Arts Emanu-El begins new season with Israeli hit ‘The Women’s Balcony’

The day of Osher’s Bar Mitzvah begins auspiciously in the movie “The Women’s Balcony,” with happy guests in their Sabbath best making their way through Jerusalem’s streets.  They congregate in the synagogue, and the men look up lovingly at the women’s balcony, where their wives, daughters, sisters, cousins and grandmothers are gathered.  Then disaster strikes:  the floor under the balcony gives way, leaving several people injured and the rabbi’s wife comatose.  Almost everyone believes that the collapse is the tragic result of a structural flaw.  No one thinks that it is a message from God – until Rabbi David comes along.    

 Rabbi David is a young, righteous man, and the congregation begins to follow him since their elderly rabbi is distraught over the accident.  Rabbi David insists that the men have not done enough to ensure their women’s modesty, and that the accident is a divine warning to that effect.  This leads to a clash with Osher’s grandmother Ettie, a devout woman who doesn’t believe that God demands blind subjugation. 

Ettie and the other women raise money to restore the women’s balcony, but Rabbi David decides to distribute the money elsewhere.  A disagreement results, which drives a wedge between husbands and wives.  Resolving the situation requires that everyone come together in faith and harmony.  

“The Women’s Balcony” is a warm portrait of a modern Orthodox community struggling to balance protocol with progressive values.  It is a good-humored story of women, portrayed by a cast of Israeli comedians, who are as rebellious as they are respectful.  Director Emil Ben Shimon uses humor and comedic timing very effectively in this film, which has received rave reviews.   

“The Women’s Balcony” will be shown at Temple Emanu-El, in Providence, on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets for the event, which is sponsored by Arts Emanu-El,  are $12 in advance and $15 at the door, and can be purchased at teprov.org/form/thewomensbalcony.html.  Light refreshments will follow the movie. The event is open to the public.  

Arts Emanu-El will also present the following events during the 2017/2018 season:

Dec. 3 at 4 p.m., The Salon Concert: Kol Arev, the chamber choir of Hebrew College. Music of the St. Petersburg School in 20th-century Austro-Hungary. Followed by high tea.                                           

Jan. 28 at 4 p.m., Singing the Dream:  An open sing honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m., “1945”: A new, thought-provoking film that takes place in post-WWII Hungary.  Discussion, refreshments to follow.

 May 6 at 7 p.m., Happy 70th Anniversary, Israel:  Iraqi Cantor George Mordecai, Hankus Netsky, Shir Emanu-El and HaZamir Providence in concert.  Reception to follow.

Submitted by

Temple Emanuel-El