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Days of Awe

1995, 42 mins.

Days of Awe

Ancient Jewish traditions are carried out year-round in Brooklyn’s religious communities. But for one month in autumn (in tune with the lunar calendar) many holidays are observed with prayer, song, ecstatic dance, and celebration. Traditions that go back thousands of years are set against the backdrop of a modern New York City, as people make processions to rivers, light candles for the dead, blow the ram’s horn, build tiny temporary houses adorned with greenery, perform circling in the temple, and dance with abandon in the streets.

Filmed in one traditional community, the film is a window into the ways Jews have practiced these rituals for centuries.

The style of the film is lyrical and poetic as well as innovative, with long, slow-motion passages, and music created especially for the soundtrack. Avoiding the use of an outside narrator, the people themselves tell the story.

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