Finnish Jews criticize the stereotypical portrayal of women and incorrect religious depictions in the Nobody Wants This series

Netflix a recent hit series Nobody Wants This has charmed audiences everywhere, but it is also attracted criticism especially among the Jews.

A romantic comedy about Rabbi Noah (Adam Brody), who falls in love with the agnostic Joanne (Kristen Bell). Starting a relationship does not go smoothly, as Noah’s family and friends, especially women, are against their dating. The man’s mother and sister-in-law treat the new girlfriend candidate with downright contempt.

In the series’ home country of the United States, it has been criticized for the way it portrays Jews. The series’ female characters in particular have been considered stereotypical. Jewish female characters are presented in the series in a rather unfavorable light: as mean, jealous and scheming.

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“It primarily mocks Jews.”

Also Finnish Jews have watched the series with mixed feelings.

“I think it does not correspond to reality. Jewish women are not that meaner than others in real life”, member of the Helsinki Jewish congregation Ariel Nadbornik says.

In his opinion, the series plays too much with stereotypes, even sad stereotypes.

“Yes, the series offends me a bit. It’s too mild. Jews don’t need any more stereotypes, we have enough of them in other people’s minds.”

“I think the series starts out funny, but I think it primarily mocks Jews”, retired teacher of Helsinki Jewish Community School Nurit Steinbock-Vatka says.

In his opinion, the timing of the Revelation series is bad, because we live in such a time that “Jews are hated everywhere anyway”.

“I thought the most hilarious part was the one where the rabbi’s mother secretly eats a pig.”

“If mother was really a believer, she wouldn’t do that. He would never have taken pork into the kitchen, because the kitchen and the home must be kosher. Vati would have ended up straight out in the garbage”, Finland’s first female rabbi Laila Takolander says.

Pork scene is not the only thing wrong with the show’s depiction of Jews.

Nadbornik was also disappointed with the girl’s bat mitzvah celebration seen in the series. In his opinion, it was presented in the way that bat mitzvah and bar mitzvah parties are usually portrayed in entertainment.

“It’s a big party, we get a lot of gifts, it was fun, there was music, and everyone left. But that completely leaves out the meaning of the celebration.”

In Nadbornik’s opinion, no Orthodox Jew would “never go anywhere” on a Friday night other than to eat a Shabbat meal with family or friends.

“He wouldn’t go out to party, and then his wife would pick him up in the car home. It [kohtaus] is detached from reality”, says Nadbornik.

“For anyone who professes to be a believer, be it Reform or Orthodox, the Sabbath is an important matter. I wonder if both halves of the couple are out in the car and at the bar then. It doesn’t really fit the spirit of the Sabbath.”

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The series should not be taken as a textbook example of Judaism.

Everyone’s according to the interviewees, watching the series creates strange sensations precisely because the “porridge and vell” get mixed up in the series. Fact and fiction are mixed.

“All the religious trends are put in one big box, and they don’t necessarily always fall into place,” explains Takolander.

Judaism current main trends are Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and Reform Judaism.

“The series does not say what Judaism the people in it represent, but clearly some kind of Reform Judaism,” Nadbornik states.

Reform Judaism is a liberal trend in Judaism that has a strong current especially in the United States. According to Takolander, the series should not be taken as a textbook example of Judaism.

“For example, our Hanukkah (candlestick) used on Hanukkah (falls from November to January) is in a series at the summer camp in the middle of the yard.”

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“The reason for conversion must be spiritual fire.”

Warden also brings up the scene where the show’s rabbi asks his new girlfriend if she might consider converting to Judaism.

In Judaism, converting people is “super forbidden”, says Nadbornik.

“No Jew, especially a rabbi, would ask anyone that. Judaism is the only religion in the world that does not want to convert.”

According to Nadbornik, for example, conversion courses are organized in France, which do not accept people who say they have a Jewish dating partner. The desire to convert to Judaism is not an acceptable reason.

“The reason for conversion must really be a spiritual fire, a desire to be Jewish. It has to come from some deeper soulful feeling,” he says.

In the series the male protagonist is offered the position of chief rabbi of the congregation, but a relationship with a non-Jewish woman would prevent him from getting a pesti. According to Steinbock-Vatka, the fact that the rabbi puts love first in the series is an unusual solution.

Also in this plot pattern, the different tendencies of Judaism seem to collide.

“The demand that the chief rabbi should not be married to a non-Jew represents more of a conservative trend, and even from that conservatism, the trend is more towards the Orthodox trend than towards reform,” says Takolander.

In Takolander’s opinion, the rabbi of the series corresponds to a “brilliantly modern, progressive rabbi”.

“It would be more honest to say that he is a Reform Jewish rabbi,” says Nabornik.

Otherwise as one might think based on the series, Marriages between a Jew and a non-Jew are quite common today.

However, according to Steinbock-Vatka, in his youth it was considered very inappropriate. Both of his children are married to non-Jews. He has not intervened in his children’s relationships in any way, because he once faced opposition himself, which he experienced as a downright tragedy.

“I had a boyfriend too, and that [suhde] time was brutally cut off.”

Laila Takolander is herself a rabbi with a strong Jewish identity who has a non-Jewish spouse.

Series loosely based on its creator by Erin Foster to my own life. She herself converted to Judaism after meeting her husband, who wanted to marry a Jew.

He created the TV series because he felt that these times needed positive stories about Judaism. However, an interesting series needs contradictions. That’s why Foster made the rabbi’s parents in the series immigrants, Jews fleeing anti-Semitism.

“That’s why I don’t feel that the parents in the series are so stereotypical. Immigrant culture can be very prejudiced and fearful of outsiders,” says Foster In an interview with The Los Angeles Times.

Jews According to Nurit Steinbock-Vatka, customs are often presented quite ridiculously, but in this series there are many scenes where it is done beautifully and “quite correctly.”

“Jews were presented as a bit disgusting and hypocritical, but otherwise I thought it was a beautiful and entertaining series. Sometimes I even had a little drop in my eye.”

The series has received huge praise for the chemistry between the main actors, and Adam Brody, who plays the rabbi, is hailed as a perfect fit for the role of the romantic hero.

The rabbi’s love story continues, because Netflix recently said making a continuation of the series. Ariel Nabornik would like the negativity to be eliminated in the second season.

“It would be nice to see what the girlfriend likes about Judaism, what’s nice about it. If the humor could be twisted from positive things. It would be more valuable.”