01-05-2025
Hard-hitting new film sheds light on mental health in the Orthodox Jewish Community
A new film based in Manchester's Orthodox Jewish Community aims to highlight the m ental-health issues felt by many young people there as they struggle to deal with the pressure to conform and succeed.
"Levi" tells the story of Levi, a Jewish youngster, who arrives home from studying at a Yeshiva, a religious school.
Desperately unhappy, Levi is unable to communicate how he feels to his family. He would rather study to become an architect but feels he is letting his family down by wanting to take a different path. Unable to express his feelings, he considers taking his own life.
The film is the brainchild of Manchester-based political podcaster Eli Hassell.
He says the idea came after he'd spoken to many people in the Orthodox Jewish community who were struggling with their mental health.
Eli said: "I want young people in the community who are going through mental problems to be able to watch this film and realise there is a way out.
"I've seen a lot of it, a lot of younger people suffering with mental health and sometimes really bad cases, talking about suicide, it's tough seeing this."
Eli says while the community is self supporting, somewhere where everyone knows everyone else, that can also mean people can be apprehensive about sharing their problems in case others find out.
It means mental health issues can be internalised and get worse. And for young people like Levi in the film, who have a very particular path mapped out for then by their family, expressing how they feel can be very difficult.
Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Goldman was a consultant on the film.
Avrohom runs a 24-hour Jewish mental health helpline, based in Manchester.
He says that within the Jewish community, like the world at large, there is a stigma around talking about mental-health. B
He said: "It's so close the small Jewish community so whenever anyone struggles, they feel that this might be impact who I'm going to marry, might impact my siblings, my family. So much so that a father or a sibling or a mother might feel that their family might be better off without them."
He thinks the film is 'phenomenal' and will hopefully help to reduce the stigma around mental health.
It's hoped that the NHS will soon be using the film as a tool to get people talking when they work in the Jewish community.
