Perhaps more than many of the celebrities Oprah Winfrey has encountered, Shterna Ginsburg and Chaya Teldon may end up being among her top influences. While Oprah made a tearful goodbye on her syndicated network TV show last May, she continues to reign as the queen of all media with her OWN television network, O magazine, and other successful endeavors. The top-rated show on the new network is called Oprah’s Next Chapter. The less-demanding production schedule seems to lend itself to delving more into topics she might not have had the time to focus on before. And so, she decided to take a tour of Chassidic Brooklyn and meet with outspoken women of the community along with storeowners and other local personalities.
In a world without television and other outside influences, Oprah encountered person after person who had never heard of her, but of course who interacted with her with the utmost respect anyway. Her main guide on this anthropological tour was Ms. Shternie Ginsberg. An intelligent, well-spoken mother of ten, Shternie proved herself a Jewish Oprah of sorts. She discussed many topics, such as dress codes, the lack of outside media, the Chassidic dating system, and more, with ease, clearly negating any possible stereotype of a subservient wife. She explained to Oprah, “When I heard about you, I knew that I would identify with you as a person. Even though we’re of different faiths, I think we have a lot more in common than we have different.”
Her husband, Aron, and children were also delightful, positive models of a proper yet fun-loving Chassidic home. In one comical exchange, Oprah quizzes the children on Mickey Mouse and Shrek, only to receive proof positive that they have never watched television. Oprah appreciated the positive effects of that absence and appeared to long for more families to fill their time with engaging activities and study instead of wasting their minds and filling their base desires with pop culture.
When informed of a black Chassidic family who lived nearby, Oprah made a slight detour from her planned agenda. When Ms. Winfrey encountered this happy, confident family consisting of a mother who grew up in a mixed home, her two black children, and her new son-in-law, she could not stop marveling over the harmonious ways of the Chassidic community. If she had only known of the phrase “Mi k’amcha Yisrael,” she surely would have used it to describe this situation.
In Part II, Oprah sat down with four women of various ages and backgrounds. Among them was her new friend Shterna, as well as Rebbetzin Chaya Teldon, who helped direct the operations of Chabad of Long Island for many years and now is the head of the Jewish Academy of Suffolk County. Anyone who has had the privilege of learning from Chaya in one of her many speaking engagements will recognize the sure tone combined with the humorous and easygoing yet deeply insightful manner with which Chaya addresses many issues, such as the role of women in the community.
She explained, “We are the role. It’s fundamental; we are the foundation. Not the basement of the home, we are the foundation of the home. When we’re good, the rest of the structure, the rest of the world, is good. Women are the nurturers, the growth pot from which everything else springs forth.” To clarify even further, when asked by Oprah if women have to be subservient, Chaya answered, “To who? Do we look subservient?”
To clear up any misconceptions about the mikveh, Oprah was led on a tour of one by Mrs. Bronya Schaefer, a beloved speaker on family purity. To bring home the point that this is not about cleanliness but about purity, Bronya explained that the Central Park Lake cannot be used but the Atlantic Ocean can. The discussion was certainly easier to have amongst the stunning backdrop of the clean, elegant mikveh.
Chaya noted the influence this meeting had on Oprah. Oprah said that though she had done about 4,000 interviews over the course of 25 years on family, education, marriage, and communication, “I saw it all come together here.” Oprah summed up by repeating something from Shterna—that we have more in common than differences, and that it’s all about values. “The reason I wanted to do this story is because I believe fundamentally inside myself that we are all more alike than we are different. There is a oneness and there is a connection of spirit that we all hold and share. If you can get past what people look like, what they are wearing, what their customs are, that inside all of us is this same connective soul spirit that’s all striving for the same thing.”
At a time when battles in Israel over the treatment of women has led many to conclude that “Orthodox” and “extremists” are redundant terms, this show is a great kiddush Hashem, providing a clear example of positive, intelligent, respectful, chassidim. The episode will air in two parts: on Sunday, February 12 at 9:00 p.m. and Monday, February 13 at 10:00 p.m. on the OWN Network.