With live shows impossible due to the pandemic, one company came up with an idea of a way to bring kosher culture into the homes of the ultra-Orthodox.
By: Batya Jerenberg
What do you do if your kids are barred from going to school or have to stay at home during the summer instead of traveling because of a pandemic, yet have no computer or even a smartphone to keep them – and you – from climbing the walls from boredom because your ultra-Orthodox (haredi) lifestyle doesn’t allow it?
Keshet Productions, an advertising agency that specializes in the haredi world, found at least one solution, according to Israel’s Channel 13 News. A team put together a flash drive with 60 hours of drama, comedy and children’s shows by the biggest names in the ultra-Orthodox entertainment world that reflected the values of its viewers.
It’s a haredi version of Netflix, as the news report said.
“The choice was either to close down, because going to see performances was now impossible, or completely re-create ourselves,” said Keshet manager Nechemi Batzon.
Their “channel” answered a huge need, she explained.
“When corona hit, haredi society found itself in a huge crisis. In contrast to secular society, which essentially got served all their culture through media when there were no longer any live performances, haredi society found itself in a predicament. We didn’t have a way of providing access to haredi culture into their homes.”
The disk-on-key has separate folders for men, women and children, although all are family-friendly. The shows are quite up-to-date, with the coronavirus, for example, discussed with puppets for the little ones, and excoriated through humor for the adults.
The heavily religious city of Bnei Brak has also come up with a solution for the vast number of families who do not own a computer.
“One of the issues we raised is developing content that can be accessed via a phone line,” said Shlomo Benziman, head of the Community Cultural Department in the municipality. Listening on the phone “is acceptable to the entire public,” he continued, “and in the first month over 200,000 residents accessed this phone line, for a total of more than four million minutes.”
The entertainers whose livelihoods have taken a sharp downturn over the past six months greatly appreciated the special production.
(World Israel News)
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