Syracuse University’s Hillel, LGBT Resource Center to host screening of award-winning documentary on the hidden lives of gay, lesbian Hasidic and Orthodox Jews

Syracuse University’s Hillel, LGBT Resource Center to host screening of award-winning documentary on the hidden lives of gay, lesbian Hasidic and Orthodox JewsOctober 22, 2003Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Film’s creator Sandi Simcha DuBowski will lead a discussion with the audience following the screening

Hillel at Syracuse University and SU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center will sponsor a screening of the award-winning documentary “Trembling Before G-d” on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. in Grant Auditorium, located in the College of Law’s White Hall. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film’s creator, Sandi Simcha DuBowski. The screening and discussion are free and open to the public.

“Trembling Before G-d” explores the ongoing struggle between the forces of sexuality, tradition and religion by telling the stories of eight men and women, all Orthodox Jews, who have struggled to both find God in the Orthodox Jewish tradition and to accept their own homosexuality. The film was shot over a five-year period in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Jerusalem, Los Angeles, London, Miami and San Francisco.

Built around intimately-told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews who are gay or Lesbian, the film portrays a group of people who face a profound dilemma-how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism and the Divine with the drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality.

Among the film subjects that viewers will meet are David, an Orthodox gay man in Los Angeles and son of a cantor who tried to change is homosexuality for a decade; Michelle, a Brooklyn native and lesbian who was disowned by her family; and “Devorah,” an ultra-orthodox lesbian in Israel who is a wife, mother and grandmother and wrestling with whether she should reveal her true self.

The film is the recipient of 12 awards, including the Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the Berlin Film Festival and the 2003 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary.

The program is funded by The Kaleidoscope Project, a diversity initiative between the Division of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs to broaden the understanding of diversity and promote healthy dialogue about related issues at Syracuse University. Additional support has been provided by U Encounter, Hendricks Chapel, the Office of Residence Life and Congregation Beth Sholom Chevra Shas.

Call Hillel at 443-5042 or the LGBT Resource Center at 443-3983 for more information on the event.