Oprah Discusses Love and Intimacy with Chassidic Women (6 Short Videos)

Oprah Discusses Love and Intimacy with Chassidic Women (6 Short Videos)

This week, Oprah Winfrey dedicated an entire episode of her new show to America’s “Hidden Culture,” in other words, the culture of American Chassidim.

In these short clips below, Oprah meets with 4 Chassidic women in order to discuss holes in sheets and the role of the Orthodox women and separation between the sexes. She eats kugel and is awed by the family of Crown Heights Eshet Chayil Mrs. Shterna Ginzberg, one of the only Americans alive who has never watched her show. And she meets with a family of black Chassidim and tries to figure them out… Believe me, I haven’t enjoyed anything this thoroughly in, well, I don’t remember how long! Enjoy, JewishMOMs!

Hasidic Women Open Up About Their Intimate Lives

Four wives and mothers from Brooklyn, New York’s Hasidic community get personal and clear up common misconceptions about Hasidic couples’ intimate lives. Oprah learns about their traditional laws, the importance of verbal communication and more.

Oprah Breaks Bread with a Hasidic Family

The Ginsberg family, Shterna, Aron and their nine children, invite Oprah to join them for a traditional Jewish meal of gefilte fish, matzo ball soup, potato kugel and challah bread. During the meal, Oprah asks the children about growing up without television and test their pop culture knowledge. Plus, Shterna and Oprah share an aha! moment.

Exclusive Webisode: Hasidic Parents Reflect on Their Blessings

Shterna and Aron Ginsberg, parents of nine children with one more on the way, share how humbled they feel when they look around the dinner table. Plus, learn why Shterna says each child brings more light into her life and into the world.

Love and Marriage in the Chassidic Community

Exclusive Webisode: Love and Marriage in the Hasidic Community

Like most single people around the world, Hasidic men and women of marrying age are in search of a soul mate who shares the same values and ideals. Love, on the other hand, sometimes comes later. Shterna, Toby, Chaya and Brocha, four married Hasidic women living in Brooklyn, New York, discuss dating, matchmaking and more.

Oprah Meets a Black Hasidic Family

They’re a minority within a minority. Oprah sits down with Dinah Abrahamson and her children, Sarah and Yosef, one of few black Hasidic families. Find out how they became members of this close-knit community.

The Role of Women in Hasidic Judaism

In keeping with Hasidic tradition, men and women are rarely seen together outside the home, and they never touch in public. Men are also separated from women in the synagogue, on buses and during wedding celebrations. Outsiders may think women have a subservient role, but Shterna, Toby, Chaya and Brocha, four Hasidic wives and mothers, tell Oprah that women are the foundation of the home and equal partners.

16 comments

  1. Move over Clint. Oprah just made my day.

  2. I want to meet these women too!

  3. I cannot watch the videos, can they be watched outside the USA?

    • I’m able to watch them…Try refreshing your screen. If you can’t see them, try watching them at oprah.com

    • try chabad.org in the video section. I know that the original 11 minute one was there. not sure about these.

  4. I loved this! Was so enjoyable to watch:)

  5. Tamar Miller

    would like to see the entire show. is that possible Jenny?

    • I don’t know how to watch the whole show, maybe you need cable? I think these are all the available clips…

  6. Does anyone, besides for me have an issue with such sensitive information being portrayed to the general public? It’s our job to be an “ohr lagoyim” but it’s not within our role to educate them about the nuances of taharas hamishpacha. While I commend these women for handling a challenging topic with tznius and refinement, might it have been preferable not to agree to discuss these topics in this forum?? We live in a world that seems to think there’s no problem with openly discussing the intimate details of people’s bedroom lives. Do these women realize the ripple effect they’ve caused by giving this interview? Do they realize how many thousands of people watched this show, completely misconstrued everything they said, which resulted in a tremendous chillul Hashem??? I am proud to be a member of the am hanivchar, and I’m proud and grateful for the laws we have governing every detail of our lives. But I also know that there’s a time to be quiet, and there are certain things that can’t and shouldn’t be explained to others. They can’t understand, they don’t understand, and while Oprah may have respected their words, thousands of her viewers now look at us with disdain. When Oprah walks away from her interviews with her comment that we’re more similar, than we are different, I find that the most frightening of all…

    • Ditto to your comments. Well said. I cannot agree with you more.

    • I dont agree with you at all, although i do understand your concerns completely. I’m actually wondering if you personally experienced or heard any of this backlash or is it your personal projection?

      I absolutely loved these films and felt that in fact, for once, they were not mis-edited or misleading in any way but were a wonderfully candid and honest representation of our unique values. We cannot bring light to the world if we remain in the shadows….on the contrary. The Jewish form of intimacy is such that IT IS possible to discuss without being ashamed BECAUSE of its very modest and respectful nature, for both genders.

    • I think that by explaining these concepts in public, these women stand a chance of reaching out to a random Jewish viewer who will be inspired to grow closer to his/her heritage.

      In this day and age, it is impossible to keep part of our religion secret. Anyone who wanted to could do an easy google search and find negative comments about Tahrat Hamishpacha. Why not provide a public positive perspective?

      • Malka Feldman

        As a secular Jewish woman, I knew nothing about the Hasidic community firsthand and believed many negative things I’ve heard secondhand. When I heard about the airing of this documentary, I was very anxious to see it. It opened my eyes, and though I do not have the intention of becoming Hasidic, I developed a kind of longing for some of the aspects of it. And another result is that now I am able to dispel certain beliefs that other people have that this documentary taught me were untrue, at least where some people in the sect are concerned. I am very happy they did this documentary, because I regard them with a healthy level of respect.

  7. Tamar Miller

    well said. ditto again!

  8. speaking to “m” – many religious Jews (non-Chabad) feel as you do.

    we have to weigh potential risks and benefits (like with everything else we do)

    potential risk: our words, our precious Torah, could be misconstrued and misquoted and disrespected. and why talk to a non-Jew about all this?

    potential benefit: Jews who have the same inheritance we do (the Torah) but don’t know about it, through no fault of their own, may be watching Oprah and realize what they are missing – and go find it! and when we talk to Oprah, we are not talking to Oprah per se, but to her millions of viewers, of which many thousands are Jewish. our own sisters. neshamos starving for some water (Torah/mitzvos). can we let them lie there, parched, and not offer some water, when we have so much?

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