Judaism and Film: Judaism Through Film

Tevye is a poor Jewish milkman with five unmarried daughters to support in a village in Czarist Russia. With a sharp tongued wife at home and growing anti-Semitism in the village, Tevye talks to God about his troubles. His people's traditions keep him strong when his existence is as precariously balanced as a fiddler on the roof.

"Cantor Jacob Mendelson .. explores the American roots of 'hazzanut' (Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem"--Container.

Weaving together several different stories about people's lives, loves, perceptions, and ideals, this examines some of the toughest questions surrounding human nature.

One ordinary man's quest to become a serious man. Physics professor Larry Gopnik can't believe his life, his wife is leaving him for his best friend, his unemployed brother won't move off the couch, someone is threatening his career, his kids are a mystery and his neighbor is tormenting him by sunbathing nude. Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behavior, and mortality.

Features the Jewish refugees from Europe who settled in Palestine during the 1920s and early 1930s; highlights the revival of agriculture, commerce and industry initiated by the Jewish community.

This film dramatizes part of the Israeli independence moment, dealing with various factions involved in the internecine struggle between the moderate Haganah and the radical terrorist Irgun Zvai Leumi. Interspersed throughout are segments showing the migration of European Jews to the new land, paying special attention to the ragged survivors of Nazi death camps on board the vessel Exodus, blockaded in a Cyprus harbor by British warships. The film also depicts the struggle of the Jews in Palestine to gain partition, then profiles the main characters after the partition, fighting to continue as the nation of Israel.

The story of two Hasidic sisters living in the Mea Shearim area of Jerusalem. Rivka and her husband are deeply in love, but he obeys his rabbi father and divorces her after 10 childless years of marriage. Rivka's sister Malka loves a man who has left Hasidism after joining the army, but accepts the marriage her parents have arranged to the rabbi's assistant.

After her sister dies in childbirth, a young orthodox Jewish woman's family pressures her to marry her brother-in-law rather than entering into an arranged marriage with a man closer to her age.

"The son of a Jewish Cantor must defy his father in order to pursue his dream of becoming a jazz singer."
--Kenneth Chisholm

A satirical comedy showing the problems an immigrant family from North Africa encounters in adjusting to life in Israel.

An intimate and rare exploration of the world of Messianic Judaism and Jews who believe in Jesus. Filmed in Canada for a period of five years, the film follows members of the City of David congregation from Toronto, Canada as they try to carve out a life for themselves in their Jewish community, by following what many Jews believe to be Christian Dogma. The Chosen People reveals the most controversial group in the Jewish community and their crusade to have the North American Jewish community accept Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah.

This spoof of documentary films stars Woody Allen as Leonard Zelig, the famous "Chameleon Man" of the 1920's, whose personality was so vague he would assume the characteristics of whomever he came into contact with. Filmed in black-and-white, the movie simulates the look of a newsreel, complete with stentorian narration.

Two men, long-time best friends, reunite with the tomboy who was the best friend of both; but all of them have changed-- greatly.

The true story of a Jewish teenager who survived World War II by living as a Nazi for 7 years.

The incredible true story follows the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. It is the triumph of one man who made a difference and the drama of those who survived one of the darkest chapters in human history because of what he did.

In Montreal, 1948, a miraculous reunion of two Holocaust survivors - one a man of religion, the other a writer who has lost his faith - leads to a searing examination of good & evil & an ultimate test of redemption & hope.

The deep forests of Poland and Belorussia are the domain of the occupying Germans during World War II. The three Bielski brothers go into the forests to undertake the impossible task of foraging for food, weapons and survival, not just for themselves but for a large mass of Polish Jews fleeing from the German war machine. The brothers, living with the fear of discovery, must contend with neighboring Soviet partisans and deciding whom to trust. They take on the responsibility of guardians and motivate hundreds of women, men, children and elderly to join their fight against the Nazi regime while hiding in makeshift homes in the dark, cold, unforgiving forest. At the same time, the brothers turn a band of war defectors into powerful freedom fighters. Based on true events.

A legendary producer and his mild-mannered accountant face catastrophe when their play unexpectedly becomes a success.

The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv was where my grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930's. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought that the flat was in Berlin. When my grandmother passed away at the age of 98 we were called to the flat to clear out what was left. Objects, pictures, letters and documents awaited us, revealing traces of a troubled and unknown past. The film which begins with the emptying out of a flat develops into a riveting adventure, involving unexpected national interests, a friendship that crosses enemy lines, and deeply repressed family emotions. And even reveals some secrets that should have probably remained untold.

Pool shark and hustler Jaeckie Zucker is up to his ears in debt. In a stroke of luck, his mother dies and leaves an inheritance. Before he can cash in, his mother has requested the difficult task of reconciling with his estranged Orthodox brother Samuel.

A taut thriller about the tense relationship between the orthodox nationalists and the military. Both a politico-psychological drama and a love story between a passionate woman and two best friends, Time Of Favor raises important questions of faith to one's religion, duty to one's nation, and love for oneself.

A heartwarming and light hearted look at the daily lives of ultra-Orthodox Jews learning, living and loving in modern-day Israel. The story of a family facing hardships who must rely on their faith for miracles to happen during the holiday season.

A journalist (Gregory Peck) pretends to be Jewish in order to cover a story on anti-Semitism, and soon discovers what is to be a victim of religious intolerance.

The story of several generations of a family, from the arrival of immigrant Sam Krichinsky in the suburb of Baltimore called Avalon down through his children and grandchildren. The family goes from poverty to prosperity and the world changes around them, but their love and humor hold the family together.

An offbeat story of a Polish rabbi travelling through the West in the 1850s.