With Israel on our minds and hearts, we invite you to deep dive into wider cultural, historical, and aesthetic contexts of the region through the medium of contemporary narrative film. Led by Rabbi Slakman, the selected films will uplift directors with diverse identities, and realities that span political, social, and religious spectrums. Titles will be released at the beginning of each month and a discussion will take place from 7:15 – 8:00 p.m. over Zoom on the final Thursday of the month to raise questions, reactions, and reflections in community.
Films are available through a variety of streaming services for a low cost (e.g. Amazon, Tubi, Netflix,
Note that these films contain mature content and viewer discretion is advised.
This month, we will discuss the film The Matchmaker (2012), directed by Avi Nesher.
You can access this film for FREE on Kanopy using your library card.
Film description: Arik, a teenage boy growing up in Haifa in 1968, gets a job working for Yankele Bride, a matchmaker. Yankele, a mysterious Holocaust survivor, has an office in back of a movie theater that shows only love stories, run by a family of seven Romanian dwarves in the seedy area by the port. Yankele introduces Arik to a new world, built on the ruins of an old one.
As Arik begins to learn the mysteries of the human heart through his work with Yankele, he falls in love with Tamara, his friend’s cousin. Tamara has just returned from America full of talk of women’s rights, free love and rock and roll. The disparate parts of Arik’s life collide in unexpected, often funny and moving ways as he lives through a summer that changes him forever. Avi Nesher’s latest film mixes comedy with drama as it tells a coming-of-age story unlike any ever seen before.
Refer to the weekly emails for the Zoom link or contact info@templemicah.org.