Geek Sites: Jewish Film
A resident of the Bay Area in northern California, Ruth Adar is a film enthusiast.
She’s also a Rabbi.
These things make for an informative and enlightening combination as she takes time to analyze and give rabbinic commentary on a wide variety of films on her blog, Jewish Film.
As the name suggests, the films she discusses are, well, Jewish films. What exactly is a Jewish film? Rabbi Adar explains on her site:
What’s a Jewish film? I use the definition Kathryn Bernheimer gave in her book, The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies: A Critic’s Ranking of the Very Best: “a film that examines an aspect of the Jewish experience and features at least one clearly defined Jewish central character.”
The films that Rabbi Adar discusses on her blog range from the typical (movies such as Yentl and Schindler’s List) to the less obvious (The Nutty Professor) to a variety of foreign films that are easily obtainable through means such as Netflix.
Having had the pleasure of meeting and befriending Rabbi Adar, I can assure you that she is a wonderfully witty and wise person. This wisdom shines through in her commentary, and the points that she brings up in her discussion are often very thought-provoking. It’s obvious that Rabbi Adar is enthusiastic and knowledgeable when it comes to both Jewish cinema and the study of Torah (the first five books of the Bible). You don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate the commentary on the movies discussed in this blog; just a lover of movies, and perhaps someone who is interested in new and thought-provoking ways of interpreting the films reviewed on this site.
You can find Jewish Film on the web at http://jewishfilm.wordpress.com/ and follow Rabbi Adar on Twitter as @RabbiAdar.
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