Trembling Before G-d
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of this landmark documentary that explores the spiritual lives and struggles of queer Orthodox Jews.
Film/Video Theater
(Sandi DuBowski, 2001)
Preceded by Tomboychik (Sandi DuBowski, 1993)
Sandi DuBowski and Rabbi Steven Greenberg in person
Sandi DuBowski’s groundbreaking debut film Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism through intimately told personal stories of LGBTQ+ Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. The film follows 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. After the screening, DuBowski will discuss the film and its remarkable afterlife as it traveled the globe and changed the lives of countless individuals, their families, religious leaders, and communities. In English, Hebrew, and Yiddish with English subtitles. (94 mins., DCP)
DuBowski’s early short Tomboychik is an intimate portrait of 22-year-old DuBowski’s relationship with his 88-year-old grandmother. Their playful friendship shows a struggle with gender and sexuality across three generations. (15 mins., DCP)
A Q&A with director Sandi DuBowski and film participant Rabbi Steven Greenberg moderated by Ohio State Hillel’s Rabbi Aaron Portman follows the screenings.