Unorthodox (2020) – Netflix short series

I recommend the Netflix series “Unorthodox.” It is a four-part series about a young Satmar Hasidic woman from the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. I can relate to this series on a personal level as a New Yorker who has a Hasidic family living next door to him, and who lives just across the East River in Manhattan in the Lower East Side, which at one time was known as “Little Jerusalem” for its heavily Jewish immigrant population.

There is still a fairly strong Jewish presence in the Lower East Side, but just across the Williamsburg Bridge lies the enormous and nearly uniformly Hasidic neighborhood of South Williamsburg. I ride my bike frequently across that bridge and have ridden along many of the same streets and neighborhoods depicted in the series. So, I was very interested in learning what goes on behind the closed doors in this community.

That motivated me to watch the series and my curiosity about the title, “Unorthodox.” It seemed to be a story about a person who gained her independence and found the courage to leave the community. I can relate to that, too, having been raised as a Catholic (I was even an altar boy!) and then having a rather tumultuous break from that background when I was 15. But what I went through was nothing compared to this woman’s spiritual challenge.

That is what this story is about. This young woman, who knows nothing but the very insular Hasidic world around her (she has never used the Internet!) discovers her independent soul. It is quite a story.

Although this woman does not become a professional intellectual like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the story reminds me of Ms. Ali’s story, if not completely in degree, at least in kind.

A great story of independence, first-handedness, spiritual courage, and the story of a person with a beautiful soul. I recommend “Unorthodox.”

/sb