Trembling Before G-d (2001)

A cinematic portrait of various gay Orthodox Jews who struggle to reconcile their faith and their sexual orientation.

Director:

Sandi Simcha Dubowski

Stars:

Shlomo Ashkinazy, Steve Greenberg, Nathan Lopes Cardozo

8 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shlomo Ashkinazy	...	Himself - Psychotherapist
Steve Greenberg	...	Himself (as Rabbi Steve Greenberg)
Nathan Lopes Cardozo	...	Himself (as Rabbi Dr. Nathan Lopes Cardozo)
Naomi Mark	...	Herself - Psychotherapist
Shlomo Riskin	...	Himself (as Rabbi Shlomo Riskin)
Yaakov Meir Weil	...	Himself - Psychiatrist (as Dr. Yaakov Meir Weil)

Storyline

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 forbids homosexuality.

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Plot Keywords:

gay | jew | orthodox jew | love | homosexuality | 

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Taglines:

The hidden lives of gay and lesbian Orthodox and Hasidic Jews.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Official Sites:

Simcha Leib Productions

Country:

Israel France USA

Language:

English Yiddish Hebrew

Release Date:

6 December 2001 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Ils tremblent devant Dieu

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$21,410 (USA) (26 October 2001)

Gross:

$619,612 (USA) (22 March 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinephil, Keshet Broadcasting, Pretty Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The spelling of the last word in this movie's title comes from the Jewish tradition of treating any written representation of the name of God with respect, and not writing it on any document that might be treated carelessly or accidentally or deliberately defaced, destroyed, or erased (a longstanding Rabbinical interpretation of Deuteronomy 12:3). Since this movie, like most, had posters, sales materials, contractual paperwork, DVD covers, and other ephemera with its title on them go out into public hands, the filmmakers used the G-d spelling out of respect and recognition that there was no way to know how the documents on which the name would be treated outside or their presences.

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Quotes

Rabbie Meir Fund: ...so the Jew who is gay by choice... work like mad to overcome it... a Jew who is, as we might say, wall-to-wall gay... I will hold his hand, figuratively... and do the best I can to give him strength to serve G-d.

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Connections

Featured in SexTV: Trembling Before G-d/Midori (2002)

User Reviews

A must see documentary

Today the question of homosexuality in the Jewish world is in the forefront of the Jewish press. The Conservative movement just voted to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis and allow for same sex "committment" ceremonies. Call it what you will, but it's same sex marriage.

To make my position clear, I totally support equal rights under the secular law for gays and lesbians but feel the is no official place for it in religious law. The Orthodox community will SHUN such people (and I can understand that), The Conservative community will be kind of blase about it, the Reform community will openly embrace it.

To see the reality of the genuine suffering of Orthodox gay and lesbian people brought tears to my eyes when I saw this film. They are torn between 2 very strong and basic values, are being pulled apart emotionally. They strongly desire to be part of the Orthodox community which shuns them totally and they cannot chose one life style over the other.

For those of you shunners, this film should make it much more difficult to have the knee-jerk reaction to the problem.