‘A Serious Man’ is a seriously quirky yet enjoyable award-winning black comedy that centres on the nature of faith in a man’s life, which became chaotic in multiple ways for no apparent cause on his part – despite trying his best to be a ‘serious man’. Here is some of its dialogue and comments on them. [You can click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch to know what it means to be a 'serious man' (mensch).]
Demon or Not?
Dybbuk?: I shaved hastily this morning and missed a bit-by you this makes me a dybbuk? It’s true, I was sick with typhus when I stayed with Peselle, but I recovered, as you can plainly see, and now I-hugh! [She stabs him in the chest with an ice pick] What a wife you have!
Shtetl Husband: Woman, what have you done?
Dybbuk?: Why would she do such a thing? I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man: which of us is possessed?
Shtetl Wife: What do you say now about spirits? He is unharmed!
Dybbuk?: On the contrary! I don’t feel at all well. [Blood begins to seep from his chest] One does a mitzvah and this is the thanks one gets?
Shtetl Husband: Dora! Woe, woe! How can such a thing be!
Dybbuk?: Perhaps I will have some soup. I am feeling weak. Or perhaps I should go. One knows when one isn’t wanted. [Walks out]
Shtetl Husband: Dear wife. We are ruined. Tomorrow they will discover the body. All is lost.
Shtetl Wife: Nonsense, Velvel. Blessed is the Lord. Good riddance to evil.
Comments: This is from a standalone short film at the beginning of the film set in the olden days. A dybukk is supposed to be a demon who possesses the dead. The husband believes the old man is not one, as he had helped him that night, while the wife believes he is one, because who he identifies himself to be is ‘supposed’ to have died before finishing a shave. With the bleeding and his departure, the husband believes he’s really human, while the wife continues believing he’s a dybukk. The audience is deliberately left wondering if the old man who was stabbed is really a dybukk or not – and is forced to take a side. But then again, one can suspend belief too. Were the directors hinting at the arbitrariness yet potential deadly danger of what one believes in? What do you really believe in? Is it rational? Or must what we need to believe in be beyond rationality, which is why faith is needed? Or is there rational faith? Is true good riddance of evil not in uncovering the good truth instead of clinging to blind faith?
Are Parking Lots Amazing or Not?
Rabbi Scott: But maybe – can I share something with you? Because I too have had the feeling of losing track of Hashem, which is the problem here. I too have forgotten how to see Him in the world. And when that happens you think, well, if I can’t see Him, He isn’t there any more, He’s gone. But that’s not the case. You just need to remember how to see Him. Am I right? [He rises and goes to the window] I mean, the parking lot here. Not much to see. It is a different angle on the same parking lot we saw from the Hebrew school window. But if you imagine yourself a visitor, somebody who isn’t familiar with these… autos and such… somebody still with a capacity for wonder… Someone with a fresh… perspective. That’s what it is, Larry.
Larry Gopnik: Um…
Rabbi Scott: Because with the right perspective you can see Hashem, you know, reaching into the world. He is in the world, not just in shul. It sounds to me like you’re looking at the world, looking at your wife, through tired eyes. It sounds like she’s become a sort of… thing… a problem… a thing…
Larry Gopnik: Well, she’s, she’s seeing Sy Ableman.
Rabbi Scott: Oh.
Larry Gopnik: She’s, they’re planning, that’s why they want the Gett [ritual divorce].
Rabbi Scott: Oh. I’m sorry.
Larry Gopnik: It was his idea.
Rabbi Scott: Well, they do need a Gett to remarry in the faith. But this is life. For you too. You can’t cut yourself off from the mystical or you’ll be – you’ll remain – completely lost. You have to see these things as expressions of God’s will. You don’t have to like it, of course.
Larry Gopnik: The boss isn’t always right, but he’s always the boss.
Rabbi Scott: Ha-ha-ha! That’s right, things aren’t so bad. Look at the parking lot, Larry. [He gazes out, marveling] Just look at that parking lot.
Comments: If we imagine ourselves to be visitors with fresh perspectives, will we be more amazed by the number of parking lots or the amount of human suffering that seems to go ‘unchecked’? If what we believe in is not seen or felt, could it also not mean the absence of the believed? When do we see something unfortunate as an expression of divine will that we cannot counter instead of something that we should challenge and counter with our will? Is the best advice in times of hapless distress always acceptance? But even true acceptance requires personal will; not any divine will.
