Spotlight on CLAL
Welcome to Spotlight on CLAL. Here you will find stories about what is happening at CLAL and about the work that CLAL is doing across North America. Sometimes we will focus on a program, or a special event, or upon a CLAL faculty member's work and interests. Bookmark this page if you want to get to know us better.
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“Time For A New God” -- Provocative New Documentary Challenges our View of God, Looks at The Sacred in Everyday Life
The Film, Featuring Rabbi Irwin Kula, Will Be Screened at the SILVERDOCS Film Festival in the Washington, DC Area on June 16 & 17, 2004
By Judy Epstein, Director of Public Affairs
In an era of
pervasive conflict and global unrest, where is God’s place in our society?
“Time for a New God,” a new short documentary featuring Rabbi Irwin Kula,
President of CLAL -The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership,
looks at our ideas of spirituality. Challenging our notions of how we
experience God, Rabbi Kula asserts that often the sacred is not found in
our houses of worship, but in our bonds with each other and in the
ordinary moments of life. He claims that our spirituality is hollow unless
we spend more time connecting to each other, since we are the only genuine
"images of God."
Filmed at Coney Island, the documentary, directed by award-winning
filmmaker David Holbrooke, juxtaposes the magic, color and texture of this
decades-old amusement park against the backdrop of sea and sky. Leading us
through the crowds of young and old, immigrant and local alike, Rabbi Kula
asks us to re-imagine our pictures of God, as he walks along the misty
shoreline and boardwalk. Weaving between the sights and sounds of the
rides and arcades, he acknowledges that for many, the old images are no
longer sufficient - they no longer evoke the richness of human life.
Commenting on why he chose to do a film at Coney Island, Rabbi Kula says,
“The power of film is that it reaches a very wide audience. It offers a
strong opportunity to create a dialogue between contemporary image and
ancient teaching. Coney Island is a place of tradition and change. Through
the diversity of scenes, sounds, and smells, we find a sense of
playfulness and openness in the wide human experience.”
The documentary, inspired by Jewish thought and wisdom, has been accepted
by a variety of film festivals across the country, including
South-by-Southwest in Austin, Texas; the Santa Cruz Film Festival in
California; the Jacksonville Film Festival in Florida; and the Mountain
Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado, in addition to a special screening
during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The documentary will be
submitted to the Jewish film festivals next year..
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