Trembling Before G-d free online video at Flixster

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• 
  TitanSweet
  October 25, 2008

  An eye-opening video on homosexuality and the Jewish tradition. Ultimately, helps answer and ponder upon our lives direction that conflicts with religious beliefs and traditions. Gives you understanding.

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  fullofsakuraflowers
  October 23, 2008

  they're all so sweet and sad. they believe in something that doesn't believe in them, and condamns them. they feel like nothing, they try to change, try to be something that He would love. oh my, trying to stop ouselves from being ourselves: this is what judaism has the power to do. this is terrifying, this is beautiful.

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  villainforhire
  September 28, 2008

  very interesting- well made and fairly balanced.

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  dredzag
  September 13, 2008

  Organized religion causes too much pain.

• 
  PunkAlternative
  July 8, 2007

  For a documentary, this video is very intriguing and moving. This is a film about being a gay Orthodox Jew in America. Most of Jewish Orthodoxy in the US rejects homosexuality as being against the literal text of Leviticus (a portion of the Torah--the "Hebrew Bible"--which is part of what the Christians refer to as the Old Testament).
  
  As this film shows, a number (probably a relatively small number) of American Orthodox rabbis recognize that being gay is a natural state that can't be denied. They tell their gay congregants to obey Leviticus, but these rabbis say that expressing same sex love is OK within those limits.
  
  The film gets legal/halachic about it, showing that this Orthodox rejection of gay sexual practices is specifically rejection of "sodomy." Beyond that there isn't any technical problem with gay expressions of love, as some Orthodox rabbis have concluded. In the biblical sense, sodomy is defined in a very limited way--not like some people's interpretation which is that any gay sexual act is sodomy.
  
  Personally, I think the broad interpretation of sodomy is incorrect. I think the more limited definition is the correct one. But, I believe sodomy even in that limited sense is not a violation of the subject prohibition in Leviticus, even if that prohibition is read literally. This is based on reasoning that is beyond the discussion in this review.
  
  For some for whom sodomy is not an important element of sex, the Orthodox rule is easy to obey. There are more gay people (including men) who do not perform sodomy than most believe.
  
  The views of some non-Orthodox Jewish rabbis in the US are much more tolerant than American Jewish Orthodoxy. A growing number of Jewish rabbis in the Reform & Reconstructionist movements, and in some synagogues of the Conservative movement, even conduct Jewish marriage ceremonies for gay couples. Looking beyond the US, the rabbis of Israel, generally, do not view homosexuality favorably. Despite this, if you look up non-rabinic Israeli attitudes towards homosexuality, you will find them to be the most liberal in the Middle East and one of the most liberal in the world (ahead of the US in fact). Check it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_rights_in_Israel
  
  My commentary will now go beyond the film, as I discuss an example of the views towards gays of Jewish & non-Jewish clergy in Israel. I followed the news on the 2007 Gay Pride parade that was planned for Jerusalem. I believe that the clerics of the three principal "religious" faiths who spoke out against the parade made a big mistake. They don't seem to realize that gay people are persecuted and discriminated against not unlike Jewish people, not unlike Arabs & not unlike Catholics in certain countries. I would prefer these clergy to be accepting of those who are different, because that's what their followers ask of other people.

• 
  brianpark08
  December 10, 2006

  Quite a poor movie to say the least..... Certainly not worth the time to watch it.

• 
  omikan27
  October 17, 2006

  Astounding. Will make you think twice before you judge.