Trembling Before G-d (film)
Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, an American who wanted to compare Orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew. The film won several awards, including Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, the 2001 Chicago International Film Festival, and the 2003 GLAAD Media Awards.
Trembling Before G-d is filmed in the style of cinéma vérité. This style of filmmaking aims for extreme naturalism using non-intrusive filming techniques, genuine locations instead of sound stages, and little post-production mixing or voiceovers. The film is mostly in English, but also has some subtitled Yiddish and Hebrew.
The film follows the lives of several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews and includes interviews with rabbis and psychotherapists about Orthodox attitudes towards homosexuality. During the film's six-year production, DuBowski met hundreds of homosexual Jews but only a handful agreed to be filmed out of fear of being ostracized from their communities. Many people who agreed to be interviewed are shown only in silhouette or with their faces pixelized. The majority of the participants are American Jews, with one British and one Israeli Jew also featured.
Trembling Before G-d has had a wide impact especially within the Orthodox Jewish world, where the reception has been roundly negative. Several Orthodox synagogues sponsored showings of the film all over the world, including in Israel. 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." A rabbi interviewed by DuBowski complained that the film "makes us appear to be narrow and bigoted". Arthur A. Goldberg, co-director of a Jewish ex-gay organization, wrote a letter to the editor of The Jerusalem Post lamenting the "film's biased and faulty assumption that same-sex attraction and behavior is irreversible" and that "opposing points of view were, in the reviewer's words, left 'lying on DuBowski's cutting room floor.'" Orthodox Clinical Psychologist Adam Jeseel commented that, "the film poignantly captures the torment of those torn between their religious beliefs and their same-sex attractions (SSA). One cannot help but feel compassion for DuBowski's interviewees who desperately miss the lifestyle, community and close family ties of the Orthodox world. Unfortunately, DuBowski's film goes further. Implicit in the film is the message that a homosexual lifestyle is desirable, and that the interviewees' only struggle is having their choices accepted and validated by the community.
No
Haredi Orthodox group spoke out in favor of Trembling Before G-d. The spokesperson
for Agudath Israel of America, one of the largest Haredi organizations, Rabbi
Avi Shafran, attacked the film with an article titled "Dissembling Before
G-d". 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 was successful at the box office, grossing over $5,500 on a single screen
on its first day of release and $788,896 on eight screens by its close date on
January 5, 2003. The film received ten award nominations, winning seven. Reception
by the Orthodox communities was mixed. Several Orthodox synagogues sponsored showings
of the film; however, no Haredi Orthodox groups spoke out in favor of the film.
Traditionally, Orthodox Judaism has prohibited homosexual conduct, as it was believed
people became homosexual in order to spite God, to be perverse, or because of
a mental illness. In the last couple of decades, positions on homosexuality have
become more sympathetic. However, Haredi Judaism, the most conservative form of
Orthodox Judaism, still views homosexuality as a perversion. As a result of the
positive responses received from homosexual Orthodox Jews, however, the creators
of the film have set up several organizations to teach Orthodox educators and
rabbis about homosexuality.
Trembling Before G-d interviews and follows several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews, many only as silhouettes, as well as interviewing several rabbis and psychologists about views on homosexuality in Orthodox Judaism. The film repeatedly returns to several characters:
David is an observant Orthodox Jewish doctor from LA who has spent a decade trying to reconcile his homosexuality with Judaism. He has tried numerous forms of "treatment", from eating figs and praying to wearing an elastic band on his wrist to flick whenever he thinks of men, but to no avail.[4] During the course of the film, David decides to visit the Chabad rabbi to whom he first came out.
Israel is a 58-year-old New Yorker who decided he couldn't 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. Now a tour guide around the Haredi neighborhoods of New York, the film follows him as he gives a tour, psychoanalyses himself and decides, on the 25th anniversary of being with his life partner, to call his 98 year old father, a rabbi, whom he has not seen in over twenty years.[15]
Michelle is another New Yorker, in her forties, who believed she was the only Hasidic lesbian in the world and as a consequence allowed herself to be pressured into marriage. However, she got divorced and was subsequently ostracized by her family and community when they discovered she was homosexual. The film shows her visiting her old neighborhood and an Orthodox fair.
Rabbi Steven Greenberg is the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, and discusses parents' reactions to their children coming out, as well as traditional interpretations of the prohibitions on homosexual acts in the Torah. Rabbi Greenberg also founded Open House, a gay rights organization in Israel which provides support to gay Orthodox Jews and their families. Shlomo Ashkenazy is a gay psychotherapist who has run a confidential support group for Orthodox gay men for nearly 20 years. He is interviewed about the effects of Orthodox attitudes to homosexuality and the reactions of rabbis to gay Jews.
Mark is the English son of an ultra-Orthodox rabbi. 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. He visits several yeshivas and other religious sites throughout the film. He remains upbeat, at one point saying, "Being a Jew is such a nice present to receive."
"Malka" and "Leah" are two observant Orthodox lesbians who have been together for ten years, which has destroyed Malka's relationship with her family. They speak frankly about their lives in the film and discuss their fears that they may not end up in heaven together. They are shown preparing for Shabbat, and Leah gives advice to a married Hasidic lesbian who is terrified her husband will find out and take away her children.
"Devorah" is a married Hasidic lesbian living in Israel. She only appears as a silhouette with an electronically modified voice. She considered her twenty year long marriage a lie and can only cope by taking anti-depressants. The film follows her as she attends her first gay pride parade, where she is offended by the anti-Orthodox sentiment of its speakers.
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