By Rabbi Aryeh Shafran
February 18, 2000
Mr. Stephen Holden
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Holden,
As the public affairs director of a national Orthodox Jewish organization, I was deluged Wednesday with a steady stream of phone calls, faxes and e-mail messages from constituents expressing outrage and utter disbelief over the film "Kadosh", which you reviewed for The New York Times that morning. Their feelings, like my own, were that the film is a crazy-quilt of utter fabrications, maliciously designed to create ill will toward practicing Orthodox Jews.
What also emerged from the calls, though, and I must admit from my own mind as well, was the observation that not only did you not challenge the filmmaker's blatant and demonstrable misrepresentations but gave them clear credence ("The sort of oppression endured by the women is not limited to ultra-Orthodox Jews").
While an art critic's first focus, of course, must be on the artistic merits of his subject, the veracity of a film's content is hardly beyond his purview. Responsible reviews of "JFK" or, more recently, "The Hurricane", for just two examples, have taken due note of the distinction between artistic portrayal and factual truth.
For the record - and these are not contentions but verifiable facts: - Orthodox rabbis, in even the most fervent communities, rarely if ever advise men to divorce or separate from their wives even when they cannot bear children. Jewish religious law, while considering it incumbent on a man to leave progeny, gives wide berth to childless couples who wish to remain married to each other.
There are other errors of fact in both "Kadosh" and your review, but the bottom line is that the "shocking misogyny" portrayed in the film is simply not moored in reality. Jewish religious law does assign clear gender roles, but it does not tolerate, much less promote, the abuse - in any way - of women. Had you asked any of the tens of thousands of happily married Orthodox women about their lives, you would never have been able to write your review without seriously questioning the film's premises.
Unfortunately, Orthodox Jews have been targeted by some for vilification in recent years. And misleading characterizations, even outright fabrications, about the Orthodox have found their was as well into the media. (You may be interested in the enclosed article I recently wrote for Moment Magazine, a widely respected non-denominational Jewish periodical.) Your review of "Kadosh" added considerable fuel to that ugly fire, and in a periodical that is read by millions and internationally renowned for responsible reportage and commentary.
For your further interest and edification, I enclose here as well two of many letters-to-the-editor of The Times that were provided us by constituents, as well as a letter of my own to The Times; to the best of my knowledge, no letters on the topic have been published to date. Also enclosed is a copy of an article about "Kadosh" challenging its portrayal of Orthodox life. It includes the fact that Mr. Gitai apparently has his own agenda, largely political. He is quoted as saying of his work: "It's my way of voting against the religious right. There has been a veritable coup d'etat by the religious community. It is up to us to decide what kind of country we will have [in Israel]."
It is distressing that he seems to have managed to enlist you in his cause, and that you have (perhaps unwittingly but no less destructively) helped spread his ire against religious Jews to millions of readers - readers whose future assumptions about Orthodox Jews will now be informed by Mr. Gitai's fantasies and your apparent endorsement of them.
I would greatly appreciate your response to the above. If you acknowledge the validity of my point - that you inadvertently promoted Mr. Gitai's deep and unsupported prejudice - I would be particularly interested in your thoughts about what might be done to set the public record straight.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Avi Shafran
Director of Public Affairs
Agudath Israel of America
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