(whimsical music) - Why are kitchens
covered in foil?
- (chuckles) Ah.
(bright music)
- Hi, my name is Serach.
- Hi, my name is Tiki Segura.
- Hi, my name is Yoni Segura.
- I'm 24, I'm from Los Angeles, California,
and I'm a Persian Orthodox Jew.
- I'm from Los Angeles.
I'm an Orthodox Jew, and I'm married with two kids.
- And asked by BuzzFeed to come in
and discuss what Orthodox Jews believe.
- [Narrator] What do Orthodox Jews believe?
- You know, Orthodox Judaism is more of an umbrella term
for people who believe in the written and oral Torah.
- God gave us a Torah on Mount Sinai through Moses.
The Torah tells us how to live our lives.
- There's the written law and then,
there goes along with that the oral law.
People often think this is somehow less important.
No commandment given in the Torah
can be followed correctly based on the written law.
If you went to a doctor and he said,
yeah, I know how to do this brain surgery.
I've got this book here,
you wouldn't go anywhere near that guy.
He went to med school, he learned from someone
who showed him how to do it.
He's practiced X amounts of times,
he got the oral as well as the written knowledge
as to how to do anything.
So then people wonder, well, how do you know
that it's not just someone's interpretation?
There are actually set, methodical, legal principles,
13, actually, which you can use to figure out
exactly what's going on.
- [Narrator] Why do Orthodox Jews wrap their arms?
- So it says in the Torah, vahayu l'totafot bein enecha,
that there should be these things
that are in between your eyes and on your arm.
- It's customary for Orthodox Jewish men
to wrap their arms with what is called tefillin.
- There's actually a verse which is repeated
four times in the Torah, which says that you have to,
you have to put these boxes with straps on your arm
and on your head.
- There's these little boxes, and inside of it,
it has the text of Shema,
and it has the text of the actual commandment.
- It's a physical reminder to have God on their mind
and close to their heart.
- Binding your actions and your mind to the service of God
is often something that I've heard, but at the end
of the day, the reason we do any of the commandments
is because it's a commandment from the Torah.
Whether it's why we eat kosher,
whether it's why one gives charity, even,
it's incredibly important to help people and to care,
but the reason that you have to
is because the Torah says so.
There's a statutory obligation to do so.
- [Narrator] Why do Orthodox Jewish women cover their heads?
- One of the things that we believe
is that when a woman gets married,
her hair is one of like, almost like a nakedness.
- Married women will customarily cover their heads
with either a headscarf or a wig.
It's more to symbolize the element of privacy and modesty.
- I sometimes will wear a different hair coverings.
Right now, I'm wearing a wig,
which is a way of dressing modestly.
- [Narrator] Why do Orthodox Jews rock when they pray?
- That's an interesting question.
I think the true answer is because that's what
they see growing up.
- When you're praying, you're supposed to be,
you know, very present and focused in the moment.
- It can help you, kind of like with muscle memory,
get into a certain headspace.
- You can stand still.
It's whatever helps you focus.
- It's a way of getting kind of in that mindset
of I'm talking to God.
- You know, the way I think about it anyway,
when I'm just standing in front of the creator,
or however you wanna think of God,
there's certain trepidation or shaking that goes with that.
- They get into it, it's like physical, too. (laughs)
- [Narrator] Do Orthodox Jewish couples kiss?
- I guess the short answer is yes, you know, they kiss.
- Orthodox Jewish couples, once they are married,
have a normal romantic life, I guess I would say.
- First time I kissed my wife was after we got married.
The basic idea is that what's called is shomer negiah,
which literally means guarding touching.
- Before marriage, we don't touch each other
in any shape or form.
- You just like raised your eyebrows,
like oh, that's weird, right?
You know, everyone's at their level of observance,
but yeah, usually, generally, save that as something
to be done under the context of marriage.
- [Narrator] What is kosher?
- Kosher is a set of laws which dictate
what you can and cannot eat.
- We don't mix meat and milk together
in any shape or form, whether it's cold or hot.
- Fruits and vegetables need to be washed,
checked for bugs, 'cause we don't eat bugs.
We don't eat pig.
- Animals have to chew their cud
and have completely split hooves.
- With fish, they have to have scales and fins.
We don't eat shellfish.
- Food has to be prepared by a Jew,
and a Jew can just be involved in the cooking of it,
so you'll find that, at most kosher restaurants,
there's gonna be someone on site who lights the fires
or is involved in some part of the cooking process.
- The food that we eat, generally, in the stores,
you'll find little symbols on the foods.
- Food picked up from a kosher restaurant
will have a double seal on it.
It's gonna be in a bag which is tied,
and then there's gonna be a sticker around it.
Kosher food isn't blessed by a rabbi,
is often a misconception that people have.
- [Narrator] Why are kitchens covered in foil?
- [Serach] All right, so kitchens
are not commonly covered in foil.
- There are certain types of materials
which can be made kosher and certain materials
that cannot be made kosher.
- If a kitchen is not kosher,
they'll sometimes cover the countertop
as opposed to going through the process
of making everything kosher again.
- [Narrator] What is Shabbat?
- Shabbat starts on sundown on Friday night,
lasts about 24 hours until after stars come out
on Saturday night.
You're not allowed to do anything
which is constructive work,
something which once you do it, it can't be undone easily.
So you can't cook, you can't drive, things like that.
- There's no distractions on Shabbat.
There's no working, there's no playing with your phone,
there's no calling anyone, especially nowadays,
when everyone's so connected.
It's a time to really disconnect and focus
on your relationship between each other and between God.
- And I've had a medical emergency happen to me,
it's a surreal experience to quote-unquote,
break the Sabbath to save a life,
but that is what you're supposed to do.
Human life trumps all of those things.
- [Narrator] Do Orthodox Jews every marry cousins?
- It does happen, occasionally.
- It's technically not one of the forbidden relationships.
It's a bad idea, genetically.
- Going back to pre-war Europe,
Jews lived in small little villages,
and there weren't always that many people
to choose to marry.
Sometimes, your only option of someone to marry
outside of your siblings would be a cousin,
but it's not common anymore.
- I don't think people look at it as a great idea.
- [Narrator] Do Orthodox Jewish couples
sleep in separate beds?
- Yes and no.
There is different times of the month
when a woman has her period,
and it's called a time of niddah.
- The couple will separate for that period of time,
but then, you know, the rest of the time,
they can do whatever they want.
- So that would be five days of her period,
and then we count another additional seven days
that are considered clean days, almost.
After that period of time, a woman can go
to the mikvah, which is a ritual bath,
and at that point, she and her husband
can then share a bed together.
It's a new fresh restart to a marriage
every single month.
- [Narrator] Are Orthodox Jewish marriages arranged?
- When you say arranged, that can mean
many different things to many different people.
- You can meet a potential spouse
through a blind date, a matchmaker,
dating app, however you'd like.
In some circles, parents will often arrange
the meeting, however, they both have to consent.
- My wife and I were set up to go out,
but we went out, and we saw if we liked each other,
we did, and we decided to get married.
Who's best to set you up?
People who know both parties and would know,
hey, maybe these two'll get along.
Arranged marriages? No.
(bright music)
- I think when people think of Orthodox Judaism
who haven't been exposed to it,
they're gonna go to what's in the media.
Usually, what's portrayed in the media
is going to be tilted to an extreme one way or the other.
I don't think that's always accurate.
We're a diverse group.
We come from different backgrounds.
- You know, we often get lumped together
with people who have negative experiences
with Orthodox Judaism.
I have always loved living my life
the way I do, living as an Orthodox Jew.
You know, we're normal people.
(bright music)