POSSIBLE SPOILERS
"Trembling Before G-d" -- the very title needs to be explained if you are to understand the film -- is an exceedingly painful story about the difficulties faced by gays and lesbians from Jewish Orthodox communities. Although the Hebrew and (occasional) Yiddish expressions that crop up are adequately translated in subtitles, this is a story of what must be called "Gay Shame" as opposed to "Gay Pride." The sacred texts of the Jews condemn homosexuality, calling for the death by stoning of males who practice it. Lesbian sex is likewise forbidden. While gay Jews are no longer stoned, gays and lesbians who confess their sexual orientation are almost uniformly ousted from the communities in which they grew up and abandoned by their families as if dead.
"G-d" is the Orthodox way of avoiding reference to God's name in writing. Pronouncing the name of God is explicitly forbidden in the Torah, and when saying prayers a variety of devices/euphemisms are employed to address the Almighty without saying his (or her) name. The most familiar of these to non-Jews is often translated into English as "Yah" or "Yahweh" or "Jehova." It generally appears in Hebrew prayer books as a tetragammaton -- four consonants, often articulated as "adonai." In Moses' time, the high priest could pronounce the name of God once a year in sacred space, hidden from the congregation. Modern Jews have no idea what God's "real" name is. Indeed, in conversation outside the synagogue, Orthodox Jews frequently refer to God as "ha-Shem," which means "the name."
"Trembling Before G-d" allows a number of gay and lesbian Jews to tell their own stories. So difficult is the topic for most of them that few allow their faces to be seen, appearing mostly in shadows or behind curtains or in black profile. One of the most poignant of the tales told is that of a woman who has borne 13 children to a husband who acknowledges that he is incapable of truly loving her because he would prefer sex with men (he seems not to have acted on it). And then there's the married woman who has revealed her lesbian desires to her husband and now lives a celibate life with him and their children. And, although only one is interviewed, there are those who marry, already knowing that their sexual orientation is not heterosexual.
But the primary focus of the film is on gays and lesbians who have acknowledged their sexual orientations to themselves and, in most cases, revealed themselves to their parents and their communities. As a result, they've been excommunicated and, although they continue to feel Orthodox, they are prevented from practicing their Orthodoxy within a community. Many have tried unsuccessfully with the help of their rabbis and psychotherapists to shed their sexual desires -- and the rabbis and therapists are themselves interviewed in the film. In one case, a man in his forties returns to visit a sympathetic rabbi who had counseled him twenty years earlier and the gay man tells the rabbi that he was unable to overcome his desires but does not practice anal sex. The rabbi is astounded; he knew of no other way for homosexuals to have sex. When the gay man explains and likens his desire for his partner to the intense sexual desire that a married man feels for his wife, it comes to the rabbi as a revelation.
Having written all this by way of explanation, a few words of criticism: the film is too long and far too repetitive. Several of the people who have allowed themselves to be interviewed tell their stories, with small variations, more than once. And there is too little time spent with the few Orthodox rabbis who seem to understand the issue, exploring why the pain that follows exclusion is essentially unacknowledged and unaddressed in the world of Orthodoxy.
Jew or not, however,this is a film that should be seen. Unfortunately, I'm absolutely certain it will NOT be seen by those who need to see it the most. G-d forbid!
"Trembling Before G-d" -- the very title needs to be explained if you are to understand the film -- is an exceedingly painful story about the difficulties faced by gays and lesbians from Jewish Orthodox communities. Although the Hebrew and (occasional) Yiddish expressions that crop up are adequately translated in subtitles, this is a story of what must be called "Gay Shame" as opposed to "Gay Pride." The sacred texts of the Jews condemn homosexuality, calling for the death by stoning of males who practice it. Lesbian sex is likewise forbidden. While gay Jews are no longer stoned, gays and lesbians who confess their sexual orientation are almost uniformly ousted from the communities in which they grew up and abandoned by their families as if dead.
"G-d" is the Orthodox way of avoiding reference to God's name in writing. Pronouncing the name of God is explicitly forbidden in the Torah, and when saying prayers a variety of devices/euphemisms are employed to address the Almighty without saying his (or her) name. The most familiar of these to non-Jews is often translated into English as "Yah" or "Yahweh" or "Jehova." It generally appears in Hebrew prayer books as a tetragammaton -- four consonants, often articulated as "adonai." In Moses' time, the high priest could pronounce the name of God once a year in sacred space, hidden from the congregation. Modern Jews have no idea what God's "real" name is. Indeed, in conversation outside the synagogue, Orthodox Jews frequently refer to God as "ha-Shem," which means "the name."
"Trembling Before G-d" allows a number of gay and lesbian Jews to tell their own stories. So difficult is the topic for most of them that few allow their faces to be seen, appearing mostly in shadows or behind curtains or in black profile. One of the most poignant of the tales told is that of a woman who has borne 13 children to a husband who acknowledges that he is incapable of truly loving her because he would prefer sex with men (he seems not to have acted on it). And then there's the married woman who has revealed her lesbian desires to her husband and now lives a celibate life with him and their children. And, although only one is interviewed, there are those who marry, already knowing that their sexual orientation is not heterosexual.
But the primary focus of the film is on gays and lesbians who have acknowledged their sexual orientations to themselves and, in most cases, revealed themselves to their parents and their communities. As a result, they've been excommunicated and, although they continue to feel Orthodox, they are prevented from practicing their Orthodoxy within a community. Many have tried unsuccessfully with the help of their rabbis and psychotherapists to shed their sexual desires -- and the rabbis and therapists are themselves interviewed in the film. In one case, a man in his forties returns to visit a sympathetic rabbi who had counseled him twenty years earlier and the gay man tells the rabbi that he was unable to overcome his desires but does not practice anal sex. The rabbi is astounded; he knew of no other way for homosexuals to have sex. When the gay man explains and likens his desire for his partner to the intense sexual desire that a married man feels for his wife, it comes to the rabbi as a revelation.
Having written all this by way of explanation, a few words of criticism: the film is too long and far too repetitive. Several of the people who have allowed themselves to be interviewed tell their stories, with small variations, more than once. And there is too little time spent with the few Orthodox rabbis who seem to understand the issue, exploring why the pain that follows exclusion is essentially unacknowledged and unaddressed in the world of Orthodoxy.
Jew or not, however,this is a film that should be seen. Unfortunately, I'm absolutely certain it will NOT be seen by those who need to see it the most. G-d forbid!