Are Our Teens Ready To Withstand The Media Messages?

Around this time of year, if you look through the guide for your cable television, you are bound to see that the movie The Ten Commandments will be playing.  My son asked me if he could watch it this year.  Until now, I have always told him and the rest of my children that they cannot watch it as I was concerned it was not an accurate depiction of what truly happened in the Torah.  A child, who cannot differentiate, might grow up with mistaken and even heretic views of characters in Tanach or of G-d Himself.  I shared with him, that our discussion brings to mind the humorous quote of the head of Michalah Jersualem College for Women, who just passed away this year, HaRav Yehuda Cooperman, z”tl.  I can still see Rav Cooperman with a twinkle in his eye, (as he often would have when saying something he knew was humorous), saying, “The Ten Commandments- read the book first.”   

(Rav Cooperman was quite a unique man. He grew up in Dublin, Ireland where he earned degrees in both law and Semitic languages in from Dublin University. He later learned in Gateshead, England with the famed Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, and then at the Chevron Yeshiva.  After some years in the United States, where he earned his doctorate, he returned to Israel where he eventually started Michlalah, where women could earn a University degree in a Torah setting.  Rav Cooperman wrote his own commentary on the Meshech Chochma, and I fondly remember my weekly classes in his home with only a handful of young women in my program, where we studied his commentary with him- the author. Yehi zichro baruch). 

Now that I am walking down memory lane, I can also still recall a class 29 years ago with my teacher, Mrs. Naomi Sutton.  Our class was on Kohelet, but I recall our having a discussion about the biblical movies that are on television. She shared that when she was a small child she stayed up late, unbeknownst to her babysitter, to watch a movie called David and Batsheba- made in 1951. She said, that to that day, every time she learns about David and Batsheva, she cannot wipe the inappropriate images from her mind.  (Interestingly enough, on March 8, a TV series debuted called Of Kings and Prophets- which depicted the books of Samuel.   It was cancelled after two episodes due to low ratings. Perhaps Mrs. Sutton got to the viewers?)

Then there is the Prince of Egypt a 1998 Dreamworks film which depicts the story of the Exodus.  My father, Rabbi Steven Dworken a”h, was at the time the head of the Rabbinical Council of America and was a consultant on the script with a representative from the Reform and Conservative movements as well. I can’t say that they actually listened to his advice. I know that since then there was a 2014 film, Exodus Gods and Kings, which I have not seen, but I imagine Rav Cooperman would say, “Read the book first.”     

Rabbi Benjamin Blech, in his article, “Exodus and Hollywood” describes how antithetical the 2014 movie was to the Torah and that it was even blasphemous.  Interestingly enough, “Here’s the result of a remarkable study. How many of the top 15 highest-U.S.-grossing movies of all time, adjusted for inflation, star comic-book characters? None. How many are based on the Bible? Two: The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. The New Yorker recently pointed out an amazing statistic: The Bible is not only the best-selling book of all time – it is the best-selling book of the year, every single year.”

            I am not here to advise whether one should let one’s child watch biblical movies or television shows.  But, it does lead one to consider the impact that television and the media in general has on our life views. In my mind, I am embarrassed to say, Moshe did indeed look like Charlton Heston. 

In our 8^th Grade Girls Adolescent Life classes we discussed how relationships on television impact our view of the way relationships should be. Whether that they are purely based on the physical, fleeting, unpredictable, disloyal etc.  We discussed a 2014 Huffington Post article, “How Movies And T.V. Are Changing The Way You Think About Love.”  Researchers from the University of Michigan stated that television and movies affect how people view romance and love and how they behave in relationships, and affect  relationship longevity and satisfaction.  Watching relationships on television often sets up couples for unrealistic expectations of what a relationship should be.  In this discussion, the goal is for young ladies to consider what truly is a meaningful, positive relationship, through the lens of Torah and not through the lens of the media.

So, after watching a television show or movie which presents a view antithetical to your family or religious values, as parents we need to find that “teachable moment”  where we ask questions, discuss and point out the weaknesses in the characters’ lifestyles.  We point out that relationships fostered on “The Bachelor” may be entertaining, but not real life.  We can even point out how Moshe was depicted wrong, and the inaccuracies in the story.  The Torah is truly a best- seller.  We should definitely make sure that our children “Read the book first,” and only once its contents are internalized, can our children withstand the messages of the media. 

Advisory Update:

Sixth Grade: Students discussed the different types of peer pressure- spoken and unspoken and the subtle “tricks” peers use to pressure us into behaving in certain ways.

Seventh Grade:  Students considered why children are often hesitant to approach an adult when something wrong is happening, and evaluated whether they would “do something” if there were a situation of injustice or misdeeds.

Eighth Grade: Do teens share too much on the internet and through social media? What are the dangers of doing so?