ABOUT THE MOVIE: SYNOPSIS
A celebration of diversity, Young Jewish
and Left weaves queer
culture, Jewish Arab history, secular Yiddishkeit, anti-racist
analysis, and religious/spiritual traditions into a multi-layered
tapestry of Leftist politics. Personal experiences from many
of today’s leading Jewish activists reframe the possibilities
of Jewish identity. It presents a fresh and constructive take on
race, spirituality, Zionism, queerness, resistance, justice, and
liberation.
Meet Shira Hassan. After she and her trans-gender partner "were
literally laughed out of synagogue,” she created a radical
Machzor (prayer book) for the high holidays and organized her own
queer-positive celebration.
Listen as Loolwa Khazoom, an Iraqi Jew and editor of Flying Camel:
Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern
Jewish Heritage, recounts her experience in a U.S. Hebrew School
when the Rabbi told her it was a sin to use a Sephardi (non-European)
Jewish prayer book.
And follow Micah Bazant as he praises the feminist possibilities
within Jewish masculinity.
As these community organizers, playwrights, artists, and rabbis
speak of building progressive organizations, new rituals, and more
inclusive communities, it is clear that their inspiration is drawn
from a proud Jewish past. Inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,
the Workmen's Circle, and by their own communist & socialist
grandparents, these Jewish radicals are creating a more just future
by learning from and identifying with a collective, rich Jewish
heritage of reform and rebellion. At a time when religious fundamentalists
take power in the US and around the world, this documentary is
an inspiration. Grab your Bubbe (grandmother) and your habibi (loved
one) and check it out.
Young, Jewish, and Left was shot throughout the US and focuses
on Jews who came of age after the New Left movements of the 60’s
and 70’s. Activists from the previous generation provide
historical context. Music by Mirah, Nomy Lamm, and the Divahn.