Montreal documentarian Abbey Jack Neidik is a secular Jew, but he can see the wisdom of the ages in traditional Judaism. This attitude works itself deeply into his latest documentary, Shekinah: The Intimate Life of Hasidic Women, which is coming to Toronto next week.
Neidik’s film — which will be screened at the Carlton Cinema and the Elgin Mill Cinema from May 16-22 after two special screenings at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on May 12 at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. — focuses on Orthodox women and girls affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
At the centre of the movie is Chana Carlebach, the wife of a rabbi and the administrator of a women’s seminary in Ste. Agathe, a French Canadian town in the Laurentians, a popular resort area north of Montreal.
Carlebach is friendly, energetic, pious and absolutely unwavering in her views. The students in her institute, some hailing from Europe, are there to learn how to lead the “godly life” that she reveres and promotes.
As the film proceeds, she shuttles from place to place — meeting new students arriving at the seminary, mingling with fellow delegates at a Chabad women’s convention in Crown Heights, New York, and flying to Paris to attend a wedding.
A viewer is also introduced to a cast of diverse characters ranging from a Montreal rabbi, Moshe New, who speaks about the value of mindfulness, to an 18-year-old student, Chaya Stern, who wants “tons of children” after she’s married.
As part of the mix, Neidik throws in something of an an iconoclast, Rose Adelson, an elderly resident of Ste. Agathe who describes herself as an irreligious humanist and who claims that Carlebach “brainwashes” her students.
We’re also introduced to Bracha Feldman, who, at 26, is still unmarried. The vast majority of women in the Chabad movement are wed by the age of 25, have not dated men before their marriage and have produced a bumper crop of children by their mid-30s.
Modesty, purity and spirituality are important tenets in this religious sect, and these topics are discussed at some length by the students.
To his credit, Neidik examines the sometimes fraught relationship between the Chabadniks and the French Canadians in Ste. Agathe. Ste. Agathe’s police chief suggests that the Chabadniks are insular, keep to themselves and do not greet their French Canadian neighbours. Carlebach tries to convey the opposite impression, but the plausibility of her argument is rather thin.
In one of the most interesting segments, a handful of her students engage students from the local high school in a dialogue. It’s a pleasant, if superficial, encounter. The cultural chasm between the two sides is striking, particularly over the issue of homosexuality and lesbianism. The Chabad girls are homophobic, in keeping with their staunchly conservative values.
Neidik tries to present a balanced picture of the Chabad community, which he obviously admires, but at times, his tone is partisan and Shekinah sinks to the level of a promotional film.