Ushpizin Isn't Kosher? Whod've Thunk It?

A poster on ChabadTalk (who admits that he, himself hasn't seen the movie) attempts to find fault with the picture. His complaints:

1. The two main characters are husband and wife in real life. Thus, there would have been a significant amount of lack of tznius in the production of the film, because the couple are seen passing objects to each other in almost every scene. Thus, it would have happened regularly that the couple told the others doing the filming, “err, sorry, we’ll have to leave doing that scene for another two weeks.” Then, “err, now we can do that scene.” Vedal.

Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps they scheduled the scenes in advance so that it wouldn't be a problem? Perhaps she (gasp!) was on birth control and therefore wasn't niddah for an extended period of time. Perhaps she never becomes niddah?

2. There are a number of scenes where the couple (don’t engage in any physical contact whatsoever, of course, but) speak to each other romantically, which is licho’oiro a clear issur.

Speaking to one's wife/husband romantically is a clear issur?! Oy vey.

3. There’s something inherently non-tznius about a woman acting knowing that men will be watching her.

You're right. So, let's keep all of our women behind closed doors forever where men cannot watch them.

4. The non-frum characters are seen without any head covering in many scenes.

Firstly, who says the actors were even frum? Or even Jewish at all (there are non-Jews who can speak Hebrew, you know)? And even if they were frum, one is allowed to not wear a kippah for professional reasons -- and an actor playing the part of a non-frum person definitely qualifies as a professional reason.

5. The main female character is seen smoking on occasion, vos dos past nisht.

So, she smokes. She also leaves her husband. She also gets angry during the movie. In other words, she's a human being with faults. Heaven forbid there should be any of those in K'lal Yisrael.

I suppose that if you want, you can find fault in almost anything. I suppose the poster would have liked it had the female character been played by a male (as was done in Ancient Greece and in Shakespearean times), been portrayed only as a perfect tzadekkes (much like an Artscroll biography) and with the non-frum characters (can they be shown?) wearing a kippah (or, even better, a black hat) and tzitzis in every scene. Oh yes, and the "couple" must pretend to act like roommates - we can't have them showing any affection that might lead us to believe that they are actually married to each other.

Sigh. Sometimes you just can't please somebody no matter what you do.

The Wolf