Strictly Kosher - Episode 1 | Our Life

[Music] there are over a quarter of a million jews in britain after london the second largest community live in manchester with a population of 40 000 it's the fastest growing jewish community in europe in this cosmopolitan community live jewish people of all levels of faith they differ vastly in devotion but most share a common sense of pride in being jewish uh how do you feel about lace you've probably done it first time around yes yeah uh 90 of the people we serve in the shop are on my level good jewish girl not not and then you step up a few levels you get them all religious i class myself as a modern orthodox mum [Music] we all observe all the religion everything the house food cooking clothes a lot and then you get the very religious and the fanaticals if you can use that word if that's what they want to do live and let live i'm quite happy with that i drink okay drop another bagel the grandparents are mainly from mushroom in lithuania came from the little shekels i mean my mum was from ireland and i love it because people go oh irish too how can you have someone that's irish and jewish this is my lounge and this is my gorgeous daughter and my son-in-law who got married in november 2008 they've got two little boys at the moment and they live in israel in hanov and i don't get to see them that often this is a picture of my three gorgeous kids and saul who's 21 leanne who you've seen and gabby who's 16. so 21. cute gorgeous it's a mad house that's what we're like here come on have a pickle cucumber [Music] i'm not a religious person um i'm more a traditionalist i'm happy doing my little lots which is probably not very much it's the drawbridge up monomies been here for over 20 years i'm not giving away my age uh because i still feel 25. now this is for you fuller figure yeah um not everyone will want cut off but you've got to you've got to think summer that's a there's quite a lot of girls who come in here for bar mitzvahs weddings big occasions you need to just hitch that up it needs to be a lot shorter yeah a lot shorter and to be honest with you some people money is no object [Music] hi everybody sandra has a wardrobe bigger than this room have i ever seen you in the same thing twice i don't know we have a very big jewish clientele around here so being jewish they actually trust me how are you with red you don't wear much red no not good i like a bit of zazz penang i like a bit of something different and that's what i'm known for this girl can give imelda marcos i've got i have got a problem with shoes yes in fact it's so bad now don't look what these are like these are like miss whiplash boots i think this is gorgeous it's good gorgeous little dress lovely isn't it yeah i think jewish people are like every other community they like to party they like to dress to impress i like to spend money on clothes which the more they spend the happier i become no matter how religious you are the family is at the heart of jewish life burnett is marking the arrival of a baby boy with one of the best known of jewish customs it's called a bris [Music] that's anaesthetic that means it doesn't so it doesn't hurt the baby physical thing is a circumcision which itself is quite a minor procedure but spiritually and religiously and culturally it's massive a ceremony which really seals the jewish people with god it's it's mainly for the men the women poor women don't really get involved other than the people that are involved with it [Music] married you're not classed as being jewish you can't be given a name unless you've had a breath about why is boston recorded may i kiss a they cut the foreskin oh i don't know it makes me feel sick but anyway i've decided it's the only pain a man goes through in jewish life [Music] even the most non-religious of jews who observe no other part of judaism almost always observe the briss [Music] eight days older baby doesn't really feel anything and if you ask me do i remember mine no i don't remember mine [Music] when i had my first absolutely hysterical but by the second he knew that once he heard this scream the baby's being brisked and that's it you've got a nice jewish little baby boy [Music] was named after his great-grandfather a holocaust survivor for many jews the past is another country jack eisenberg was born in poland in 1928 where from all over europe the baltic sinks russia lithuania and that's most of the jews it costed me a lot to be a jew yeah is i've got pictures of my father and my mother then my father was called isaac in my mother it was called debbie this is the flag an original from a hitler use which a british soldier took which in army after the war and when i was in the hospital he brought it to me he said you have it and you know when you saw this flag 70 years ago you trembled you trembled this was my number i hadn't got a tattoo but that was my number on the slave laborers uniform you 18th of january 1945. oh buchenwald i shall never forget you we had to think this because you were my fate and how wonderful freedom is oh bervald that's amazing he won't take a picture of the bathrooms it's a little bit better than buchenwald listen my father wasn't rich but he had money what happened at the age of 50 to drag them into a costume yeah was my mother in my breath i went into hiding otherwise i wouldn't be here if i went with them next day i would have been gone but i must say god was good to me i have no argument with god i'm not asking him why was i in the comms he made it up to me he did i can tell you mount sinai to salford the taurus scroll is at the very heart of judaism it contains the early history of the jews from the creation of the world to the death of moses this is a very very special morning today for the brody family they are finishing writing cassava tour a fabulous event to be able to do it is a real men event but that's a lot of jewish religion things today is a rare treat a handful of men have the privilege of writing the last few hebrew letters to finish off the scroll most of the owl in the middle of their aleph has been filled in so you've got a bit you've got well if they make a mistake we cross that bridge when we come to it and obviously sometimes i have to make repairs it can take a year for a scribe to write a scroll anthony brody was lucky he won this one with a hundred pound raffle ticket that's it you've done it you're done 100 pounds that's all good value considering a safer tower actually costs probably about 23 000 pounds i would love to be able to do one in the honor of my parents but it's just unaffordable the torah is used for readings during services on sabbaths and religious festivals this one will have a home in a newly built synagogue one thing about being jewish which i do like it's very communal and i think that's very very important [Applause] the ultra orthodox tend to live in the salford area broughton park but the whole of north manchester is quite a religious community [Applause] if you're religious you'll stick together where there's a shawl and there's a community it's a sense of security i think the torah lays down jewish laws to live by the rules of keeping a kosher home even state what annette should and shouldn't eat him definitely we can't eat pig you definitely can't eat gelatine we definitely can't eat non-kosher meat at all kosher you want to eat kosher eat kosher but some of the people religious will not mix with people and maybe who doesn't eat kosher they understand yeah whether you're kosher or not everything stops here on friday afternoon for the sabbath the jewish holy day on a saturday we call it a shabbos that's our day of rest and we do absolutely nothing as regards to work so all the preparations are done on the friday jewish law means we're not allowed to film on the sabbath so burnett is cooking her typical friday night meal on a thursday i've made the fish i've made the soup i've made the chicken i've made the meat i've made the cuckles i've made the desserts i've made the lot [Music] there's the torah law you should keep six days you shall work and on the seventh you shall rest yum let me just check my suit jewish penicillin there's certain torah laws that have been laid down what you're not allowed to do it's not permissible to flick a light and light to light make it strike a match nothing so you can't watch television you can't put anything on that you call up not allowed to tear on shabby so i'd normally cut it ready in advance i don't have any toilet paper that's on a roll then i've just got loose tissue so we don't have to tear we're not allowed to die my shabbos kettle don't uh boil a kettle at all we don't switch on or off it's on we're not allowed to use any hot water like that so what i have to do is wait till after shop is to wash up so all my dishes are all stacked up on the side that annoys me actually i forget to put the kettle on and we have no hot water then we have to bring in a non-jewish person into the house who doesn't have a clue what i'm talking about because we're not allowed to ask them to put the water on and you've got to say well i can't make myself one but i'd really like one and he could go through this for two hours before the cutting arm that you can't switch the time switch on so don't do that then we can't have any food because the light will go on and off on the fridge i work and then have to come home and have to do all my cleaning and cooking and shabbos and baking and everything michael comes in oh nice i love it the kids come in i love it you know they've done nothing and i'm like ready to have a you know heart attack here [Music] most of our meals around family which is what a lot of people admire about jewish people we'd sit round the table are you sure you've had enough really very nice oh okay i mean it's part of the ten commandments keep the shabbos stay and make it holy and so it's up there with uh killing and adultery [Laughter] the meal always tastes nice to the non-jewish world jewish food is chicken soup and canada or they get uh yuck chop liver people say oh it's the restrictions and this and that but if you take it on board as part of your life then you're supposed to enjoy it and i think you do yeah that happened husband who who was who said are you a hand-packed husband and he says i don't know i'll have to ask my wife michael do you want another [Music] not everyone observes the sabbath rules for joel saturday is just another day of work we're open seven days a week so we can satisfy most customers if i was a religious jewish person i shouldn't really be open on a saturday but i am and i'm not religious did you say you want a little bit off this which little that cuts your clothes are far too big for me i'm very small jewish community style is size zero skinny legs or size 16 and it hides a multitude of sins which being jewish and eating a lot you need to do i'm just it's not it doesn't seem we are not orthodox we don't stick to every single rule we'll drive on a saturday a few shipping best we do things to keep traditional family values rather than sticking to every rule in the book that's being honest she went on a date last night and in two hours he bought you one drink straight away what was it a yard of veil oh that's the jewish dating agency i mean pleasing a bulge in the wallet department oh that would be very helpful well do you know what should we put a wanted in the window yeah trying to be fashionable and strictly kosher can be a challenge for religious women weekdays are their opportunity to shop what would you say has been our top selling coat to the orthodox um they like a longer coat don't they they've got the hoods so when they're walking to the synagogue um obviously you're not allowed to carry on a sabbath so there's no handbags there's nothing you can't carry umbrellas so when it rains you put the hood up um is that too provocative um not so into the leopard print okay too much but that's young yeah it's trendy the orthodox don't shop on a saturday for obvious reasons but sunday morning as we open the doors there's quite a lot of orthodox i'd consider myself quite religious like to make sure that my clues are like about like below my elbows my neck my collarbone is covered and my skirts are below money everything i'm showing is black my whole wardrobe is black the torah states you should like make yourself look pretty for your husband and for yourself you've got to feel good about yourself and have confidence how jewish women dress shows how religious or how frum they are burnett obeys all the rules except one she doesn't wear a traditional wig or shaytal it's not if why should or anything it is a law that happens straight after the wedding yes it could either be a hat a berry a wig whatever you are supposed to cover your hair yeah yeah but does it come with the guarantee that we look like you at the end yeah i have to look like you so we can be identical twins it's yours is this like yours i've never worn a wig my mother never wore a wig it's not it's not right that i don't wear one i know i should wear one so you have to you have to schlep everything underneath yeah you have none of your own hair showing everything's changed people have moved to the right you don't need to have any young girls today that would never have done years and years ago wore a wig now they all do it's automatic [Music] mary [Music] though i'd go home hey michael as i would say what would you say [Music] i'm sorry i'm young with a smaller flower i class myself as a modern orthodox mum but somebody else that's more religious than me might think oh well she doesn't wear a wig so she can't be that religious if dress code denotes devotion there are none more religious than the rapidly growing haredi community having seven eight nine ten kids doesn't take rocket science to know that they're growing faster than anyone else they've got their own schools and they have their own shores and they have where i lived growing up is where that area is now you'd you would never really find a family like my wife now it's different this reminds me poland before the war lord she had a quarter million jews before the war mainly 90 religious the strictly orthodox keep to themselves even within the jewish community the men are distinctive in their black clothes with untrimmed beards and long side burns called paius quite long at the moment yeah take about an inch off that's gonna spring up okay now some could have it all cut round and look a normal haircut but he mustn't go below number two and then a lot of it is custom some have very very long ones that are wrapped around and thing there some have that you know short ones yeah that's beautiful excellent [Music] it's in the bible that he mustn't cut below a number two on the pair today i was wrong it's biblical it also then becomes cultural because different people do it different ways it's just a good orthodox jewish haircut yeah [Music] it's reality before i came here for 34 years i never never mixed with jewish people never mixed with my own kind or anything which is a long story basically through my brother being killed in the yom kippur war in 1973 i moved totally away from religion didn't want to know didn't bother and and the fact is it's fate led you know i ashamed the lord has directed me for whatever reason that's where i see it i came to england english 65 years ago and we built up a good business we really worked hard i must say [Music] japan stands for jack myself i n pinky and d a david this whole uh holocaust survivors all three [Music] this was one of the biggest factories in england of language one of the biggest here british made i consider myself a very rich man for what i've achieved especially my grandchildren this is a big fortune this [Music] i am not anti-religion but i don't look at religion i respect it look you want to be religious why not as long as you don't interfere with me to me being a jew is it this special take care for one thing for the family and i think this is a very special gift [Music] in burnett's jewish world young girls and boys live almost separate lives but it's not long before plans are made for a nice kosher marriage if you're religious then you go through a chatroom which is a matchmaker oh i've been a chatroom and i've done it twice but they have professional people not me who just thinks well they look good together so let's get them together in one two three they're married thank you hannah this is hannah and jeremy's engagement party and they only met last month the matchmaker introduced the two together and they met four weeks ago one two three that's it mazel tov as we said thank you we've been seeing each other for two weeks learning proposed to me very religious families it's very normal some people actually only meet for an hour or two days before they get engaged okay fantastic the rituals of jewish marriage start here with the breaking of a dinner plate symbolizing the destruction of the temple in jerusalem two and a half thousand years ago those marriages do survive they don't get divorced they've done all their homework before they've got [Music] me and michael married at a party so that was no shattering to start with so we were then going out for probably about seven eight months please god you're next now we actually did hold hands but we definitely didn't sleep together we definitely didn't do anything like that [Music] please got babies but lots joel isn't religious but he still respects some jewish traditions his eldest daughter mia has just turned 12 and she's getting ready for a very special party it happens once once in a lifetime my daughter's 12 so in the jewish religion a girl at 12 gets bat mitzvahs we're not very religious but it's a little bit of religious knowledge that they need to learn gives them a backbone it has to be done right about mitzvah is a woman going into adult womanhood really and becoming independent and me i should be able to tell you a lot more about i didn't actually have one how do you feel about making a speech she does classes every sunday morning to learn how to be a good jewish woman [Music] i enjoy organising parties and i'm quite a showman really and i thought let's do something different i thought right we're going to have a bollywood evening it's a bollywood themed bat mitzvah party complete with kosher catering okay now we've not ordered food from um the kosher food the problem is uh there's some kosher meals that we've got to tell them to deliver them a special kosher meal and for very very religious people and it can't be touched so i've now got to ring them and tell them it will be here it needs to be here within half an hour and i've lost my speech [Music] good evening everyone and welcome to me as bat mitzvah you all look unbelievable tonight thank you all for going to so much trouble i am a nice jewish girl celebrating my about mitzvah bollywood style that must be a first for those of you who knew my parents my mom is normal but my dad has never been just look at him my children are probably as religious as i am because that's the way they've been brought up and i would like my children to marry it within the religion as most people would ladies and gentlemen please if you can be quiet this is your host here tonight he is here what is a bad meets her bar is when the jews run for a drink uh joel's speeches are notorious for being very rude very risque so people know not if they're easily offended that they should leave jewish people seem to laugh at themselves and why not life's all about laughter you don't laugh you cry a young girl comes of age when she's 12 but it won't be until the week before her wedding when she's introduced to the jewish woman's best kept secret it's the mixer and most women should if not all women should come here once every month from the day one of your periods you can't sleep together you have separate beds and you stay like that until you come to the mikvah i should be undressed with a bath towel on me i would then walk down the steps completely into the water and immerse myself three times it's like you're bored like a baby with nothing on at all and then you're excited to be with your husband then that night because you've not been with him for two weeks two weeks at least well it's it's like a renewed you're doing your marriage every every month yeah that's what happened jewish people seem to have quite a lot of sex because they don't religious jewish people don't have televisions when i was growing up there was the funny old story about having sex through a sheet do you have a sheet with a hole in it no and i expected to see uh sheets hanging on washing lands with holes cut in them in jewish life one of the most joyous occasions is a wedding today sarah will marry yossi in a strictly kosher ceremony my friend's daughter sarah she's getting married today and we're all getting ready to go to the wedding we're all getting dressed up and it's going to be fab fab wedding it's the custom for a jewish bride and groom not to see each other for a week before the wedding hopper this is where the cousin and calabria bridegroom are gonna be in about an hour from now meanwhile yossi the groom is given moral support from friends and family as the seconds tick away the ceremony starts with the signing of the jewish marriage contract and yossi signals with his hanky that he's happy to go ahead this wedding is a meeting of two great jewish cultures yossi is an ashkenazi jew from eastern europe while sarah is a sephardic jew of middle eastern origin this is surprised i'm very proud to be here today and actually they met at a wedding and they fell in love and he proposed i accept it and the only thing i expect from him is to change from manchester united to be a city fan [Music] this tradition recalls the biblical story of jacob who married the wrong woman who hid her face behind the veil is that the right one [Music] [Applause] a traditional jewish wedding is the pinnacle of family life even the most non-religious jews want their children to remain in the faith and not marry out this is the foundation of the continuity of jewish life [Music] in orthodox weddings men and women guests will stay apart for the whole day of israel once the glass is smashed then it's sara and yossi schwartz how cute is that just like at the engagement party the smashing of the glass is a reminder of the destruction of the temple and the spiritual destiny of the jewish people now that sarah and yossi are married this is the first time they can touch each other [Applause] it doesn't matter whether it's an engagement or anything a boy can't touch a girl until after the wedding mr and mrs schwartz [Applause] jewish people make a big hoo-ha about weddings and you don't actually need the big kerfuffle that they make but they do the traditional curtains separating men from women does little to dampen the enthusiasm of the party-goers [Music] i've been to weddings where they've even had a separate entrance so at the car park i've said goodbye to michael and he's gone in one entrance and i've gone in another and not literally not seen him there's been a brick wall up in the middle of the room and i want man but the men's dancing is far better than the women's dancing any day [Music] [Applause] my wedding is 25 years ago ready from a silver wedding i've had three children since then and i've had my own daughter's wedding [Music] i'm having a great time my father and mother were married 61 years he probably had about 10 years happiness [Music] in the old days they lasted and lasted they just didn't get divorced [Music] yeah i've got to go now but i'm leaving it to him because he's dancing the night away i've got two gorgeous boys hopefully both of them will marry nice from jewish girls but she's got to be very special for my boys not letting anyone have my boys they're very special [Applause] [Music] it's friday night and jack arrives at his daughter debbie's home for dinner it's a very special occasion all the family have gathered for his 13 year old grandson benny's bar mitzvah his jewish coming of age [Music] friday night meal is special in poland i'm talking the population was poor they saved all week for the friday night meal a little bit of chicken goose and they sat at this table i get sad i get sad for what they've done i came to england in 1945 but in 1966 i meet up with aruna when i seen the first time i knew this is my wife jack and rona now have two children and three grandchildren jack couldn't have a bar mitzvah at 13 because he was living under nazi occupation in poland now 70 years on his only grandson is about to do what jack was forbidden to do he said i want a nice ball mitzvah for jackie to be proud of me in the synagogue [Music] [Music] and he did it perfect he's an intelligent boy he's very loving he's better looking to me but if there wasn't a granddad there wouldn't be many trends he is i didn't have any doubt hitler should have been here and seeing what's happening i meant it in a form of revenge do you understand the grandfather he wanted to kill he almost achieved it almost terrific benis bamitzvah wouldn't be complete without a no expense spared party to celebrate the occasion in style benny wanted a really nice palmetto so the family can afford it he got it yes exactly why not benny's promise was fantastic and it was fabulous seeing jack then you could see a tear in his eye he sat there watching his grandson i mean what really was going through his mind my feeling about his grandchildren i cannot describe it i had a little benny i had a brother who was murdered at the age of nine cast and i say to benny benny you know you're my palazzo i mean it he's the replacement for my brothers jack's story is a living reminder of the deliverance that has been a part of jewish culture for thousands of years [Music] the annual festival of purim also celebrates deliverance the story of queen esther saving exiled jews in persia from extermination in biblical times it's one of the most joyous festivals in the jewish calendar it's the custom to drown out the name of haman the villain whenever it's read out in the service this is what you do all day you get you've received you get yourself thank you very much thank you very much thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds are raised today for all needy different things [Music] purim is a fantastic festival you know you live in a community you breathe in a community you eat with a community and they're not bothered if you're religious or you're not religious you see people getting drunk which is the only time that we actually are commanded to get drunk in law the community has come together as one family to celebrate deliverance the purim spirit is at its most energetic here in the very heart of the ultra orthodox community a normally reserved people revel in the joy of judaism [Music] the manchester jewish community has thrived for over 200 years it embraces all levels of religious observance now with a rising birth rate in the ultra-orthodox community there is a corresponding reassession of jewish identity the modern generation has seen that they want to have either authentic judaism or they want out [Music] everybody's going bit more religious because of the schooling and the children and the children are teaching the mothers and fathers what to do people say oh we all live in ghettos we're all very insular we all don't like any intrusion from the outside world but the outside world hasn't been very kind to us over the years is a city i've lived the last 60 years i've seen two worlds i've been in hell in the last 60 years in paradise [Music] you

Channel: Our Life

Views: 812,806

Keywords: our life, documentary, world documentary, documentary channel, award winning, life stories, best documentaries, daily life, real world, point of view, story, full documentary, history

Id: z1JLv5txMw4

Length: 44min 5sec (2645 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021