Adults
Israel Film Festival
Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey's Israel Film Festival consists of feature films and documentaries from or about Israel. Virtual and live screenings are available.
Barren
Tuesday, November 28 at 7 PM
Discussion Led by Dr. Eric Goldman, a Jewish Film Educator, Historian and Critic
An ultra-Orthodox twenty-something couple in Israel, unable to conceive children, find their lives upended in this provocative drama about faith and sexual exploitation. After Naftali travels to Ukraine during Rosh Hashanah to pray for a child, his wife, Feigi, is left alone with her in-laws, who invite the rabbi Elijah for the holiday. Claiming to be a healer of barren women, Elijah convinces Feigi to undergo his treatment, starting a chain of events that lead to crises of belief, conscience, and marriage for the couple once Naftali returns. Director Mordechai Vardi based his film on true events, raising fundamental theological questions and revealing the vulnerability of women living within such enclosed religious environments.