LAJFF - Commandments

North American Premiere!

Q&A with Ayelet Gundar Goshen and Yoav Shutan-Goshen, moderated by David Suissa, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Jewish Journal
Sponsored by the Consulate General of Israel

A group of angry ultra-Orthodox Jews surrounds a bus, yelling and throwing eggs on it. Aboard the bus? Haredi men who are signing up for army service. Inspired by the real-life young adults who choose to defy the strict conventions of their closed orthodox societies and join the army.

The series title literally means ‘Iron Dome’, as in Israel’s anti-missile defense system, but which can also translate to ‘Iron Yarmulke’. The show tells the story of those who don the uniform alongside their tzitzis and velvet yarmulkes — and about the way their families react when they return home. The soldiers have to both deal with a secular army that is still learning to adjust to the needs of religious recruits, while also coping with hostile reactions from their communities. The focus sits on three of the platoon members: Yaakov, an idealistic and devout hassid from Jerusalem, Amram, a wayward youth from Bnei Brak escaping something sinister, and Gur, a National-Religious soldier whose mindset becomes the subject of concern as the series unfolds.