April 17, 2008
Nissan 12, 5768
First of all, welcome to the more than 60 people who joined the Lonely Man of Faith email list since the last mailing.
Again, Rabbi Soloveitchik's 15th Yahrtzeit will be this coming Tuesday night and Wednesday. The date is the 18th of Nissan, upon which falls the fourth day of Passover.
There will be three public screenings of Lonely Man of Faith in Israel to commemorate that date. All screenings will feature Hebrew subtitles.
1.
Wednesday, April 23, at
9:30 PM, the film will return to the
Jerusalem Cinematheque. And, again, if there's a good turnout, then they may schedule further screenings in the future. But I recommend that you call beforehand to reserve a ticket (they may only allow you to do this one day in advance). Last time, several people were turned away because they were sold out.
2.
NEW: A second screening will take place that night at
Yeshivat Torat Shraga, and will be followed by a great panel discussion featuring
Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, senior advisor on the film,
Rabbi Avishai David, and
Rabbi Lewis Wienerkur. All three rabbis were students of the Rav, in the 1950s, 70s, and 80s, respectively. The yeshiva is located at on the campus of the Gruss Institute in
Bayit V'Gan, on
Duvdevani 40 (in between Michlalah and Machon Lev). The film will begin at
7 PM, preceded by minchah at 6:30. Admission is free, but they are very close to selling out, so you should make sure to make a reservation. Email
Dov at the main office or call 052-420-1145.
Here are the other upcoming screenings, to date, including some new additions:
Sunday, May 11, will be the
Bergen County Premiere in
Teaneck, NJ. The screening will be held in the auditorium of
Congregation Keter Torah, located on 600 Roemer Ave., and will be a joint screening together with
Congregation Rinat Yisrael, and possibly some other congregations. More information to follow.
NEW: On
May 11 at 9 PM and
May 15 at 7 PM, the film will screen, once again, at the
Cinematheque in Sderot, Israel, located at Hadekel 4. For more information, call 1-599-559-555.
NEW: May 14 at
7:30 PM will be the
Los Angeles Premiere at the
Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival! The screening will take place at
UCLA Hillel, on
574 Hilgard Ave, and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the American Jewish University, and myself.
I'm trying to put together some other local screenings at this late date, so please contact me if you have any ideas.
NEW: June 1st will be our first screening in Europe! The film will screen at Congregation Tiferet Yisrael, in Zurich, Switzerland. Rabbi Aharon Adler, who serves as their leader, and who was both a student and shamash (attendant) of the Rav, will speak afterward.
NEW: Late June-July, the film will be back in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts, and a third screening has been added since I last sent out an email. The film will screen June 26 at 4 PM, June 29 at 12:45 PM, and July 3 at 3 PM. I plan to attend the screening on Sunday, June 29.
NEW: Mid-July, the film will screen at the Rochester Jewish Film Festival. More information to follow.
I'd appreciate it if you could forward this email to anyone else who might be interested in this information. And here's a link to
the Facebook group for the film.
April 1 was the Chicago Premiere of Lonely Man of Faith. We had a great crowd of around 300 people at Congregation K.I.N.S., in West Rogers Park. I had the pleasure of sitting at a panel with Av Beit Din, Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, as he regaled the audience with his memories of the Rav and his brother, R. Aharon Soloveichik, as well as his view of the labels commonly applied to the different streams of Orthodoxy.
On April 9, there was a private screening of the film for Congregation Kehillat Jeshurun (KJ), located on the East Side of Manhattan. I understand that they had a great turnout, with 250 people in attendance, and people were very pleased with the film.
Again, if anyone is interested in organizing a screening outside of Israel, contact
Matt Stein.
Wishing you all a Chag Kasher Ve'Sameach,
Ethan Isenberg