[4], Familiarity with sociological and biological studies, as well as personal contact with Jewish homosexuals, has brought some Orthodox leaders to a more sympathetic viewpoint, which views homosexuals as mentally ill rather than rebellious and advocates treatment rather than ostracism or jail. Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or lesbian. Trembling Before G-d Directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. This is an interesting documentary on the LGBTQ issue within Orthodox Judaism, Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2018. Coming out at 15, he was expelled from seven yeshivas for homosexual activity before becoming a drag queen, and is now dying of AIDS-related illness. [7], Israel is a 58-year-old New Yorker who decided he could not be gay and Orthodox, and turned his back on his religion, though not before his family forced him into electroshock therapy to try to cure him. Trembling Before G-d. Watch Trailer Trailer More Info Info. The film received ten award nominations, winning seven, including Best Documentary awards at the 2001 Berlin and Chicago film festivals. Seller had a great copy and i'm happy to have this. I know I never did. Trembling Before G-d will be presented as part of the Texas Documentary Tour on Wednesday, April 24, 7pm, at the Alamo Drafthouse, 409 Colorado. [13], With a seed grant from Steven Spielberg, the creators of the film have set up the Trembling Before G-d Orthodox Education Project, to teach Orthodox educators and rabbis about homosexuality,[15] as well as convening the first Orthodox Mental Health Conference on Homosexuality and training facilitators to show the film to community leaders. Trembling Before G-d Shlomo Ashkinazy (Actor), Steve Greenberg (Actor), Sandi Simcha Dubowski (Director) Sign in to see videos available to you. No Haredi Orthodox group spoke out in favor of Trembling Before G-d. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. [22][23] The Chief Rabbi of South Africa, Warren Goldstein, described the film as "intellectually shallow," commenting that "its one-sided caricature of Orthodox Judaism does not stimulate meaningful intellectual debate. with such and such and such and such about homosexuals when you have not known any up close and the suffering they experience by the attitudes of the religious majority. It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. With his film director Sandi Simcha DuBowski explores a question not unique to Judaism. Trembling Before G-D, an 84-minute documentary film by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, introduces viewers to the troubled, conflicted world of gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews who must reconcile their sexual identity with their religious beliefs. [1] Many people who agreed to be interviewed are shown only in silhouette or with their faces pixelized. Lamm compared homosexuals to those who attempt suicide (also a sin in Jewish law), arguing that in both cases it would be irresponsible to shun or jail the sinner, but equally wrong for society to give "open or even tacit approval". Until archaic dogma entertains the possibility that sexuality is immutable, gays will continue to tremble before God. WOW! In his response, he holds that gay people can be cured through therapy, and that the movie is meant to promote homosexuality: Trembling Before G-d interviews and follows several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews, many only seen in silhouette, and also interviews several rabbis and psychologists regarding their views on homosexuality in Orthodox Judaism. It's important gay history to know what has happened before. "[24] A rabbi interviewed by DuBowski complained that the film "makes us appear to be narrow and bigoted". Letter to the Editor ― The Jerusalem Post, Dissembling Before G-d ― The Agudath Israel Response, GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary, Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives, It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric, HAG: The Story of the Hasidic Actors Guild, Strictly Jewish: The Secret World of Adass Israel, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trembling_Before_G-d&oldid=1013077852, Articles with dead external links from July 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Grand Jury Award ― Outstanding Documentary Feature, Best Documentary voted by the U.S. It arrived early. He met thousands of people, but only a few agreed to appear in the film, as most were too frightened of being expelled from their community. This is how an article on BBC.co.uk on a movie called "Trembling before G-d" begins. amazing documentary that I got to see in the theatres! It’s one of several such stories in a documentary feature film released three years ago and directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. Sandy DuBowski: Trembling started as a video diary, an exploration of whether there is homosexuality in the Orthodox world. Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2018, interesting documentary on the LGBTQ issue within Orthodox Judaism, Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2015, I had seen this years ago and ordered it because I chose it for a class project for a cultural anthropology class I was taking. Trembling Before G-d Trembling Before G-d (2001) is a documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. That picture is both incomplete and distorted. Rechtshaffen, Michael (February 25, 2002). DuBowski maintains that there is no agenda to Trembling Before G-d "beyond alleviating an immense amount of pain that people are going through", and that Judaism is lovingly portrayed. '"[26] Orthodox clinical psychologist Adam Jessel commented:[27]. Directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. "An Interview With Rabbi Steven Greenberg: Orthodox And Gay". Shot over five years in Israel, Brooklyn, London, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco, in English with Hebrew and Yiddish, it is a work of global implications...." It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare Orthodox Jewish attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew. Gay Press, This page was last edited on 19 March 2021, at 22:08. An important work that is equally entertaining, Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2018. Share. [29], The DVD was released in 2003 and contains many extra features, such as extensive interviews with DuBowski and Rabbi Steven Greenberg. [17], Trembling Before G-d was put out on general release on October 21, 2001, in New York City, where it broke Film Forum's opening day box office records, grossing more than $5,500 on the first day of release. 'Trembling Before G-d' gives a voice to gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews by Kathleen Wilkinson, special to SF Gate Feb. 28, 2002 Updated: Jan. 31, 2012 8:36 a.m. He has tried numerous forms of "treatment", from eating figs and praying to wearing a rubber band on his wrist to flick whenever he thinks of men, but to no avail. "Trembling Before G-d" ("the dash is about how God is infinite," DuBowski says), which opens Friday at the Castro, shows gays from Brooklyn to … [11], Mark is the English son of a Haredi rabbi. [14] The language is predominantly English, with passages in Yiddish and Hebrew that are subtitled. Film Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Several Orthodox synagogues sponsored showings of the film all over the world, including in Israel. Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 American documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. Indeed, several audience members at screenings asked afterwards how they could convert. This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on January 12, 2008. While there is disagreement about which acts come under core prohibitions, all of Orthodox Judaism puts certain core homosexual acts, including male-male anal sex, in the category of yehareg ve'al ya'avor, "die rather than transgress" – the small category of Biblically prohibited acts (including apostasy, murder, idolatry, adultery, and incest) which an Orthodox Jew is obligated under Jewish laws on self-sacrifice to die rather than commit. There is no narration, and the film may be considered to be an example of cinéma vérité. Trembling before G-d is simply an excellant movie that needs to be scene. Trembling Before G-d shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. [33] The film has now been seen by an estimated 8 million people worldwide. Eugene Hernandez and Brian Brooks (October 30, 2001), ""Trembling" Opens Strong in NYC; Sets One-Day Record", Indiewire. Rabbi Steven Greenberg, one of the founding members of the Jerusalem Open House, a gay rights organization in Israel which provides support to gay Orthodox Jews and their families, who is sometimes called "the world’s first openly gay Orthodox rabbi",[10] discusses parents' reactions to their children coming out, as well as traditional interpretations of the prohibitions on homosexual acts in the Torah. By omitting the middle letter, the word is not written in full, thus eliminating the possibility of accidentally destroying the written name of God, which would violate one of the 613 Mitzvot of Judaism (number 8 on Maimonides' list). 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