Little Jerusalem (La Petite Jérusalem)

LITTLE JERUSALEM

"You don't think, you shiver."

Why did your teacher put that?

- I don't know. - How does he know you shiver?

That music!

Turn it off!

Let them have some fun!

- We danced to that too. - So?

They've got your wigs.

No, you mustn't touch my wigs!

Hashem will be angry if you don't obey Mommy.

God's too abstract at their age.

For us, Hashem is a concrete concept.

But her ladyship studies philosophy now!

Hashem says he'll punish you. You hear?

He'll punish you.

Give me that wig!

- You want to do one? - Here you go. Finish it.

No! What about your bracha?

Cheeky girl!

Where are you going?

I'm going for a walk.

I'll take a walk every evening at 7:00 from now on.

Hello.

- Is your sister back? - Yes.

- Good morning. - You haven't been to bed?

What is reason capable of?

What is reason incapable of?

For instance, concerning God:

it is impossible

to prove his existence speculatively,

yet impossible to prove his nonexistence.

And so, God eludes philosophy.

Therefore, God eludes reason.

Laura!

- Hello. - How are you?

I'm fine.

I have to go.

- Call me. - All right.

Their toys piss me off!

Put them away. I'm sick of it!

I'm always tidying up after you!

Laura, do you mind if I vacuum your room later?

I forgot to tell you.

Eric called while you were out.

Eric?

The boy Mom introduced you to.

Oh, right.

What do I say if he calls back?

Nothing. Not a word, Mathilde!

Fine...

You're wasting your time.

You've been raised in the truth of the Torah.

Why study these philosophers?

Their thought contains truth too.

You're wrong.

Philosophers are like archers.

They take aim and hit the bull's-eye.

But they pick the wrong target.

The right one is just next to it.

It's Hashem.

And we're trying to reach him.

- Laura? It's Eric. - Eric?

- It's Eric. - Hello.

Are you okay?

Yes, I'm fine.

I'm calling

because your mom said you give philosophy lessons.

- That's right. - Well, I'm interested.

When are you free?

I don't know. I'll have to think.

Why are you interested? Aren't you doing medicine?

- I might specialize in psychiatry... - Are you calling from a synagogue?

No. You know, me and synagogues...

- How much is a lesson? - 20 euros.

- 20 euros. That's not cheap. - What?

I mean, 20 euros, that's a lot.

- Are you crazy? - No, it's just...

- You'll spoil everything. - Stop it!

- Okay, I'll stop. - Did I ask for your help?

- I'll call you back. - I didn't mean...

I don't need your spells!

You do. Look how you hung up on him!

Because he's stupid.

- He's handsome, a future doctor... - I'm not interested!

You say that every time. I was married in Tunisia at your age!

- Enough of Tunisia! Go back there! - Racist!

Why is my daughter alone?

Even Suzanne's daughter has a husband

and my princess doesn't have one!

I don't want to be in love!

You can't live otherwise. What'll you do in life without love?

Philosophy, Mother, philosophy!

Philosophy won't fulfill you! Philosophy won't give you children!

- Eric really doesn't interest you? - I'm not giving in to primary emotions!

The Torah says we must fight our urges

to rise up to Hashem.

Then we attain desire.

- But where does desire come from? - From the divine spark.

When Ariel looks at you, do you feel weird?

No, not at all.

- Good-bye, Laura. - Good-bye.

- Have a good evening. Work hard. - Good-bye.

Good-bye.

Sit down.

- Good Sabbath. - Good Sabbath.

Come on, Mom!

The challah's good but not as good as usual.

The bottom's cold. Is it frozen or what?

I froze it. I made it myself.

That's why I'm laughing.

- What did you say? - I made it and then froze it.

You haven't thawed it properly.

It's good but it's not thawed.

Look, the bottom's hard.

How did your day go?

Okay.

A computer broke down.

That's why I'm home late.

- No need to make excuses. - Respect your husband.

Leave me be.

Am I in the way?

I can talk to him, can't I?

- What was that? - I don't understand much Arabic.

He's choking.

He's going to choke on it!

Just look at him.

I wanted to tell you...

I've seen several ads

for a studio apartment in Paris.

I wondered if you could help with the deposit?

It's 1,500 euros for three months.

That's a lot for us.

- We'll think about it. - I can help.

I'll try to give lessons.

Eric asked her for lessons.

He did.

- What's that look for? It's true, he di... - Cut it out.

I'm sorry, I have to go.

For some reason, she takes a walk every evening at 7:00.

It's...

It's preying on her mind.

I don't understand.

Maybe you went through it when you were younger... perhaps?

Yes, probably.

But I didn't go for walks every night.

1,500 euros...

That's only the deposit!

But she isn't supposed to leave home.

She shouldn't leave until she gets married.

In Algeria, a man couldn't get this close to a strange woman.

- Are you Algerian? - Yes.

What did you do there?

I was a journalist.

I wrote reports on village customs.

I had started a book too...

on the first Arab woman to write Sufi poetry.

So you're a mystic...

You are too, aren't you?

See you tomorrow?

See you tomorrow.

However, in our postmodern world,

some philosophers observe the decline of this idea of the law

as a condition of freedom.

What do you, the young philosophers of the 21st century,

have to say about this equation?

Is freedom won by obeying the law

or by breaking it?

You.

To be free, we must break the established law.

- You? - Being free means living without laws.

And you?

One must obey the law.

We seem to have a young Kantian girl this year.

Immanuel Kant applied this philosophy of the Enlightenment

by observing, each day, a law that he, himself, had established.

His life followed precise rituals to the minute.

Who knows Kant's most famous ritual?

Come on, don't be shy.

You, there. The obedient one.

His walk.

Exactly. He took the same walk daily,

at the same time, along the exact same path.

They say that Kant only changed this path once,

during the French Revolution, to go to meet the mail coach.

The famous path Kant walked

is known by the inhabitants of Kingsburg

as "Philosopher's Way."

Behold the law

Given to us by Moses

Behold the law

Given to us by Moses

A legacy of Jacob's assembly

Are you all right, sir?

Aristophanes says that lovers cannot explain their love.

He concludes that they feel unconscious desire.

He explains his theory thus:

Humans were both male and female, but Zeus split them as punishment.

Yes, like Adam and Eve.

No, that's not the same.