December 17, 2008
20th of Kislev, 5769
 
This is an email announcement regarding the documentary film, Lonely Man of Faith: The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
 
Welcome to the 115 people who joined the list since the last mailing.
  
Tomorrow (Thursday) night, December 18 (22nd night of Kislev) at 7:45 PM will be the Great Neck, NY Premiere at Great Neck Synagogue, 26 Old Mill Rd.  The screening is co-sponsored by Young Israel of Great NeckRabbi Dale Polakoff of GNS and Rabbi Yaakov Lerner of YIGN will share their thoughts as well.  The Facebook event is here.

Saturday night, December 20 (24th night of Kislev) at 7:30 PM the film will screen in Silver Spring at The Kemp Mill Synagogue, 11910 Kemp Mill Road.  The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring myself, Rabbi Jack Bieler, and KMS members Ari Tuchman and Zev Eleff. The Facebook event is here.
 
Tuesday, December 23 (27th night of Kislev), on the third night of Chanukah, the film will screen at Ohab Zedek of Belle Harbor, 134-01 Rockaway Beach Blvd., Belle Harbor, NY, as the Henry Kaye Memorial Lecture.  The screening will begin at 7:30 PM., and I will be participating in a Q/A session afterwards.  The Facebook event is here.
 
NEW:  January 3, 2009 (8th night of Tevet) at 8:00 PM the film will screen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in conjunction with the Moshe Roshwalb Memorial Lecture Series of the Young Israel of Manhattan.  The screening will actually take place at the Orenstein Building, 15-17 Willet St. (Bialystoker Place) between Grand & Broome Streets.  Rabbi Yeshaya Siff of Y.I. will share some remarks. Reception to follow.  The Facebook event is here.
 
January 6 (11th night of Tevet) at 7:30 PM the film will screen at the JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at West 76th Street. 

January 10 (15th night of Tevet) at 7:00 PM will be the Riverdale Premiere at the Riverdale Jewish CenterMore details to follow.
 
NEW: January 11 (Tevet 15) at 4:30 PM the film will screen in Manhattan at the Brotherhood Synagogue, 28 Gramercy Park South. I will be there to introduce the film and answer questions.

January 14 (19th night of Tevet) will be the Detroit Premiere, in conjunction with the Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival. The screening will take place at the West Bloomfield JCC, 6600 West Maple Rd. and it will start at 7:30 PM.  I will be participating in Q/A after the screening.
 
January 17 (29th night of Tevet) there will be a return engagement at The Maimonides School, 34 Philbrick Road, Brookline, MANote the change of date.
 
February 1 (8th night of Sh'vat) will be the Las Vegas Premiere at the Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival.  The screening will begin at 7 PM, and it will be held at Congregation Shaarei Tefilla.
 

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. 

 
If you're interested in reading Rabbi Soloveitchik's insights on Chanukah, you might be interested in the recent Days of Deliverance, published last year by the Torat HaRov Foundation.  You can buy a copy at Amazon or your local Jewish bookstore.


December 9 (13th night of Kislev) was the long-awaited U.K. Premiere.  There was a tremendous turnout at St. Johns Wood Synagogue in London.  While 140 seats or so were reserved in advance, there ended up being between 275 and 300 people at the screening!  Afterwards, there was a terrific panel discussion moderated by Dayan Ivan Binstock and featuring Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the U.K., Dayan Lichtenstein, Rosh Beth Din of the Federation of Synagogues, and myself.  Rabbi Sacks, in particular, was very impressed with the film -- so much so that although he was pressed for time, he extended his stay by at least half an hour.  The Chief Rabbi told an entertaining story about his first meeting with R. Soloveitchik, when R. Sacks was a philosophy student, and how the Rav emphasized the centrality of Halakhah to an understanding of Jewish thought.  Dayan Lichtenstein spoke about growing up in Boston and attending the Rav's shiur (lecture) in the weekends and summers.  He also mentioned a conversation he had with the Rav when he asked him how he got into the University of Berlin without having gone to high school.  The answer: He took entrance [or proficiency?] exams after being tutored by his mother, and passed with perfect scores.
 
I'm happy to say that we have had around 300 people (or more) at the last five screenings!  Hopefully, we can keep up those numbers.
 
 
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). 
 

If anyone is interested in organizing a screening outside of Israel, please contact outreach@secondlookproductions.com.
 
For screenings within Israel, contact Hedva Goldschmidt, of Go2Films.
 
Happy Chanukah,
Ethan Isenberg