The dictionary definition of trauma is:
Severe emotional shock and pain,
caused by an extremely upsetting experience.
There is no set way to process trauma.
But, in "Unorthodox," we see how two different communities,
one in Berlin, and another in Brooklyn,
cope with the tragedies that have shaped them.
And, in turn, we learn ways to deal with our trauma.
In Brooklyn, trauma forms 19 year old Esty's,
and her community's, identity.
The action follows the secretive Satmar community
of Hasidic Jews.
Established by a rabbi who had fled Satu Mare,
in present-day Romania, during the Holocaust.
The Satmar community does not mix with others.
In "Unorthodox,"
at the head of the sex-segregated table,
for Pesach dinner,
an annual commemoration of the Jews who escaped slavery
in ancient Egypt,
Esty's grandfather gives his reasons why.
[Grandfather] We tell ourselves
the story of Passover
to remind us of our suffering.
[Narrator] The show celebrates
the strong bonds of family and tradition,
within Esty's community,
where religious customs and prayers
can take place safely,
while deadly attacks
on synagogues, and other venues frequented by Jews,
rise, across the world.
This community defies anti-Semitism, by living devoutly.
We also see, in this scene,
how Satmar Jews draw on past trauma,
to make members scared of the big, bad outside.
[Grandfather] When we trusted
our friends and neighbors,
God punished us.
When we forget who we are,
we invite God's wrath.
[Narrator] The Holocaust
caused PTSD in its survivors.
Its impact lives on.
As Auschwitz survivor, chemist, and writer,
Primo Levi puts it:
"Auschwitz is outside of us,
but it is all around us, in the air.
The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers,
and it would be foolish to deny it."
This generational trauma grows from the roots
of Esty's family tree, and shapes Esty's personal identity.
She is discouraged from exploring passions
that contradict the community's values.
Her piano lessons are so frowned upon,
she must take them in secret.
Her teacher, Vivian Dropkin,
is derided as 'a shiksa,' or non-Jew.
But interestingly, though the show never mentions it,
Dropkin is a secular Jew.
Despite her faith, her choices are not Jewish enough
for Esty's devout community.
Many Orthodox Jews believe that the way
to undo the trauma of the Holocaust,
is to repopulate.
2013 research for the Pew Center
shows that Orthodox Jews have a birth rate of 4.1,
as opposed to the U. S. national average of 1.8.
Esty totally believes what she's been taught to believe,
later insisting,
"We are rebuilding the six million lost."
Jews killed in the Holocaust.
[Grandmother] So many lost.
But, soon, you'll have children of your own.
[Narrator] Six million is no small sum.
So, alongside the housework needed to keep her home tidy,
and her husband, Yankee Shapiro,
well fed and in perfectly ironed suits,
Esty's job is to have as many children as possible.
[Woman] You will have no leverage in this marriage,
until there is a baby. Understand me?
[Narrator] She is told that sex will give her husband pleasure,
which, in turn, will give her exactly what she wants:
what she has been told she wants... a baby.
The problem with this way of dealing with trauma,
as we see it through Esty's eyes,
is, it creates a domino effect.
There is a field of academic study
called epigenetics,
which deals with the concept
of trans-generational trauma.