People in Israel are interested in doing the traditional thing, even if their lives are not completely traditional... but the institutional rabbinate presents itself as an obstacle.”
–Rabbi Seth Farber, founder of ITIM
“Don’t cling to stereotypes. Meet with the rabbis and see that they don’t have horns. That they are truly kind, pleasant, and sympathetic people.”
–Rabbi Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
These quotes characterize the spectrum of viewpoints presented throughout Faces of Israel, a mature and engaging educational documentary that poses a series of questions about what it means to live in a both Jewish and democratic state through the lens of the Israeli marriage process.
The film features interviews with leaders in the Masorti (Conservative) and Reform movements, leaders in the National Religious community, openly gay Israeli students, secular Israeli kibbutzniks, and members of the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate. These diverse perspectives demonstrate that many secular Israelis feel a strong connection to Jewish tradition, but at the same time the inflexibility of the marriage ceremony, limitations on who can officiate, and the onerous restrictions on who can marry whom raise the ire of many citizens. The film quotes studies showing that a majority of secular Israelis want to marry in a religious ceremony. However, many also feel that appointed community rabbis are more responsive to their supervisors in the rabbinate than to the local community, creating a largely top-down rabbinate system.
Faces of Israel is impressively filmed, directed, and edited by Amy Oppenheimer, a recent graduate of Johns Hopkins University who studied everything but film in college. While studying abroad in Israel, it was the marriage issue that finally inspired her to pick up a camera.
“During my final year of studies, I came to realize that in addition to being an important rite of passage, marriage in Israel also represents a series of deeper questions about how state and religion work—or don’t work—together in a Jewish state,” she says.
The lack of attention paid to the matter is what made her want to expose it more deeply.
“It was apparent that these issues were on people’s minds, but that there was no resource to introduce and foster discussion on the issue. I realized that if I really wanted to get people thinking about these issues, a movie would be a more successful means than the thesis paper I had planned, so I began filming, interviewing, and editing in order to share my interest in and fascination with the subject.”
Oppenheimer argues that the topics addressed in Faces of Israel are of interest to Jews worldwide.
“Israel is the national expression of the Jewish people. Questions on who is a Jew and on the intersection of synagogue and state in Israel cut to the heart of Jewish identity in the Diaspora. Jews making aliyah also tend to be faced with significant challenges when they first encounter the rabbinate. The rabbinate, in a sense, claims to represent all Jews, but it is clear that not all Jews give a thumbsup to that claim,” she says.
With these ideas in mind, Oppenheimer aimed to create a film that would not only be important to Jews worldwide, but that could work as an educational tool as well.
The film is divided into chapters covering diverse topics such as the role of the rabbinate, an introduction to various groups competing with or working against the rabbinate, a walk-through of the marriage process at the Haifa registrar, civil unions, homosexuality, and same-sex marriage. These themes allow for tailored programming based on student or audience needs and make films like Faces of Israel ideal for the classroom setting.
Robert D. Wilson, columnist for Teacher Librarian magazine and longtime educator, argues that documentary films have earned their place in the classroom when accompanied by teacher facilitation, particularly those in the style of Faces of Israel.
In this way, Faces of Israel endeavors to be a neutral and educational film, and in doing so, it largely succeeds. Perhaps the best indicator is the impressive cross-denominational list of endorsements it has received from leaders at Hebrew Union College, The Jewish Theological Seminary, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, Rabbinical Council of America, and Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. While the film has a chapter titled “Visions and Ideas,” it does not endorse a particular path. Oppenheimer’s film is no-holds-barred, but it presents an even-handed picture of all sides of the issue, giving the sometimes-frustrating, sometimes-charming rabbinate a significant spotlight. Ari Hoffnung is the chairman of the Riverdale Jewish Community Council and a candidate for the New York City Council.
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