Monday, April 09, 2012
Hasidic Jews to feature in new reality TV series
reality TV show called "Shunned" according to a report on Sunday in New
York Post.
The TV show will feature an aspiring model and actress and her boyfriend
as well as a 26-year-old Jewish man who says he is furious at his
parents for "depriving" him of bacon.
"When I had the first bite, I felt angry," Luzer Twersky said. "I felt
how could my parents keep this from me?" he is quoted in The Daily Mail
as saying.
Pearlperry Reich, the divorced 30-year-old mother of four and aspiring
actress, said she hopes her participation in the TV show will "create a
positive Judaism" before adding that it provides a good opportunity for
her to get exposure.Executive producer Noah Scheinmann hopes to add a fourth cast member to "Shunned."
Reality TV programing remains a popular form of entertainment in the
United States where no subject is deemed too taboo to feature. From
featuring lives of the famous (the Osbornes) to the not-so-famous who
are now famous for being on reality TV (the Kardashians), reality TV has
also taken on subjects in a bid to raise peoples awareness on, for
example, American Muslims ("All American Muslim").
"Shunned" hopes to shed light on the lives of Hasidic Jews, conservative followers of Judaism.
Scheinmann told the New York Post that divorce would be a key theme of
the show as the three cast members are divorced or about to be.
Reich's 24-year-old boyfriend, Shauli Grossman, said he joined the show to help educate Orthodox teens.
"There are a lot of people [for whom] this lifestyle is not a choice,
and they would die to leave," he said. "We're married off at 17 or 18
before we even know what we want," he is quoted in the Post as saying.
Twersky was 19 when he got married after his first date. He is now
divorced with two children and involved in a relationship with a
Irish-Catholic woman.
He moved away from his Orthodox living and now works in fashion. Of the
change in his life he said: "A lot of things are new to me. I saw 'Star
Wars' for the first time last year … At least now I can understand what
people are talking about; 'May the force be with you.' "
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/09/206459.html
