Live Blogging Srugim 12

****Spoiler Alert******

Hmm, so Amir slept over. He's happily making breakfast, singing a tune while chopping salad. They go for a walk around the yishuv. They both look very happy, playing house.

Back to Nati at Ein Karem, where he's informed that he was chosen by a donor to represent the residents at a fundraising meeting.He doesn't want to go, but then is told that the last person chosen for this role was also sent to Mount Sinai hospital for an internship. He quickly accepts.

Back to Reut and Yochai. Yochai informs her that he's going into his uncle's office supply business. Reut is not happy. How can he stop learning? They get into an amazing discussion about learning vs. working. He's like "I'm almost thirty I have to start working". She's like "How can you go into sales and stop learning Torah?" Go Laizy for exploring the essence of modern Orthodoxy!

Then back to Nati and Amir. Amir is once again eating a salad- man he eats a lot of salad.

Nati tells him about how the daughter of donor who hosted the fundraising meeting hit on him and this starts a new storyline between him and the rich chick who drives a mercedes?!!! Whoa. She runs a Gemach of leftover rich people's clothes. They go on a date.


Yifat comes back for shabbat. Yay! At dinner the girls inform Nati that he was ambushed by the rich girl (She spotted him at Ohel Necahama, the singles shul and gather a lot of intel on him) He realizes that the fundraising meeting was kind of a set up for her father to check him out and he's upset about this. Yifat and Amir keep quiet about themselves, but Amir is upset about this. When Amir asks about this she says it's not you it's me.

Yifat and Hodaya are reading by the bathroom light (of course, Makor Rishon!)

Towards the end, Nati is anxious to make havdala because he wants to call Nitzan, the rich girl, to tell her off (he feels like she's using him, though it's not clear why?) He calls and Nizan kind of takes control of the conversation and tells him she'll pick him in an hour.

The show ends with Yifat back in the yishuv.

I missed a lot of details. Please feel free to fill them in in the comments.
Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Srugim: (סרוגים) Rave Reviews

Israel's internet chats, blogs and media gave a resounding two-thumbs-up to Laizey Shapiro's "Srugim" TV series which debuted last night on YES TV. To the religious viewer, one could laugh, squirm, and ponder at many of the oh-too-familiar scenes in the show -- demonstrating the impressive quality of the acting, writing, and direction.

Normally, Israel's "artsy media" with their traditional anti-religious bias would have a field day with a TV series about religious singles, produced by a religious director. Yet the series has produced rave reviews from "Achbar Ha'ir", Maariv, NRG, and many others -- attesting that this series appeals to both Israel's religious and secular worlds.

Obviously, for the sake of the script, not every scene is typical of the Jewish "Bitza" (Swamp) Katamon singles scene, yet the familiarity allows for every scene to be believable -- and if it didn't happen to you personally, you know people that it could have happened to.

A guy's "tefillin request" sends him to the next door neighbor, where an American accented Hebrew speaking young lady offers HER tefillin to him. Shocked, he returns to his girlfriend and angrily responds that he wasn't looking for a Reform Lesbian's tefillin...but for real tefillin. His girlfriend dumps him rather quickly...and you can easily imagine the scene in Jerusalem.

Everyone says the Shabbat meal scene is slightly uncomfortable to watch, because everyone's been there. Anyone who's ever been single in Jerusalem knows about singles Shabbat meals, where everyone tries and hopes to meet their intended life partner. Sometimes awkward and clumsy, the Shabbat meal is can be a neccessary evil in the Katamon singles scene.

Here is a brief clip of one of a Shabbat meal in yesterday's episode.



Speaking to Srugim director, Laizy Shapiro today by phone, he told me that it was really an exceptional experience making the show, and that there was a special atmosphere with the secular actors when filming...and he said the show could be a bridge between the religious and secular. Judging from the favorable reactions of the newspapers, I believe he's correct.

I wonder how the singles scene in Jerusalem will feel about being reflected in this TV series.

(The whole first episode can be watched here on the YES website.)

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד