Like fundamentalist Christians, Orthodox Jews consider homosexuality "an abomination." Indeed, it is a particularly evil one, among those human sins that the Bible proclaims caused the Lord to rain his fiery wrath upon Sodom.
How much more evil, then, does homosexuality rank among members of the tightly knit and often closed communities of ultra Orthodox Jews around the world - and especially in the Holy City of Jerusalem itself?
Not that homosexuality doesn't exist. There are gays and lesbians among Orthodox Jews, just as there are gays and lesbians among militant Catholics, reborn Protestants and the faithful of most every other religion. But Israeli Director Haim Tabakman believes that gayness is particularly taboo among ultra Orthodox Jews because, as he sees it, they actually "do not consider homosexuality a sin; it just does not exist."
Tabakman has decided to break the taboo of silence in Eyes Wide Open, his first film, a stunning drama of two ultra Orthodox men who chance to fall in love and "dive into a romance whereas they know there is no real chance to live it."
Eyes Wide Open, which premiered here at the recent NY Jewish Film Festival and begins a full scale run on Friday, February 5, at New York's Cinema Village, tells the tale of Aaron, a respected butcher in one of Jerusalem's many ultra orthodox quarters. A regular at his local synagogue and a stalwart of its Talmudic study group, he is married to the adoring Rivka and the devoted father of four boys. One fateful rainy day, Aaron hires a new apprentice: Ezri, a strange, handsome 22-year-old yeshiva student who's just come to Jerusalem from the mystical city of Safed. Within a short time the two develop feelings for one another that go well beyond master and apprentice..
At first Aaron sees it as a godly challenge from heaven, a battle between their yetzer ha-ra - their evil inclination - and their yetzer ha-tov - good inclination. But the passion of their newly discovered love and raw lust soon overwhelms both of them. Aaron begins to neglect his family. His wife and the community notice - and challenge him and his forbidden relationship. Aaron faces his own guilt and harsh warnings from the community's "morality squad." The two hapless lovers must each make extreme choices.
This is a moving and deft first feature film by a promising director in the increasingly able world of Israeli cinema.
Eyes Wide Open begins on Friday, February 5 at New York's Cinema Village on East 12th Street.