Mishkan Torah to present the film "Trembling Before God."

On Sunday, February 8, 2015 the Social Action Committee of Mishkan Torah Synagogue will present a special screening of the film “Trembling Before God.” The film will be shown at two in the afternoon at Mishkan Torah. Made in 2001, the film is a documentary about people trying to reconcile their homosexuality with their Jewish fundamental religious beliefs. The film has won a number of awards.

Shot in six countries, this documentary shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. The film is 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 forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, the audience meets a range of complex individuals - some hidden, some out - from the world’s first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts. Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousands-year old tradition. Ultimately, they are forced to question how they can pursue truth and faith in their lives--and survive--while upholding the universal struggle to belong.

More information on the film can be found on this wikipedia page.

The event is free and open to the entire community. Mistaken Torah is located at 10 Ridge Road in Greenbelt.