This documentary grapples with homosexuality amongst the religious community in Israel. The story is not new about “coming out” but it is new within a religious community where the gays are living within.
The mainstream rabbinical community seems to ignore homosexuality and says get married, have a family and end of story. But the documentary rather exposes the pain and suffering caused by these attitudes. The pain and grief is deep.
Many of the gay men feel pressure to follow the rabbinical doctrine of get married and have children despite the fact the rabbis know of their gayness causing inevitable and tragic marital break-ups. A small amount of Rabbis and Rabinnats are seeing the need for acceptance and tolerance of different sexual orientation.
Following the convention of gay men marrying so many wives feel bitterness toward conventionalism of the rabbis that focus on family as opposed to acknowledging sexual needs no matter what suffering and pain the charade costs. For many rabbis and Israeli’s gayness is nothing but Sodom and Gomorrah.
The children of these gay and straight marriages express no judgement as to good and bad. All they need is love yet the adults are locked in a political and religious battle.
In North America we are presented with individualistic stories of “coming out” but in this documentary it is coming out by those religious Jews wanting to stay within the confines of Jewish Orthodoxy.
One is left with the feeling that homosexuality in Israeli society is some twenty years behind North America and it is clear that the mainstream attitude in religious and secular society in Israel is lagging behind North America and until it catches up the emotional wreckage in Israel is deep.
This is part of the Toronto International Jewish Film Festival which runs until June 13th. The film is geoblocked to Ontario for the festival.
You can see the trailer here https://tjff.com/films/marry-me-however
Tickets can be purchased here https://tjff.com/toronto-jewish-film-festival-2021/
This 63 minute film is directed by Mordechai Vardi and is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
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