{"id":26360,"date":"2017-10-20T03:55:10","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T10:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=26360"},"modified":"2017-10-19T23:29:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T06:29:17","slug":"orthodox-and-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/10\/20\/orthodox-and-in-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodox and in love?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kosher Love<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s director Evan Beloff, left, with Michael Gamliel, his wife, Miriam. (photo from cbc.ca\/firsthand\/episodes\/kosher-love<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To all those who believe in marrying for love, Montreal-based matchmaker Rabbi Yisroel Bernath asks, \u201cWhat happens when the romance fails?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernath is spiritual director at Chabad of Notre-Dame-de-Gr\u00e2ce and a chaplain at Concordia University. Known by some as \u201cthe Love Rabbi,\u201d he is at the centre of the documentary Kosher Love<\/em>, which can be see at this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival on Nov. 5, 4 p.m., at Fifth Avenue Cinemas.<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s mostly light tone and creative compilation, which includes animation, make for an interesting peek into the ultra-Orthodox world and how its members meet one another, marry and start a family. Bernath seems like an affable man, even though he divides North America\u2019s Jews into only three groups \u2013 those who watch Seinfeld<\/em> and eat bagels, those who are Orthodox and those who are Chassidim \u2013 never mind the scores of other affiliations and levels of observance.<\/p>\n

What is particularly compelling is that Bernath is open to hearing, if not being swayed by, different points of view. There is one scene between the rabbi and a married couple he matched, in which the woman is comfortable and confident enough to strongly present her opinion that love is a vital part of a relationship. She doesn\u2019t back down when Bernath accuses her of being overly romantic, but rather digs her heels in and tells him, with some vehemence, that she doesn\u2019t agree with him.<\/p>\n

Viewers also meet a nightmare mother and son. The mother, whose daughters have both married, is quite obnoxiously desperate to marry off her 33-year-old son. But the man-child YoNatan, a DJ, is clearly more in love with himself and his music than he could ever be with anyone else. YoNatan was never going to add to Bernath\u2019s total of 50-plus successful matches.<\/p>\n

As the Montreal Gazette<\/em> noted in its review, \u201cRegardless of the personalities in Kosher Love<\/em>, it really transcends religion in touching on universal themes. It is the view of Bernath that love develops over time, but that in today\u2019s fast-paced world, few have the patience to wait.\u201d When and how love develops, and how it can be nurtured, are all worthwhile ideas to consider, and director Evan Beloff offers a charming and engaging introduction to some Jewish thoughts on the subject.<\/p>\n

Beloff will be at the film festival\u2019s Nov. 5 screening. For tickets and the festival schedule, visit vjff.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kosher Love\u2019s director Evan Beloff, left, with Michael Gamliel, his wife, Miriam. (photo from cbc.ca\/firsthand\/episodes\/kosher-love) To all those who believe in marrying for love, Montreal-based matchmaker Rabbi Yisroel Bernath asks, \u201cWhat happens when the romance fails?\u201d Bernath is spiritual director at Chabad of Notre-Dame-de-Gr\u00e2ce and a chaplain at Concordia University. Known by some as \u201cthe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[6619,218,3466,3251,7468],"class_list":["post-26360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-chassidim","tag-judaism","tag-ultra-orthodox","tag-weddings","tag-yisroel-bernath"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}