If you have never been in an Orthodox Synagogue before than you may not even be aware that the sexes do not mix and that women must worship from an upstairs balcony overlooking the (holier?) men. In this particular case the balcony actually collapses in the middle of a Bar Mitzvah in this small run down synagogue in Jerusalem. The accident really unbalances the elderly Rabbi once he discovers that the one person who has been seriously injured in his own wife.
Without him at the helm the small tight-knit community find a temporary place to worship but as it is further away, the men actually have trouble get the required number to attend to fulfill a minyan. The answer to their prayers comes in the form of a very young energetic Rabbi David (Avraham Aviv Alush) who offers not to just lead the services but also supervise rebuilding their old synagogue. However they soon discover that their is a black cloud to this silver lining as this charismatic young preacher is ultra-conservative and so when their building is re-opened the congregation realize that he has deliberately not added the women’s balcony. He is insisting that from now they can be restricted to worshipping in a small anti-room.
Undeterred the women take matters into their own hands and once the establish how much a new balcony would cost they raise all the money for it themselves. However once they handle the money over to Aaron (Itzek Cohen) the Synagogue’s Treasurer, Rabbi David tells him not to let the women have access to it and that he should invest the entire money on some new Holy Scrolls.
The young Rabbi however underestimated this determined small group of women who are not only just prepared to disobey him, but also their husbands too in their demands for not just getting their balcony back but rescuing their happy liberal synagogue from what they rightly perceive is onslaught of extreme religious doctrine that is ruining their community.
Directed by Emil Ben-Shimon from a script by newbie Shlomit Nehama this delightful Israeli dramedy makes for an entertaining comedy of a normally a very serious topic. His band of extremely talented actors such as Evelin Hagoel, Einat Saruf, Orna Banai and Sharon Elimelech who were the tenacious leaders of the women who dared to take on the men and win, really made the whole movie such a joy. Adding a romance between one of young women and one of Rabbi David’s acolytes was a neat touch too, and ensured that the story kept a light touch to the end.
Religion is usually no laughing matter, but audiences in Israel have made this a really big box-office hit, and this sweet entertaining film has every chance of repeating that success over here too.
