''The Haredi Women', a new docu-series by Amnon Levy, airing on Channel 10, is upsetting many Haredi viewers. But not only them. Some of the series' participants, Haredi women who agreed to come forward and talk to Levy, are also furious.
This time, after the broadcast of the second episode, those making the allegations of distortion and misrepresentation are members of the Ben Shahar family.
The family members were particularly surprised to see that the father of the family, Shaul, was portrayed as someone who did not help in any way with running the household.
""We didn't expect anything who-knows-what, we know how it works," says Shaul in a conversation with Haredim 10. "Amnon Levy marks the target and then he shoots the arrow. He came with a clear agenda according to which the entire burden of the Haredi home is placed on the shoulders of the women, and nothing will move him from that.".
So Shaul almost expected a distorted presentation of his family, but the ones who are really angry are his daughters.
""It's hard for us not to be angry at the way you portrayed our father, as someone who does nothing and the only one who works hard is mom," they wrote in an angry post. "The concept of 'gender division' does not exist in our house! Our father and mother both hold demanding jobs and at the same time bear the burden of the house equally.".
Osnat Ben Shahar, the 'superwoman' mother who was presented in the series as someone who rushes from child to child 24 hours a day and maintains the house with her meager strength, also couldn't help but respond: "Amnon Levy is not a true and objective researcher. He 'enjoys' investigating the Haredi public, but all his conclusions are written in advance, and now all that remains is to 'find' them in the field.".
Osnat and Her Daughters exposes several omissions, distortions, and malicious misrepresentations committed by Levy and his team.
In a significant portion of the article, the mother, who has ten children, is seen busy picking up and dropping off the children, running back and forth. The father, of course, does not appear as part of the program's agenda. However, it is precisely this task of dropping off the children that is done every day by the father.
And what happened on the day the filming took place? The father was abroad, and again at noon from New York.
The more outrageous fact is, Osnat and the girls say, that he returned from the airport at the time the children were picked up. He was indeed there and received them, along with the mother. However, when the children got into his car, the photographer asked to transfer them to the mother's car, in order to photograph her "carrying the burden alone.".
Another outrageous example: In the film, the father was depicted as "sitting at the head of the table," like a patriarchal family head sitting in the honored place reserved for him.
And what is the truth?
""Indeed, father sits at the head of the table and next to him is a place of honor reserved for mother. Because with us, there is respect for parents! But you didn't show mother sitting in her place. Because again, don't let facts interfere with a conclusion that is dictated in advance...", the Ben-Shahar family bitterly write.
During the film, Father Shaul is seen arriving to eat dinner, like a king waiting to be served by his maids. After the meal, the father retires with the boys, and the cleaning falls, of course, to the girls.
Levy also takes the trouble to explain: "It's a gender division, all the housework is the woman's and the girls'. In the eyes of a secular man, this is a disturbing sight.".
Shaul Ben Shahar: "That my wife works hard and runs around all day - that's true. That the whole burden is on her is absolutely not true. In this scene, for example, I went to put the children to bed who, it's worth remembering, are six years old.".
It is important to note that Levi himself did not bother to visit the couple's home at all. The photographer who was there asked Osnat if anyone could raise ten children and what the recipe was for that? - and Osnat replied: "Not everyone. You need a loyal partner, and thank God I have such a partner who helps me from A to Z.".
Levi also chose to omit this statement.
The girls: "When our mother was asked by the program staff what it takes to raise a large family, she explicitly said that a supportive and helpful partner is important, and added: 'I won.' Why didn't you see fit to add that?""
Osnat adds sarcastically: "In the film, you see the 6-year-old children leaving the table with my husband, while he presents the girls as being committed to housework. That's right, it should have been the exact opposite! That 6-year-old Uri would wash dishes while his 13-year-old and 18-year-old sisters would sit on the sidelines...""
Levy takes the trouble to interview a researcher who interprets the images in the film, or in the words of Mrs. Ben-Shahar: "To complete the picture, objective professionals are obtained... who will dramatically say what is expected of them, and thus an 'in-depth investigation' on Haredi women is born.".
Do you regret participating in the program? We asked Shaul.
""We are Chabad Hasidim, the issue of reconciliation is close to our hearts. When they asked to film, we consulted and came to the conclusion that since we have a beautiful and good family, it could balance and give a positive image of the world of those who observe Torah and mitzvot. I don't care what I see in the film, or what my Chabad Hasidim neighbor sees, I care what the secular woman from Tel Aviv sees - did this make God holy?""
• And did it?
""I think overall they saw a beautiful thing. After the film crew left the house, I told my wife that there will be things in the film that we will enjoy, there will be things that we will not like, and there will be things that we will really get angry about. The question is what is the dosage. I hope we conveyed a message, and the distortion of Amnon Levy? I can absorb that.
""I also think that no one really thinks that a woman with ten children runs the house alone...""
Amnon Levy responded to the family members' comments in response: "We didn't say she was the main breadwinner, and we certainly didn't say he was a parasite. We did say he had just returned from New York. Even a person who had returned from New York could take his plate off the table, and his sons who weren't in New York certainly could. The fact is that the gender division in housework was indeed clear.".
""The emphasis was on her burdens as a working woman who also takes care of 7 children at home and everything that entails. Are you having a hard time with the image we presented to you? Deal with it.".
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