FACES OF ISRAEL Director Amy Beth Oppenheimer (Left) with Dorice Horenstein.

Local teens explore Faces of Israel

By PAUL HAIST, Jewish Review

article created on: 2011-10-15T00:00:00

When Amy Beth Oppenheimer asks her audiences what defines the Jewish state for them, what she hears most often, she says, are four things: law of return, education, Jewish national symbols including official observance of Jewish holidays and social justice.

That’s about what she heard Oct. 5 when she asked the question of the approximately 50 students and 20 adults who attended the Community Wednesday Night Program at Congregation Shaarie Torah where they came to discuss Oppenheimer’s film, “Faces of Israel.”

“Faces of Israel,” is a 75-minute interactive documentary that probes sensitive issues relating to state and religion in Israel—what it means to live in a Jewish and democratic state.

The Community Wednesday Night Program brings together students from various Jewish congregational Wednesday night schools three times a year. At the recent event, there were students from P’nai Or, Havurah Shalom, Congregation Shir Tikvah, Congregation Beth Israel and Shaarie Torah.

Oppenheimer, a New Jersey native, said the film began as a university research project in 2007 when she was an undergraduate at Haifa University. What began as an exploration of the marriage process in Israel evoked for her deeper questions about how state and religion work together—or don’t work together—in a Jewish state.

She said she realized a movie would be more effective than her proposed thesis paper in getting people to think about these issues, that she would reach more people with film.

Not a trained filmmaker, she learned on the job and subsequently bought a motor home and went on the road with her husband sharing the film with audiences across America.

At Shaarie Torah, she showed two of the film’s 10 chapters and then challenged her audience, which broke into three discussion groups based on age (two student groups and one adult group), to address what it means to have a Jewish state.

Shaarie Torah Education Director Dorice Horenstein spent time with both student groups. She reported that the conversations were very lively. “I think this was the beginning of months of conversation,” she said.

Each break-out group shared some of their discussion when the entire group reassembled.

Ninth- and 10th-graders said they focused on Jewish identity in Israel, the feeling of being a Jew and part of a community.

Eleventh- and 12th-graders got caught up in whether public transportation should operate on Shabbat in Israel, and related issues.

The adults focused on the law of return, the recognition of a Jewish calendar and the need for a majority Jewish population as some of the key elements of the Jewish state, although there was not consensus on every point.

Horenstein was as impressed by the process as by the content of the conversations. “It was wonderful to see students wrestle respectfully with one another about issues that Israelis deal with daily. Should Israel’s cities have buses on Shabbat or not? Should the Rabbinate represent all Israelis and Jews from around the world or some?

The evening began with a meal and social games to create a sense of community before getting down to the business of addressing serious issues.

Learn more about Oppenheimer and “Faces of Israel” online at www.facesthemovie.com.