Outback Rabbis is an Australian documentary directed by Danny Ben-Moshe.
Two Chasidic Jewish rabbis leave Melbourne and criss-cross the outback, looking for Jews. That sounds wonderful, until you realize that they want Jews who will be ultra-orthodox, as they are.
One man tells the rabbi that he wants to convert to Judaism, and the rabbi discourages him. "Being Jewish is hard."
Being Jewish means you say you're a Jew, to think like a Jew, you believe in the God of Abraham, and you strive to be a virtuous person.
It's hard to be a Chasidic Jew, because you have to accept the many rules and customs in which they believe. (Women can't be rabbis, men and women can't touch anyone but a spouse or a relative, women wear wigs because only their husbands can see their hair, etc., etc.)
People they meet in the outback may assume all Jews are like the Chasidim. That's unfortunate, because Chasidic Jews are a subculture within a subculture. You have to be Jewish to be Chasidic, but you don't have to be Chasidic to be Jewish.
This movie was probably made for TV or classroom use, because it's only 52 minutes long. However, it worked on the large screen when we saw it at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre in the George Eastman Museum. This movie was shown as part of the Rochester Jewish Film Festival, which is one of the highlights of Rochester's cultural year.
Two Chasidic Jewish rabbis leave Melbourne and criss-cross the outback, looking for Jews. That sounds wonderful, until you realize that they want Jews who will be ultra-orthodox, as they are.
One man tells the rabbi that he wants to convert to Judaism, and the rabbi discourages him. "Being Jewish is hard."
Being Jewish means you say you're a Jew, to think like a Jew, you believe in the God of Abraham, and you strive to be a virtuous person.
It's hard to be a Chasidic Jew, because you have to accept the many rules and customs in which they believe. (Women can't be rabbis, men and women can't touch anyone but a spouse or a relative, women wear wigs because only their husbands can see their hair, etc., etc.)
People they meet in the outback may assume all Jews are like the Chasidim. That's unfortunate, because Chasidic Jews are a subculture within a subculture. You have to be Jewish to be Chasidic, but you don't have to be Chasidic to be Jewish.
This movie was probably made for TV or classroom use, because it's only 52 minutes long. However, it worked on the large screen when we saw it at Rochester's wonderful Dryden Theatre in the George Eastman Museum. This movie was shown as part of the Rochester Jewish Film Festival, which is one of the highlights of Rochester's cultural year.
