Trembling Before G-d at Conservative shul
Last night, I went to the first of four once-per-week meetings on Homosexuality within the Conservative movement at my shul.
For this, the first meeting, we watched the movie Trembling Before G-d, and discussed
it briefly. (We didn't start until 8:15, or so, after Maariv, and had to be done by
10, so there wasn't much time for discussion).
I had seen the movie once before, but I definitely got something out of watching it again. It's a very managed presentation -- what documentary about an emotional subject isn't? -- and one can't help wondering whether some people interviewed weren't used in the documentary, or about the scenes not included.
But it's still quite a powerful movie and I certainly have profound sympathy for the gays and lesbian characters shown.
I asked one minor question in the discussion, but afterward, I thought about a few things -- let me just list two for now, maybe I'll add more later.
(1) I'd really like to know more about the orthodox gay study group they mention at the very end -- the fact that this group exists at all seems give some possibilities to the characters whose isolation was so well described in the movie.
(2) For us, as Conservative Jews, it should be striking that none of the people in the movie thought of Conservative or Reconstructionist (or Reform) shuls as any sort of solution to their need. Some of them were trying to still live within some orthodox community; others were living in isolation, but still felt drawn by orthodox standards and lifestyles; a few were apparently no longer practicing jews, but still felt drawn by the faith they had left behind. Again, I don't know if this is solely because of the selection process for participants and choice of scenes to be shown, but it sure seemed that way. The contradiction they were trying to resolve was between "Judaism" and their gay/lesbian being -- and those branches of Judaism that were more accepting and could resolve the contradiction didn't seem like resolutions at all.
For this, the first meeting, we watched the movie Trembling Before G-d, and discussed
it briefly. (We didn't start until 8:15, or so, after Maariv, and had to be done by
10, so there wasn't much time for discussion).
I had seen the movie once before, but I definitely got something out of watching it again. It's a very managed presentation -- what documentary about an emotional subject isn't? -- and one can't help wondering whether some people interviewed weren't used in the documentary, or about the scenes not included.
But it's still quite a powerful movie and I certainly have profound sympathy for the gays and lesbian characters shown.
I asked one minor question in the discussion, but afterward, I thought about a few things -- let me just list two for now, maybe I'll add more later.
(1) I'd really like to know more about the orthodox gay study group they mention at the very end -- the fact that this group exists at all seems give some possibilities to the characters whose isolation was so well described in the movie.
(2) For us, as Conservative Jews, it should be striking that none of the people in the movie thought of Conservative or Reconstructionist (or Reform) shuls as any sort of solution to their need. Some of them were trying to still live within some orthodox community; others were living in isolation, but still felt drawn by orthodox standards and lifestyles; a few were apparently no longer practicing jews, but still felt drawn by the faith they had left behind. Again, I don't know if this is solely because of the selection process for participants and choice of scenes to be shown, but it sure seemed that way. The contradiction they were trying to resolve was between "Judaism" and their gay/lesbian being -- and those branches of Judaism that were more accepting and could resolve the contradiction didn't seem like resolutions at all.
posted by Ted at 2:06 PM
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