Review: Out of Faith

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The factors behind the fears of interfaith marriage are dealt with judiciously in Lisa Leeman’s “Out of Faith.” No answers: many questions. Leeman begins with her own curiosity, as the product of an interfaith marriage, and works her way efficiently outward. Leah, her central figure, survived “those damn Nazis’’’ Auschwitz-Birkenau and Leeman meant to capture her tenacity and history, but soon realized there was a larger story to be told, eddying down beyond today. As producer L. Mark DeAngelis writes cogently, “Two of Leah’s grandchildren had married outside Judaism and this had hurt her deeply. On many occasions, Leah poured her heart out to me. She had lost nearly her entire family in the Shoah for no reason other than that they were Jewish; yet, her grandchildren seemed not to care. That she had not lived a religiously Jewish life did not matter to Leah—she was “Jewish in her heart,” and she had always expected that this meant the same thing to her grandchildren. To some, Leah’s rejection of her grandchildren for their decision to “marry out” seemed cold and shallow. However, to me, Leah’s pain was too sincere, deep and routed in the tenets of our faith for me to condemn her in any way. We want people to consider the balance between living one’s life independently of the obligations of the past and in proper reverence therefore. Nevertheless, I would be remiss if I did not say forthrightly—Leah was my hero.” 82m. DigiBeta. Leeman and DeAngelis will appear at the Sunday screening. (Ray Pride)