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Blumenthal Library Archives
AFTERNOON FILM SERIES
Knocking
 Knocking opens the door on Jehovah's Witnesses, revealing how they have impacted society in ways far greater and more surprising than the spreading of their faith. Joseph Kempler was born a Polish Jew, but has been a Jehovah’s Witness for nearly half a century. As the survivor of six concentration camps, he cursed God for allowing the Holocaust. After Joseph immigrated to the United States as a young man, a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on his door. He found a renewed purpose for God in their teachings and eventually converted. Joseph still embraces his Jewish heritage, and part of his family remains religiously Jewish while the rest follow the tenets of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In Knocking, both sides of Joseph's family accompany him to Austria and Poland to visit the camps where Joseph was imprisoned as a teenager. (56 min.)
- When: October 26, 2011 1:00-2:30 p.m.
- Cost: Free of Charge
- Contact: Barbara Goelman, 310-481-321 or bgoelman@sinaitemple.org for more details
Leaving the Fold
 Leaving the Fold tells the story of five young people born and raised within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world who no longer wish to remain on the inside. As children they grew up in a closed society where deviation from the rules of conduct is often punishable by ostracism, intimidation or worse. As young adults they pay a steep price for abandoning their parents and community to seek the freedom to make their own choices. From the Hasidic enclaves of Montreal, Brooklyn and Jerusalem come stories of conflict, coercion and struggle. Tinged with pain and unexpected humor, Leaving the Fold documents the process by which these five men emerged from a strictly controlled society into a baffling secular world of endless choices: What should I wear? What shall I become? Who will I marry? Once everything was decided for them; now they must decide for themselves. (52 min.)
- When: November 9, 2011 1:00-2:30 p.m.
- Cost: Free of Charge
- Contact: Barbara Goelman, 310-481-321 or bgoelman@sinaitemple.org for more details.
100 Voices: A Journey Home
 100 Voices: A Journey Home is a deeply affecting tribute to the interwoven history of Jewish and Polish cultures. The film chronicles a musical voyage to the birthplace of songful prayer known as chazzanut. In June 2009, an assembly of the world’s finest cantors came together for a series of exhilarating concerts backed by the Polish National Opera Chorus and a 100 piece orchestra. On a historic mission of reconciliation, the largest group of cantors to return to Poland since WWII travels from Warsaw to Krakow, culminating in an emotional memorial at the gates of Auschwitz. The film celebrates the resilience of Jewish tradition and the ability of music to heal hearts. (91 min.)
- When: December 14, 2011 1:00-3:00 p.m.
- Cost: Free of Charge
- Contact: Barbara Goelman, 310-481-321 or bgoelman@sinaitemple.org for more details.
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Family Minyan
