Janis Plotkin & Karen Davis—Off The Derech: Haredi Judaism and Beyond in Film

Ultra-orthodox Jewish life has long been surrounded by secrecy from within and intense curiosity from without. This course will focus on four films that present Haredi Jewish life from multiple perspectives. Critical, compassionate and profoundly humane, these films offer an expanded view of the complexities of living within and beyond the strictures of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish life. Our film selection includes two fiction feature films and two documentaries, from the US, Israel and the United Kingdom, including two films directed by women.

We will discuss the following films:

• DISOBEDIENCE (2017) director: Sebastián Lelio (UK ) 114min in English and Hebrew
• ONE OF US (2017) co-directors: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady (US) 95min in English and Yiddish
• THE WOMEN’S BALCONY (2016)– co-directors: Shlomit Nehama and Emil Ben-Shemon (Israel) 96 min. Hebrew with English subtitles
• KADOSH (1999) – Director, Amos Gitai (Israel) 110 min. Hebrew with English subtitles (with guest historian Naomi Seidman)

Three of the films are available for free on Kanopy. To access Kanopy you need to have a library card and log into the website: kanopy.com. One film is only available on Netflix, requiring a subscription if you don’t already have one. Netflix does not offer a free trial, but you can cancel if you don’t want to continue. Students will be asked to view the film in advance of the class time so they will be prepared for the discussion.