My Unorthodox Life on Netflix

[EachandEveryone]

Surely its not just me addicted?😃 shes amazing really what shes achieved after coming out of an ultra orthodox life. She seems to have gone the complete opposite. Its interesting and trashy at the same time, right up my street😂

Just started watching today, am so impressed with Julia!

Can someone genuinely please explain to me why jeans are less modest than the mini skirt and low cut crop top that Batsheva was wearing minutes after the whole jeans scene in Episode 1? I can't get my head around it. Skirts are literal easy access. So much of fundamentalism that just doesn't make sense.

Sorry if already been brought up on this thread.

I think it's just because trousers are just for men and I guess they prefer the easy access (though obviously generally outside house it would be more modest) as it's up to them to control when the woman is available whereas trousers restrict their easy access more?

Oh wow yeah. So really not about modesty at all, but the opposite, availability. Which would explain why the booby crop top and miniskirt got a pass 🤣 wow!

Actually, just finished ep 7 and started 8 so see that the nepotism thing is recognised.

I couldn’t stand Julia. Controlling and unpleasant. And why did she always have her tits and legs on display? It seems a huge leap from someone who led such a frum life for so long. Like she is really making a point, ditto with the vibrators. I didn’t find any of them particularly likeable except her ex husband.

Trousers are seen as immodest because you can see where your legs meet, whereas this is covered by a skirt. Elbow length sleeves for the same reason in case a man sees the crease of your elbow and immediately thinks “fanny!”

@MrsSchadenfreude

I haven’t been watching it (yet) but just read an article about it in the Telegraph.

Her meteoric rise in the fashion industry was probably not harmed by the fact that she is married to the CEO of La Perla. He seems to have created a company for her out of existing businesses.

Thank you for this thread, I started it last night and am loving it.

It's such an inspirational story.

There are all levels of Orthodoxy . She described it as fundamentalist. So while the individuals might not be too strict in their home, to go out and be in the community , they would have to comply. Her ExH forms not seem too strict himself as otherwise , Julia , Robert and Miriam would never be let inside the house.
I find her body bizarrely tiny . The insistence on wearing revealing clothing is not empowering if it weird looking. In one episode , the gap between her boobs in a crop top was enormous and when she bent forward , you could see right to her waistband. Not attractive at all.

Agree @Stillfunny her boobs look odd, esp in the scene where she's in the boardroom with all the Elite bosses.

Also I think her thinness is too much and very ageing - she's only just past 50 - I thought she was late 50s!

Are they fake do you think? The outfit in the boardroom was obscene really. I feel she’s gone the exact opposite of frum and she seems anti religion altogether which is a shame.

Boobs definitely fake, she seemed on board with the cosmetic alteration industry. Each to their own on that I guess. On one hand I think that people should be able to wear what they want and present how they like but the wee judgy bit at the back of my head thinks she could be a bit classier if she didn't expose everything all the time.

I have no problem with her views on religion though but to be fair she was trying to row a middle ground for her children even if she wasn't that successful.

Surely if the boobs were fake, they would look better. No cleavage at all . Huge gap with long hanging breasts. Not a criticism , just normal , but nothing to show off .

Boardroom boob works because it is fashion , don't you know and she is The Boss .

@RubyFakeLips

Loved this and as a Jew, although my immediate family are complete, non frummers even I was fascinated.

Previous posters asking about their speech. Part of me thinks its just very New York, but my grandparents always swore profusely in yiddish. Yiddish has fantastic swearing options and to me the all speaking over each other, with family being quite controlling and forthright is very culturally (ashkenzi) Jewish.

I think some posters are seeing the defining lines between ultra orthodox and modern orthodox in a black and white way when there are lots of groups and just individual families who are shades of grey. Julia hasn't said they were Satmar which is what Unorthodox is based on. Satmars are quite specific.

Peter Santenello did a whole YouTube series on NYC Hasidic Jews and Sarah Malky might be of interest to you. You can see an insight into their daily lives.

I'm Jewish (a total non-frummer too) and concur with what you've written, especially Yiddish being fantastic for sweating and how the family interacts with each other. They really do remind me of my family and the way we all speak to each other.

I'm not entirely sure what I make of Julia tbh, but I do admire her bravery for walking away and finding an incredible career. I think Batsheva's husband very much struggles with the families new dynamic. Not the wealth, obviously, but the fact his wife isn't the ultra-orthadox conservative that thought he married. However, I do feel that a lot of their conflict has been scripted for the camera. And therein is the problem, this is a highly scripted reality show.

I think the strange gap and hanging is because the are fake and maybe needing redone, she has virtually no body fat so anything added is going to just hang rather than be set into boobs she already has. There were other outfits where they were much more pushed up and together but then others where maybe the underwear wasn't as supportive?

I am so glad that some others share my view. I think she is an awful woman, totally lacking in self awareness. It must be so humiliating for her children to read her autobiography.

There are a lot of blogs and things out there by people who knew Julia in her ‘old’ life and say that she is totally playing up the ‘little wifey shut in’ thing. Apparently she was quite active and independent in the community. It’s a fun show but I agree that it is all smoke and mirrors and Julia is a pushy bully. The stuff about Ben and Bat’s sex life in the book was absolutely uncalled for (though it was probably absolutely a stunt for the show)

HRTFT but just jumping in to say I watched 3 episodes back to back today. Love it!

How the other half live though. That t-shirt the son in law had on (lunch scene). I googled. It retails for £950!! A t shirt.

Just finished and came to look for a thread! I too went from thinking Julia was fab into thinking she is a controlling, narc bully. I did a bit of digging, she has been on several American talk shows and describes her marriage as a "prison" and how she was just a "baby making machine". She missed out the fact that she worked as a teacher for years at a girls high school. She's also very contradictory about her ex, otoh she says they have a fantastic relationship and she never had any issues with him but oto she says he refused to give her the get (Jewish divorce) for seven years.
I think Julia is very fame hungry and is not self made at all - it's down to her husband. I think it's quite sad how the lot of them are riding on his coat tails - the so called feminist Miriam changing her surname to his . I came away feeling quite sorry for the dad, who seemed really nice and understanding. Apparently he has become even more Liberal and has moved away from his community in Monsey. His new wife certainly didn't seem oppressed or even particularly orthodox - she still uses her ex husband's name!

I also thought it was massively out of line how Julia wrote about B and Benn's sex life in the book, without even consulting them. Julia is a classic Stately Homes mother.

Feel a bit sorry for Shlomo, who seems a bit lost in it all. At least he and Miriam have an education to fall back on. Doesn't stop Shlomo trying to jump on the gravy train though, why on earth he thinks he knows anything about fashion and should be included in fashion shows is mind boggling.

Just read that Ben and Batsheva have split up and are filing for divorce. Probably not surprising, Ben always seemed uncomfortable with the pace that they were leaving their previous way of life. Bstsheva is following in her mother's footsteps, I wouldn't be surprised if she gets with a non Jewish guy fairly soon.