Keeping up with the Steins is a 2006 comedic film about a Jewish boy preparing for his bar mitzvah. "In our tribe you have to stand up in front of a bunch of people and give a speech in this really hard language called Hebrew."
The film's satirical opening scene shows an ultra-lavish bar mitzvah party with the boy stealing a kiss from a model on a moving mockup of the Titanic hitting an iceberg. The boy's father staged the party to impress clients and has a non-Jewish trophy wife who cannot distinguish between nachos (NAH - CHOSE) (the snack food) and nachas. (NAH - CUSS) [1]
The film is set in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, where "it doesn't matter what happens in the temple. It's the party that counts." (Benji's dad, Adam)
Behind all the silliness and frivolity, the movie is the story of a boy becoming a man with the help of his previously estranged grandfather.
Glossary of Jewish and Yiddish terms
The movie uses many Jewish and/or Yiddish terms:
- bar mitzvah - rite of passage
- yarmulke - skull cap
- nachas - pride
- cantor - teacher or worship leader
- rabbi
- Bible - primarily Old Testament - no New Testament, of course
- conservative - not as strict as orthodox Judaism
- synagogue - place of worship (i.e., a Jewish church)
- confirmation (religion)
- Haftorah
- bimah
- sanctuary
- Goy - non-Jewish person
- Bris
- Shalom
- bagels and lox
- tikkum olam - responsible for repairing the world
- tallis
- Shabbat shalom
- mentsh
- mazel tov
- shpilkes
References
- ↑ Nachas is Yiddish for joy or blessings, pride especially for ones children or grandchildren Urban Dictionary
External links
- Keeping up with the Steins at the Internet Movie Database