Guide
TOPIC 1: INTERFAITH RELATIONSHIPS
Interfaith relationships are obviously at the core of the tension in Nobody Wants This Can Joanne and Noah truly be together? Is a life with Noah the life that Joanne really wants? Will Noah lose his job if Joanne doesn't convert? Can Noah build a Jewish home with Joanne as his wife? Approaches to interfaith relationships have shifted over millennia of Jewish history even as recently as six months ago Here's some Jewish text on interfaith relationships to inform your thinking:
"When Gd brings you to the land that you are about to enter and possess, and dislodges many nations before you… You shall not intermarry with them: do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons." Deuteronomy 7:1,3
"While we recognize that clergy are role models, and that marrying within the Jewish community is highly predictive of future Jewish engagement, we also recognize that many Jewish individuals with non-Jewish partners maintain a Jewish family and home in which Judaism exclusively is practiced and are deeply engaged with Jewish communal life and peoplehood We believe we should welcome these individuals into HUC-JIR and into leadership roles in Jewish communities " Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Updated Expectations for Clergy Students June 20, 2024
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1 2
How did the dilemma of the interfaith relationship feel to you when you watched it unfold? Did it feel true to an experience you might have had, or a friend of yours might have had? Did it feel antiquated?
1 There has been criticism that Nobody Wants This portrays Judaism shallowly Do you think the show adequately portrayed the tension that might exist in an interfaith relationship?
3 How would you explain why your religion is important to someone of another faith?
TOPIC 2: MAKING SHABBAT YOUR OWN
In the scene when Noah follows Joanne to the restaurant, he shows us just how portable Shabbat can be by doing the blessings at a cocktail table in a bar In another episode, Noah tries to recruit his brother into showing Joanne how "cool" Judaism can be by having them mark the end of Shabbat by cozily counting the first three stars in the sky Here's a Jewish text about the joy and delight of Shabbat to help inform your thinking:
"Call the Sabbath a delight: a delight to the soul and a delight to the body You should elevate it with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your senses Elevate Shabbat with choice meals, beautiful garments; delight your soul with pleasure and I will reward you with pleasure " Adapted from Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Sabbath
DISCUSSION
1
QUESTIONS
What resonated with you from the “bar Shabbat” scene and how might it inspire something joyful and delightful in your own Shabbat practice?
2 How did the scene in which Noah and Joanne counted the stars in the sky (as part of marking the end of Shabbat) feel to you? Is havdalah (the ceremony marking the end of Shabbat and the start of a new week) something you regularly celebrate?
3 Which Jewish ritual would you be really excited to share with someone of another faith?
TOPIC 3: HOSPITALITY
A core Jewish value (as well as one of OneTable's!) is hachnasat orachim: welcoming guests Here's some Jewish text to help inform your thinking on hospitality:
As the matzah is broken at the Passover Seder table, we are instructed by the Hagaddah to say these words: "All who are hungry, let them come and eat. All who are in need, let them come celebrate Passover with us."
"It is greater to welcome guests than to welcome the Divine presence." Talmud, Shabbat 127a:13, 5th Century CE
We see many types of hospitality in the show, from the dinner party where Joanne and Noah first meet, to the way Noah reacts when Joanne's family stops by her house, to the way Bina (Noah's mother) welcomes Joanne and the rest of the family
DISCUSSION
1
QUESTIONS
Has anyone ever given you the "ick" either when you were a guest or hosting a guest? Why?
2 How do you want your guests to feel when you're hosting them? What do you do to make that happen?
3 What's a time someone welcomed you warmly into their home? What felt right about it? Did it remind you of any of the different hosts in Nobody Wants This?