‘Menashe’ Offers Rare Look Into Brooklyn’s Chasidic World

Menashe Lustig, left, and Ruben Niborski in the film “Menashe.” (Federica Valabrega/A24)

Perhaps, to borrow very loosely from Mark Twain, reports of the demise of the Mamaloshen (mother tongue) have been greatly exaggerated. After all, here we are in 2017 and a new Yiddish language film is turning heads, snagging film festival awards and receiving accolades from critics and audiences alike.

Directed and co-written by Joshua Z. Weinstein, “Menashe” will open at The Charles Theatre tomorrow, Sept. 8. It is the documentary maker’s first full-length feature, loosely based on the life of its Chasidic star, Menashe Lustig. The drama, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January, was reportedly shot secretly over the course of two years in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Borough Park.

“Menashe” offers an intriguing and intimate glimpse into Brooklyn’s tight-knit, insular Chasidic world. The 82-minute film’s protagonist, also named Menashe, is an affable, pious and well-meaning fellow but a hapless sad sack, prone to misfortune and misguided thinking. His brother-in-law, landlord, boss and others consider him a “schlimazel,” an unlucky man.

In his miserable existence, the 30-something Menashe is a widower who is forbidden by his rebbe (played by Meyer Schwartz) from assuming custody of his 10-year-old son Rieven (portrayed with cherubic glee by Krieger Schechter Day School graduate Ruben Niborski) unless he remarries, as prescribed by the Torah. Menashe’s dour, straight-laced brother-in-law Eizik (played by Yoel Weisshaus), a successful realtor with his own growing brood, insists on raising Rieven until Menashe gets hitched again.

With the impending one-year anniversary of his wife’s death and the accompanying unveiling memorial ceremony, Menashe is permitted to spend a few days with his son. At times, their relationship seems more brotherly and juvenile than parent-child.

The pressure for Menashe to remarry intensifies, but he finds himself at a crossroads with the traditions and value system of his community. We see Menashe go out on dates, set up by a shadchan, or matchmaker, which he tends to sabotage with his lack of grace, diplomacy and eloquence. He often seems to be his own worst enemy, lashing out at the world and searching for scapegoats.

In telling Menashe’s story, Weinstein, 34, a secular Jew, offers an engaging and unflinching look into the characteristically closed world of Chasidim. We see Menashe and other Chasidim sitting at the tisch, or table, of their rebbe, joyously singing niggunim (wordless melodies) and other spirited songs of piety while strumming guitars and downing shots of whiskey. Other scenes also convey the joy and strong sense of community among the self-contained ultra-Orthodox.

At the same time, we see how the rigidity and adherence to various rabbinical interpretations of the Torah and Jewish law deeply trouble and conflict Menashe. He grapples with the difficult hand he’s been dealt and desperately wants to live with his son, despite his community’s admonishments and overwhelming disapproval.

“I know I’m not perfect,” Menashe confesses to Eizik, with palpable pain, “but why must my son leave me?”

He also wrestles with his own personal demons. In one poignant scene (and one of the few not in Yiddish), Menashe, who works as a grocery clerk, admits to his empathetic Latino co-workers during an after-hours boozing session that he still suffers from pangs of guilt about feeling a certain amount of relief in the aftermath of his wife’s death. Their union, he admits, was not a particularly happy or agreeable one.

The result is that “Menashe” offers an uncompromising look at the Chasidic community without any traces of oversentimentality or judgmentalism. The protagonist is presented in a universal, objective fashion; he wants to remain in good standing with his community but feels the boundaries set for him are unfair and unwarranted. Still, he cannot simply walk away and wash his hands. He is caught in a conundrum from which there are no easy answers or escapes.

At times, the film feels a bit disjointed and moves in a rather slow, plodding fashion. Maddeningly so. But its understated appeal helps provide interesting character studies as we watch Menashe struggle to live day to day with the traditions and rules set before him, yet possibly without his son. We see how much he loves and yearns for his child, but we’re also challenged by Menashe’s innate haplessness and sense of childishness.

Convincingly, Lustig conveys an air of authenticity and humanity that resonates even when the action and film’s pacing lumber along. We thoroughly feel his joy for life and community but also his guilt and anger, particularly during a scene in which he strikes his son for saying that he didn’t do enough to save his wife.

“Menashe” offers an unusually honest, no-holds-barred look at a community embroiled in surviving in a modern world while maintaining a zealous respect for traditions and old-world values. Wisely, the film does not attempt to pretend to be an anthropological document or apologia but weaves a universal story of love and community, traditions challenged by modernity, faith amid the pressures of family and responsibilities.

And as the first major Yiddish film in nearly seven decades, “Menashe” offers a scintilla of hope for a language and culture long written off as dusty relics of the past.

Menashe” will be presented at The Charles Theatre, 1711 N. Charles Street, starting Sept. 8. For information, visit thecharles.com or call 410-727-FILM.

In addition, “Menashe” will be presented at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave. in Owings Mills, on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. For information, visit jcc.org/gordon-center or call 410-356-SHOW.

Photo Above: Menashe Lustig (left) and Ruben Niborski star in the film “Menashe.” (Federica Valabrega/A24)

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