October 5, 2008
6th of Tishrei, 5769
This is an email announcement regarding the documentary film, Lonely Man of Faith: The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.
Shanah Tovah, Happy New Year!
And welcome to everyone who has joined the list since the last email.
There are a number of screenings coming up very soon:
Tomorrow night, October 6 (7th of Tishrei) at
8 PM will be the
Englewood N.J. Premiere. The film will screen at
The Moriah School, at
53 S. Woodland Street.
Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter, who both appears in the film and served as an advisor, will speak afterwards. For more information or to RSVP, call
201-567-0208 ext. 376 or contact
ekessler@moriahschool.org.
Click here to see a flier.
Also tomorrow night, at
7:45 PM, the film will screen in
Netanya, Israel at the
New Synagogue on
MacDonald Street. There will be an introduction by
Rabbi David Chenofsky, a student of the Rav. Tickets are 65 NIS. I understand that 150 people have already signed up! For more information, contact Shana:
09-833-9985 or Linda:
09-887-3569.
NEW: Wednesday, October 15, the
third night of Sukkot, at
9:30 PM, there will be yet another screening at the
Jerusalem Cinematheque. This could be a great idea for any friends or relatives visiting Israel for Sukkot, so please let them know.
NEW: Sunday, October 19 (20th of Tishrei), the film will return to the
Cinematheque in
Rosh Pina, Israel. The box office phone number is:
04-6801453.
November 8 (10th of Cheshvan), will be the
Highland Park - Edison, NJ Premiere, at a community-wide screening hosted at
Congregation Ahavas Achim,
216 S.1st Avenue, Highland Park. For more information, call
732-247-0532.
Also, on
November 8 (10th of Cheshvan), the film will screen at
Congregation Talmud Torah, at
1305 Coney Island Ave.,
Brooklyn, NY. For more information, call
(718) 377-2528.
November 9 (11th of Cheshvan), will be the
Five Towns Premiere at
Young Israel of Woodmere,
859 Peninsula Blvd. The screening is co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Sholom. More information to follow.
NEW: November 23 (25th of Cheshvan), will be the
Seattle Premiere, sponsored by
Seattle Hebrew Academy! More information to follow.
Once again, 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.
This being the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, known as the Days of Awe, many of you are probably aware that the Rav was well known for an annual address he would give on the subject of repentance, and other related themes. If you are interested in his writings on this topic, I can suggest a few books:
- First, there's the new Yom Kippur Machzor (prayerbook), put out by the Orthodox Union. It's an excellent compedium of the Rav's writings on Yom Kippur and repentance, culled from a variety of sources. You can purchase the book from the OU website, but I also found a few copies on Amazon. At this point, however, you might be best served by checking with your local Judaica store.
- The Rav's most famous work on the subject is On Repentance, edited by Pinchas Peli. That book covers most of the lectures delivered between 1962 - 1972.
- Before Hashem You Shall Be Purified, edited by Arnold Lustiger, is the sequel to On Repentance. It covers the lectures delivered between 1973 - 1980.
On Saturday night, September 20 (20th of Elul), the film screened at two locations before Selichot services:
Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, NY and
Congregation Beth Tefillah, in
Paramus,
NJ. The rabbis of the congregations,
Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld (a student of the Rav who appears in the
film) and
Rabbi Daniel Wolff, respectively, each spoke following the film. I understand that there was a good turnout at each screening, despite a few technical difficulties.
Tuesday, September 23 (23rd of Elul), the film screened as part of the
Rochester (NY) Jewish Film Festival SERIES. I attended the screening and I was happy to find the theater almost completely full. The Q/A session was great, with the audience posing several challenging questions.
If you have an interesting experience or story connected to the film, please don't hesitate to share them with me. You can simply reply to this email (don't worry, it will only go to me).
May everyone be inscribed in the Book of Health, Prosperity, and Life,
Ethan Isenberg