Mendy | |
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Directed by | Adam Vardy [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Mendy: A Question of Faith is a 2003 film about a Hasidic Jewish man who leaves his religiously devout community in Brooklyn to experience secular life in New York City. The film was written and directed by Adam Vardy. [1] [2]
The film's protagonist is a Hasidic man named Mendy (Ivan Sandomire) whose metamorphosis from a devotee of an insular faith to the secular world is contrasted with the life of Bianca (Gabriela Dias), a Brazilian exotic dancer. [1]
Vardy's film was inspired by a 1997 Village Voice article about young Hasidic men from the Satmar community who left Hasidic Judaism to immerse themselves in modern, secular life. [2]
Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch, is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic groups and Jewish religious organizations in the world. Unlike most Haredi groups, which are self-segregating, Chabad operates mainly in the wider world and caters to secularized Jews.
Ger is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland, where it was founded by Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798–1866), known as the "Chiddushei HaRim". Ger is a branch of Peshischa Hasidism, as Yitzchak Meir Alter was a leading disciple of Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827). Before the Holocaust, followers of Ger were estimated to number in excess of 100,000, making it the largest and most influential Hasidic group in Poland. Today, the movement is based in Jerusalem, and its membership is estimated at 11,859 families, as of 2016, most of whom live in Israel, making Ger the largest Hasidic dynasty in Israel. However, there are also well-established Ger communities in the United States and in Europe. In 2019, some 300 families of followers led by Shaul Alter, split off from the dynasty led by his cousin Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
Satmar is a Hasidic group founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, in the city of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary. The group is an offshoot of the Sighet Hasidic dynasty. Following World War II, it was re-established in New York.
Jewish education is the transmission of the tenets, principles, and religious laws of Judaism. Jews value education, and the value of education is strongly embedded in Jewish culture. Judaism places a heavy emphasis on Torah study, from the early days of studying the Tanakh.
Off the derech is a Yeshiva-English expression used to describe the state of a Jew who has left an Orthodox way of life or community, and whose new lifestyle is secular, non-Jewish, or of a non-Orthodox form of Judaism, as part of a contemporary social phenomenon tied to the Digital, Postmodern and Post-postmodern eras. In its broadest sense it can also include those changing to a milder form of Orthodoxy. Despite the term's pejorative and controversially dichotomic and definitive nature, it has become popular in use among Orthodox people, is found in mainstream literature, and has also been reclaimed by some OTD individuals.
Hashkafa is the Hebrew term for worldview and guiding philosophy, used almost exclusively within Orthodox Judaism. A hashkafa is a perspective that Orthodox Jews adopt that defines many aspects of their lives. Hashkafa thus plays a crucial role in how these interact with the world around them, and influences individual beliefs about secularity, gender roles, and modernity. In that it guides many practical decisions—where to send children to school, what synagogue to attend, and what community to live in—hashkafa works in conjunction with halakha or Jewish law.
In Satmar Custody is a 2003 film of the Jaradis, a Yemenite Jewish family, one of many that were brought from Yemen to the US by the Hasidic Satmar community, which advises against immigration to Israel. The story exposes a deep cultural gap between the Yemenite families and the Yiddish Satmar community that became distractive and tragic to families who have traveled thousands of miles to a place with strange rules, norms, morals, and lifestyles. The film follows the life of Yahia and Lauza Jaradi, who were brought from Yemen into the Satmar community. It starts on the day that the Jaradi couple received an urgent phone call notifying that their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Hadia, died in a hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. Through their search for their daughter's body, they are getting closer and closer to what seems as the very painful truth about her faith.
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The Chosen is a 1981 American drama film directed by Jeremy Kagan, based on the best-selling book of the same name by Chaim Potok, published in 1967. It stars Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger. At the 1981 Montréal World Film Festival, the film won Grand Prix of the Americas, and Steiger won best actor. Analysis Film Releasing Corp and 20th Century Fox released it in the US in April 1982.
Project 2x1 is a 2013 American documentary film about the Hasidic and West Indian residents of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It is shot in part using Google Glass. Project 2x1 is directed by Hannah Roodman, and produced by Lisa Campbell and Jaqueline Ratner Stauber. The film is produced by a diverse group of Crown Heights residents; the Project 2×1 film project was initially founded by Mendy Seldowitz, Hannah Roodman, Celso White and Ben Millstein.
Felix and Meira is a 2014 Canadian drama film directed by Maxime Giroux, and starring Martin Dubreuil, Hadas Yaron, and Luzer Twersky. It is about an improbable affair between two Montreal residents - one a married woman from a devoutly Jewish family and community, and the other a single French Canadian man with his own family issues.
Orthodox pop, sometimes called Hasidic pop, Hasidic rock, K-pop, Haredi pop, and Ortho-pop, is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music popular among Orthodox Jews. It typically draws stylistically from contemporary genres like pop, rock, jazz, and dance music, while incorporating text from Jewish prayer, Torah, and Talmud as well as traditional Jewish songs and occasional original English lyrics with themes of faith and positivity. The genre was pioneered in the 1970s by artists like Mordechai Ben David and the Miami Boys Choir, who incorporated secular pop and dance influences into their music in contrast to the more traditional Jewish music of the time, and has had continued success in the modern era with singers like Yaakov Shwekey, Lipa Schmeltzer, Baruch Levine, and Benny Friedman.
Shulem Deen is an American author, essayist, former Skver Hasid, and critic of Hasidic Judaism. He is the author of the memoir All Who Go Do Not Return (2015), and is a regular columnist at The Forward. He is also the founding editor of Unpious, a journal for voices critical of Hasidic lifestyle and beliefs.
Abby Chava Stein is an American transgender author, activist, blogger, model, speaker, and rabbi. She is the first openly transgender woman raised in a Hasidic community, and is a direct descendant of Hasidic Judaism's founder, the Baal Shem Tov. In 2015, she founded one of the first support groups nationwide for trans people with an Orthodox Jewish background who have left Orthodox Judaism.
One of Us is a 2017 documentary feature film that chronicles the lives of three ex-Hasidic Jews from Brooklyn. The film was directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who also created the documentary Jesus Camp. One of Us opened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017, and was distributed the following month of October via Netflix, which also financed the film.
Chani Getter, LCSW (they/them) is a U.S. speaker, writer, therapist, and interfaith minister. Rev. Chani is also an award-winning activist and educator who supports a growing community of LGBTQ+ and non-binary people. Their life and work has been featured in two documentary films, DevOUT (2012) and One of Us (2017).
Unorthodox is a German drama television miniseries that debuted on Netflix on March 26, 2020. The first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish, it is inspired by Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography, Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots. The four-part miniseries was created and written by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, and directed by Maria Schrader.
Welcome to the Waks Family is a 2003 Australian documentary film exploring the life of a Chabad Hasidic family in Melbourne. The film follows the life of Zephaniah and Haya Waks and their 17 children. Zephaniah was born Stephen Waks and lived as a secular Jew in Sydney, Australia, before joining the Chabad Hasidic community. The documentary was directed by filmmaker Barbara Chobocky who was a friend of Zephania while they both studied at university. The film was screened on the SBS television channel.
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