Heidi Ewing’s and Rachel Grant’s documentary “One of Us,” recently shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, portrays with compassion and thoroughness the lives and world of three young Hasidic Jews — Ari, Etty and Luzer — who have, at tremendous personal cost, abandoned their insular communities in Brooklyn and Monsey, New York…
In recently watching Neflix’s somewhat controversial yet highly compelling documentary, “One of Us,” which traces the path of three Hasidic Jews who leave the fold, I was struck by a particular observation made by Chani Getter, who is herself a counselor and former Hassid and the director of Footsteps, an organization that helps former Hasidim…
The recent Netflix documentary One of Us — which depicts the lives and tribulations of three Jews who are attempting to or have already left Hasidic Judaism — has led several commentators to reflect on the subject of those who leave the ultra-Orthodox community. One commentator, Anshel Pfeffer, who believes that there is currently a…
Our news feeds and Shabbos tables are abuzz with talk of ‘One of Us’, the latest Netflix film by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (the creators of Jesus Camp), about the lives of those who leave the Hasidic community and are ostracized. I confess: I will not be watching this documentary. This isn’t out of…
About 10 years ago, right around the time the tectonic plates beneath my structured world began to shift, eventually destroying my entire existence as I knew it, there was a campaign in my hometown of Kiryas Joel and beyond to “save the neshama of a young girl.” The young girl, a toddler at the time,…
You don’t have to be one of us to be touched by “One of Us,” the recently released Netflix documentary that features the stories of three ex-Hasidim. The film captures their most intimate and personal moments as the subjects navigate their way in a confusing and foreign world. The shots are masterful, and the stories…
The co-director of a new Netflix documentary about ultra-Orthodox Jews who leave their communities has apologized for making inaccurate comments about the Holocaust. Academy Award-nominated documentarian Heidi Ewing said in a Thursday interview on PBS that “The vast majority of Hasidic Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust, partly because they refused to blend in. They…
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