Educational Media Reviews Online

The subtitle "a personal journey" is important to keep in mind in evaluating this film's worth to viewers in educational settings. D'vekut is filmmaker Willy Lindwer's personal celebration of the subgroup of Jews known as "Hasidim." If viewed with that in mind, much can be learned. It is not, however, a definitive portrayal. It shows only positive aspects and passes so lightly over the negative as to make it invisible. Therefore, it is recommended with strong reservations.

Many different Hasidic sects are shown; though they look so much alike it is hard to distinguish them. Each "brand" of Hasidism is unique and does not mix easily with other sects, differing according to the beliefs and teachings of its leader, often a charismatic rabbi. They assert that fervent prayer is essential in reaching God, while scholarship is secondary. Some support the state of Israel, while others don't. Some focus on prayer; others on good deeds, such as the Hasidic sect of Netanya, whose mission is providing medical care. When a rabbi dies, he usually is succeeded by a relative or someone chosen in advance, but one sect in S'fat claims its departed rabbi still prays with them even though he can't be seen and they haven't selected another rabbi to take his place.

Hasidic sects are known by their places of origin, such as the Belzers, whose roots are in the Polish town of Belz. The region of Eastern Europe where Russia, Poland, and Germany meet was the locus for many Hasidic sects, including the one to which the filmmaker's family belonged before World War II. Lindwer grew up in the Netherlands, but D'vekut begins with him visiting the Jewish graveyard of his hometown, saying memorial prayers, and remembering the rabbi who taught him when he was a boy. He meets one of his descendants in Israel.

Separation of the sexes is a hallmark of the Hasidim, as is voluntary separation of Hasidim from the secular world. They have no TVs, no radios, and see no movies. One young woman says her husband was the first man outside of family she met and she saw him only a few times before the wedding, which was arranged by her parents and a matchmaker. She could have refused the match, but she subscribes to the process. Many scenes are of crowds of men, dressed in strange medieval garb and crammed together-dancing, praying, eating, drinking, and socializing-without women present. Women are homemakers, with large families the norm.

Negative aspects of Hasidism are never discussed, but this reviewer has seen some, for example, mobs of Hasidic youth stoning cars on Jewish holy days, able-bodied men begging at holy sites, and spitting on secular Jews on the streets of Jerusalem. Some Hasidim lobby the state of Israel for money even as they refuse to pay taxes and curse it for failing to wait for the coming of the Messiah. These and other problems are never mentioned. Viewers unfamiliar with the downside of Hasidism should take D'vekut, with its sunny message, with a very large grain of salt.