“The Meaning of Things,” about Max, the French series that combines Judaism with the present

Should we say a rabbi, a rabbi, a female rabbi? “Oh no, not a female rabbi, that sounds weird, it sounds like a frogman,” says Ilan (Manu Payet), one of Léa’s ( Elsa Guedj ) supporters. From the first episode of The Meaning of Things, broadcast on Max on March 28, the comic tone was set. With a lot of humor, the French series, created by Noé Debré and Benjamin Charbit, follows Léa’s first steps in her spiritual functions, within a liberal synagogue in Strasbourg. The New York Times hails a creation “full of charm” where “ sitcom intrigues intertwine with real philosophical reflections.”

The Meaning of Things is freely adapted from the book Living with Our Dead , by Delphine Horvilleur and published by Grasset in 2021. We also find common points between the journey of the character of Léa and that of the famous rabbi, a great voice of liberal Judaism in France – who very recently made headlines again on this side of the Atlantic, for her text on the website of the French magazine Tenoua (of which she is editorial director), entitled “Gaza/Israel: (truly) loving one's neighbor, no longer being silent”.

Margaret Lyons, the New York daily's TV critic, appreciated the series' structure. "The episodes center around major life events: a circumcision, a bar mitzvah, a wedding, a funeral, shiv'ah [period of mourning]." The American Jewish website Forward also praised the series as "intelligent" and well-executed. "Leah finds humanity in the texts of Judaism and establishes a dialogue between the Bible and our modern concerns. She cites the midrash [exegeses on the Bible] and the Talmud, considering them not only for the obligations imposed on believers, but for their deeper meaning."

In Forward, journalist Mira Fox highlights the acting talents of Elsa Guedj (seen in Drôle, on Netflix ), who plays her role with great empathy. The relationships with her psychoanalyst father (Éric Elmosnino) and her somewhat lost brother (Solal Bouloudnine) are also delightful.

But for the New York Times , the highlight of the show lies in the tensions between “Léa and Arié (Lionel Dray), the Orthodox rabbi, who is also her former teacher. There is between the two characters a magnetic attraction and a constant fascination, a great trust, but also a feeling of betrayal.” The journalist Margaret Lyons explains:

“He is her mentor, an intense erotic energy flows between them, but each of them considers the other to be erring in his religious practice.”

Forward notes that the French context , with its very specific conception of secularism, is an interesting framework for thinking about Jewishness today. “ The Meaning of Things has at its core a very honest exploration of the contradictions that run through the modern, liberal stream of Judaism. How can it coexist harmoniously with progressive, modern values ​​without denying itself or giving in to assimilation?”

Each character sets the cursor, and its red lines, in their own personal way, concludes Mira Fox in Forward . The series itself asks where Judaism as a whole should place that cursor. “And in true Jewish fashion, it doesn’t give an answer. ”