Judaic Studies

Through compelling interviews with two immigrants born in Rhodes --what will probably be the last recorded testimony from this generation-- and one second generation Rhodesli who grew up in the area, we learn how the Sephardim of Rhodes, as all immigrants of that era, were torn between assimilating into mainstream American culture and maintaining their identity. The film is also a valuable historical document: filled with seldom seen movie footage and previously unpublished archival photographs it brings to life a little known aspect of the history of Los Angeles.

Cracow’s handful of Jews, survivors of one of the largest Jewish communities prior to World War II, were eager to participate in the first bar mitzvah in their synagogues since the War. In following the emotional journey of Eric and his family to Poland, the filmmakers capture a riveting story: a woman rabbi faces a storm of controversy over religious traditions and modernity; a holocaust-devastated Jewish community reflects on its past, present and future; a boy comes of age. Set against the backdrop of the rich heritage of Polish Jewry, Spark Among the Ashes is a landmark film for audiences concerned with the holocaust, cultural survival, and the conflict between orthodox and contemporary religious movements.

Africans from Nigeria, Togo, the Congo, Zaire, Lagos and Ethiopia have emigrated to Israel to work or to study Judaism. They were unable to study their religion at home since there was no one to teach them. In the Negev desert, several thousand black Americans who fled the urban slums in the 1960's have formed an independent community where they practice their own version of the Hebraic religion under the law of their leader Carter Ben Ami. Although they have been denied citizenship in Israel, they enjoy friendly relations with Israelis and believe Israel is "the kingdom of Paradise on Earth." Many black Jews born in the Caribbean have moved to the U.S. to practice Judaism. One congregant of the Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Harlem, born in Trinidad, recalls that his father's family which had Sephardic roots, kept kosher and celebrated the Sabbath. We meet a diverse group of people from a Harlem rabbi who reveals his thoughts on the spread of Judaism in sub-Saharan Africa, to Rebecca Walker, the biracial daughter of civil rights activist Alice Walker and to an African learning Yiddish in Paris. As one Jew from Nigeria concludes "Judaism has no color." See also: Keep On Walking, the award-winning film of an African-American gospel singer who teaches the Torah.

A common rite of passage for Orthodox Jews involves spending a year post-high school studying in Israel. Anna discovered that all her rebellious friends who swore off a religious lifestyle still made this pilgrimage, and each returned more committed than ever to their Jewish heritage. Anna sets out to document what transpires during this year in Israel and to discover what takes place on this journey that returns even the most rebellious teens to a lifestyle of Orthodox Judaism. This documentary follows three teens on their adventure abroad, through the eyes of Anna, who is forced to confront her own religious identity along the way.