it gets into the oven and they've got now three minutes and five seconds left a dash chief rabbi beck inspects the special bake-off as four production lines work frantically to meet the 18-minute sprint to the kosher deadline [Music] [Music] with the process complete the community is ready for the eight-day festival that celebrates their liberation from slavery in egypt [Music] for a community almost wiped out in the holocaust family is at the core of a das life one of our principal beliefs is to be fruitful and multiply [Music] dust families are generally large two three is considered a really small family and we've got 18 and 19 and even we got 120. i have five children my oldest daughter is 15. and my youngest daughter is four a daughter at 11 and another daughter at nine i have a son at 14 years old that one son is forever hopeful [Music] [Applause] arya's children like all the desk kids have little contact with outsiders even other jews [Music] boys and girls are strictly segregated from kindergarten onwards the adas boys and girls schools have their own curriculum and they don't go past year 10 for boys so university is off the agenda [Music] they might be able to read they might be able to write they'll know a little bit about geography a bit about history but they don't actually have a career in the making people need to earn a living they need to be able to work and engage in their world but with that they will never be at the compromise of jewish law study of the torah takes top priority for the boys and for the girls marriage and children for the girls they have a seminary where they're basically taught life skills cooking and teaching skills they definitely don't get a vce i actually feel like a queen being a jewish mother i love my role it's very fulfilling i love giving to my children i love making a nice meal for my husband i love keeping my home nice it's it's wonderful adas boys finish school at 16 and go on to advanced jewish studies in israel the us or elsewhere until they're married off we have six children who have all had arranged marriages and they seem to be very happy together we do tend to marry off our children young that's sort of the part of the culture they don't mix with boys and girls so it's pretty much a pre-arranged marriage they get to meet they get to see if they like each other and anything more than that anything more intimate is left till after marriage [Music] [Laughter] it's june and arya has been invited to jerusalem for the wedding of the decade in the jewish world's ultra-orthodox community [Music] he knows the holy land well he studied here after his religious epiphany in his late teens first stop is the cocktail or western wall it's the last remnant that we have of the holy temple from biblical times and it is the most precious and holy place for jews [Music] arya's prayers have added importance today we're expecting a child so it's really something quite special to come here and ask that it should all go well [Music] people have accustomed to put a note into the wall a prayer to god and asking that their prayers should be answered [Music] the big wedding demands a new big hat the trademark strymer [Music] the seller member from is who now calls jerusalem home this is actually what they're made from this is from sable it's a family of a fox place like between a beam and a fox so now this is a you see taller higher lighter color all right this is more of an up-to-date stream what makes it more up-to-date you're gonna wear it you look like a soda water bottle with a little thing on top because it's you see it's not your size it's small that's right whatever yeah so like that one that we just saw now um it's like nine hundred dollars we have to remember whenever you take it off your head it's all on your head or in the box straight and a little turn once it's in you always give another turn when i see a punk or a hair christian walking around i guess i look at him the same way he looks at me but if he believes what he's doing and he knows what he's doing is doing it for a good reason then i respect him [Music] on aria's second day in israel he's visiting a place he knows well the bell's great synagogue believed to be the largest in the world opened over 15 years ago it seats about 10 000 and it's where rea studied when he became orthodox [Music] when i walked into the synagogue at bell's when i saw the rebbe for the first time i just felt this is where i belong outside the synagogue preparations are underway for the big wedding [Music] in his new hat and festive garb salon rea will join some 20 000 ultra orthodox jews from around the world to witness this historic event i can feel my heart beating in my chest from excitement whenever i make this left hand turn and we see the synagogue here just coming up so we see just the tops of the synagogue hidden it's always such a feeling of such holiness [Music] women are segregated from the men according to strict orthodox rules [Music] the wedding is the hottest ticket in town we're getting ready to welcome the group in preparation for the wedding it's like a pre-wedding [Music] the groom is the grandson of the synagogue's chief rabbi it's like a super-sized stag night in a sold out stadium [Applause] there's excitement in the air there's a buzz in the air this is a great celebration time for the ultra-orthodox equivalent of a royal wedding it's a sea of strymel's [Music] the crowd swells around the wedding canopy to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom [Music] the marriage ensures the survival of a renowned rabbinic dynasty and strengthens the revival of this reclusive sect [Music] as soon as the knot aries at is center of a street party like no other [Music] [Applause] it's been an incredible evening of celebration of joyous holy dancing and i'm exhausted and ready to go to bed [Music] his return to the holy land has touched the core of his beliefs [Music] our mystics teach us that crying is the perspiration of the soul i always see myself as [Music] my tears are joining with the tears of my forefathers and their parents and they're all the way back all their way back to abraham all the way back in melbourne the ultra orthodox adas will soon welcome a new baby aries wife is entering her final trimester raisel the community's doula is on her way to see it we're going to make a antenatal visit to shoshi goldman she's due to have a baby i like to go and check on the mum's pre-birth make sure everything's okay hi eraser how are you how are you feeling thank you so much for coming pleasure okay so how's it going shashi how's the last couple of weeks this is the home stretch hey just finished work today so that's great so you must feel relieved about that shoshi is well advanced into her pregnancy as it will be her sixth child she's taking it all in her stride i'll just explain to you a little bit about my role i don't have any medical training whatsoever i'm not medically trained i'm purely your support person who's there for you as a doula and try to keep you as comfortable as possible i do a lot of massage a lot of water work all right okay look after yourself you'll be in touch remember to remember you've got my number and if you need anything i'm here thank you okay be well take care it's september and 12 months have passed in the life of adas israel arya is signaling the start of the jewish new year [Music] so this is a ram's horn it's called the shofar in hebrew and on rosh hashanah the jewish new year this is the main one of the main commandments that we have is to hear the 100 sounds that come out of this shofar the new year calls for a new outfit everybody puts on what's called a white kettle a white gown normally we wear black here we wear the white the white symbolizes purity [Music] but the purity of new year is marred by scandal the day after the festival adas is making headlines an orthodox jewish school in elstonwick has been ordered to pay more than one million dollars to a former student sexually abused by a former headmistress malcolm lifer was hired from israel but fled when the allegations surfaced while malcolm lifer fights extradition proceedings the scandal is an extremely touchy subject for adas we got rid of it unlike a lot of the other schools they knew they had abusers there for 20 and 30 years and there's nothing about it the second we found out about it we got rid of it whatever way we got rid of it was correct or not so correct but we got away from the kids we didn't want her in the community trying to abuse any more kids the impact of the scandal is heightened by the timing of the news during the 10 holy days that lead into yom kippur the day of atonement as is customary at this time of year raisal visits the community's private cemetery it's common that we visit during the high holy days in the lead-up from yom kippur the day of atonement my dad was one of the first to be buried here he died many years ago almost 50 years now and when i arrive at his gravesite i put a little stone on as a recognition that he had a visitor we don't bring flowers that's not in the jewish tradition to do that [Music] we believe when we come to visit the deceased that they are arbitrators for us up high and we'll always say some prayers and if we've got something personal we'd like to ask we feel that's heard and listened to and will be answered in good time these little attachments to the actual grave they're often for people who died in the holocaust and the people who died have no grave [Music] on the eve of yom kippur the holiest day in the jewish calendar arya and his family have come to their local beach for a unique act of confession [Music] we cast away all of our sins figuratively speaking into the sea throughout the year as a human we make mistakes yom kippur for me personally in the day of atonement is a day where i can achieve some form of purification [Music] to focus on repentance on yom kippur jews fast for 25 hours [Music] like other orthodox jews adas members go one step further they cleanse their minds waving money over their heads to symbolically atone for their sins i'll give one for each member of the family and for my wife we'll actually do two since she's expecting the head [Music] [Music] this jewish new year has delivered the ultimate blessing for arya and his wife shoshi it's a boy we have a boy the baby is now not even 24 hours old we have a commitment to bring children into the world and every child that we are merit to bring into the world is another link in the chain in the jewish community i can't tell you what the baby's name is because on the eighth day we have the circumcision and then we give the baby its name raisal the community doula stops by to check in on aria's wife and the new baby hello everybody nice and tall a little boy he's beautiful absolutely perfect you're very blessed that's your time now you spoil yourself you've done all the hard work if you need me i'm around bye in the adas synagogue just eight days after the birth it's the circumcision of arya's son and the community is invited as is custom aria's father brings the baby in the ritual cut is performed by a man specially trained in this most sacred of jewish rights the circumcision is the covenant physically binding the jewish child to god chief rabbi beck is given the honor of announcing the boy's name for the first time we named him is named after the great sage in jewish history his story has been always so inspirational in my own journey just like rea the great sage rabbi akiva only dedicated himself to the torah later in life i feel deep gratitude to god for giving me this blessing of a son to raise him in the ways of our forefathers arya's sun represents the next generation of this booming subculture a community reborn from the ashes of auschwitz and now more than 2 000 strong tucked away alongside multicultural melbourne's latte society we feel very privileged to bring a child into the world here in australia where we can raise him consistent with our traditions and our beliefs and our faith everything in the jewish religion is important everything sticking with tradition staying with tradition you're not searching for new ideas modern new ways haven't got a lot going for it as far as i can tell i'm just very indebted that i was born in this country and able to be who i am the actual essence of us has not changed in all the past years and hopefully will not change in all the years to come [Music] [Music] me [Music] you

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 490,878

Keywords: Australian Jewish community, Hasidic community, Jewish community, Jewish heritage, Jewish sect rules, Jewish spirituality, Jewish traditions, Judaism documentary, ancient Jewish sect, ancient rituals, orthodox Judaism, orthodox beliefs, orthodox lifestyle, orthodox practices, orthodox sect documentary, religious community, religious sects, secretive Jewish community, secretive society, ultra-Orthodox Jews

Id: 93YrMJ5OCGw

Length: 51min 45sec (3105 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 09 2021