Shtisel (Hebrew: שטיסל) is an Israeli television drama series about a fictional Haredi ("ultra-Orthodox" Jewish) family living in Geula, Jerusalem.

[11] However, the characters who are more open to a secular lifestyle reflect Geula's moderation in comparison to their neighbors in Mea She'arim, the adjacent community known for even harsher religious fundamentalism.

After starting work as a cheder teacher, Akiva falls in love with the twice widowed Elisheva Rotstein, the mother of a student in his class.

A disgraced Giti looks to provide for her five children, first working as a babysitter for a secular woman, and then exchanging money at home.

Though she still loves him, she confesses the hardship her husband has put them through to her eldest daughter Ruchami, who grows resentful of Lippe.

Akiva, still harboring doubt about his engagement, consults with his maternal uncle, Sucher, who cancelled a match and has remained single all his life.

Elisheva abruptly removes her son Israel from school one day, and calls Akiva from the airport, saying she is leaving, and their relationship is over.

Akiva and Libbi become friends and begin to consider the possibility of marrying, but some family members, especially Nukhem, object because they are cousins.

Giti impulsively offers to name the child "Zelig" without payment; unbeknownst to her, Lippe does accept a sum of money from the widow.

Their marriage becomes troubled again; slowly, they work through their problems, and Giti opens a restaurant with a sum of money that Lippe made on the stock market.

Ruchami, aged fifteen, befriends a devout yeshiva student, Hanina, and brings him food so that he can study late into the night.

After Ruchami overhears her parents talking about how gossip about the Weiss family may affect her marital prospects, she elopes with Hanina, and they marry in front of witnesses at a café.

Eventually, Giti persuades Lippe to tell Hanina that Ruchami wants a divorce, and a date for the delivery of a get is arranged.

Akiva is agonized to learn that three of his paintings of Libbi have been sold to a collector, while he hesitated over granting his permission; he considers them too personal to sell.

She and Hanina explore the possibility of having a child through a surrogate, with Ruchami faking a pregnancy so that the surrogacy can remain completely confidential.

At the end of the season, Yosa'le becomes engaged to Shira Levi; Akiva moves in with Racheli; Ruchami can't breathe, is rushed to the hospital, and undergoes surgery delivering the baby.

That penultimate scene becomes dream-like, with various dead relatives sitting at the table (Libbi, Devorah, and Shulem's mother, etc.)

In the last scene, Ruchami is on a hospital bed, is handed a healthy baby, and breaks the fourth wall to look at the viewer shedding a tear.

The series is considered innovative for its treatment of an irregular group of Haredi Jews, by stripping them of their political associations and offering a true-to-life portrayal.

[15] In October 2016, it was announced that Amazon Studios was planning to remake Shtisel, set in Brooklyn, New York, under the title Emmis.

"[4] In April 2020, series producer Barkai confirmed that a third season of Shtisel had been due to begin filming in May 2020, but would have to be postponed on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[7] On 17 December 2020, an online world première event for Season 3, Episode 1, was hosted by the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center.

[20] Rare for a television series, Shtisel was accorded an episode-by-episode study of its themes and structure by a Canadian film scholar, Maurice Yacowar.