''Punk Jews'' is a 2012 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by

Jesse Zook Mann Jesse Zook Mann is an American documentary producer and director best known for '' Punk Jews'' and ''My First Time''. His work has appeared on NBC, VICE, MTV, Al Jazeera, and The Science Channel. Mann concentrates on subjects revolving around sub ...

and produced by Saul Sudin (husband of

Elke Reva Sudin Elke Reva Sudin (born 1987) is a Jewish-American painter, illustrator and lecturer. In 2010, her ''Hipsters and Hassids'' painting series premiered in New York City, comparing and contrasting her Hasidic Jewish origins and hipster Brooklyn cultur ...

, who appears in the film), Evan Kleinman, and Alexander Emanuele. The film profiles several non-traditional

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

artists, activists, and groups based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Summary

The film opens with Yishai Romanoff, lead singer of the Hasidic punk band Moshiach Oi!, standing on a rooftop saying, "Here's how you bring light into the world. You get up in the morning, and you scream, 'GOD!'", which he proceeds to demonstrate. The film covers several unconventional Jewish artists, activists, and groups. Subjects include: *Kal Holczler, the founder of Voices for Dignity, addressing

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

in Hasidic communities, of which he was a victim. *Cholent, a weekly gathering of Jews from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. *"Amazing Amy" Harlib a.k.a. the Yoga Yenta, an elderly Jewish

contortionist Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility. Contortion acts often accompany acrobatics, circus acts, street performers and other liv ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist. *Rapper Yitz Jordan ("

Y-Love Yitz Jordan (born January 5, 1978), better known by his stage name Y-Love, is an American hip hop artist. An Orthodox Jew, Jordan was formerly Hasidic.Jerry Portwood"Y-Love is Ready for Love,"'' Out'', May 15, 2012. He is a web developer, activis ...

") and blogger Shais Rishon ("Ma Nishtana"), addressing the prejudice experienced by

African-American Jews African-American Jews are people who are both African American and Jewish. African-American Jews may be either Jewish from birth or converts to Judaism. Many African-American Jews are of mixed heritage, having both African-American gentile and ...

in the Orthodox community. *The Sukkos Mob, a group of

Yiddish theatre Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues ...

revivalists and street performers

Background

Mann and Kleinman conceived of ''Punk Jews'' after being invited to a Cholent gathering at the

Millinery Center Synagogue Millinery Center Synagogue is a Jewish Orthodox synagogue located in the Garment District, Manhattan, Garment District of New York City. History The synagogue was supported by the many millinery organizations that were based in the neighborhood ...

and subsequently becoming regulars. It was there that they were introduced to Jewish counterculture and met many of the film's subjects, as well as co-producer Saul Sudin. The film was funded via

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, earning $10,721 in donations, and was distributed by Adon Olam Productions and the

National Center for Jewish Film The National Center for Jewish Film is a non-profit motion picture archive, distributor, and resource center. It houses the largest collection of Jewish-themed film and video outside of Israel. Its mission is to collect, restore, preserve, catalogu ...

Release

''Punk Jews'' premiered at the Manhattan

Jewish Community Center A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social clubs, social, and Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish ...

on December 11, 2012. It subsequently premiered in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

on April 25, 2013 at the

Jewish Motifs International Film Festival Jewish Motifs International Film Festival ( pl, Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmowy Żydowskie Motywy) is a major Jewish-themed film festival held annually in Warsaw, Poland. The festival has been held every year since 2004. "The biggest European f ...

Reception

The film has received mixed reviews, many praising its unique subject matter while critiquing its uneven tone and lack of cohesion. George Robinson of ''

The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish We ...

'' called the film "competently crafted" and "suggestive in the best sense", but admitted that it "feels rather precipitous and definitely unfinished", as well as "a bit superficial". Ezra Glinter of ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

'' called the film's central idea of a unified Jewish counterculture "fanciful at best", saying "While many of these subjects are interesting separately, and a few might be worthy of full-length documentaries of their own, they don’t cohere as a single film."

References

External links

*
''Punk Jews''
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

''Punk Jews''
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...