Outside the mainstream because of their race, spiritual practices,
sexuality, gender, and politics, young Jews build radical communities.
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SYNOPSIS:
A celebration of diversity, Young Jewish and Left weaves queer culture, Jewish Arab history, secular Yiddishkiet, 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.
Created by Konnie Michael Chameides and Irit Reinheimer
