The Giving

A Jewish immigrant long troubled by his faith finds himself compelled to film the astonishing process of a Torah scroll. The workshops and factories where camera-shy artisans and machine operators perform their work are tucked away in hidden enclaves in Israel. Unable to gain access otherwise, the filmmaker must commission a new Torah — and donate it to a worthy community that doesn’t already own one.

On a kind of ad-hoc pilgrimage, the filmmaker-turned-commissioner documents the mind-boggling process. In encounters with scholars and religious leaders of all stripes, he explores the meaning of the ancient laws and stories of the Old Testament — the heart of Judaism, a wellspring for Christianity and Islam. And, having found a community without its own Torah on Hawaii’s Big Island, he partners with a young, charismatic and ultraorthodox Rabbi to make the grand donation. But the aloha spirit and human beings are in charge: at the last possible moment absences, delays, a weather forecast, even a faulty Tree of Life threaten The Giving.

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Featuring Conversations with Religious Leaders, Scholars, Feminists, Artists and Atheists

Aaron Abramson

NYC Branch Leader, Jews for Jesus

James E. Bowley

Professor of Religious Studies, Millsaps College

Rob Courtney

Rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, New Orleans

Matthias Gommel

Artist-in-residence, Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany

Berel Kahana

Sofer STaM (Certified Scribe)

Younus Mirza

Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at Allegheny College

Ted Riter

Interim Rabbi, Beth Israel Congregation, Jackson, MS

David Silverman

President, American Atheists

Alberto I. Attia

Sofer StaM (Certified Scribe)

Avremel Chazanow

Rabbi, Director of Chabad of the Big Island

Ronnie Dyer

Pastor for First Baptist Church of Elroy, TX

Alyssa Gray

Professor of Rabbinics, Hebrew Union College

Ari Kahn

Rabbi, Educator, Author - Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Sean Popper

Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Adolfo Roitman

Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Israel Museum

Minka Shura Sprague

Vicar of The Chapel of the Holy Spirit, New Orleans

Menachem Binat

Sofer STaM (Certified Scribe)

Baruch Chazanow

Rabbi, Director of Chabad of Western Monmouth County

Mohamed-Umer Esmail

Imam & Resident Scholar At Nueces Mosque, U. of TX at Austin

Ryan Hansen

Architect, Member of Church of Jesus Christ, LDS

Kasriel Kastel

Rabbi, Program Director at Lubavitch Youth Organization

David Reich

Student, Yeshiva University

Lesley Sachs

Executive Director, Women of the Wall, Israel

Elazar Steinmetz

Sofer STaM (Certified Scribe)

Barry Blum

Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Rivka Chazanow

Chabad of the Big Island

Lotus Golden

Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Joan Jackson

Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Hanna Klebansky

Soferet (certified scribe), Israel

Scott Reich

Former Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Wesley Sektor

Member of Jewish Community, Kona

Jan Zappe

Artist-in-residence, Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany

Crew

To date over 20 professionals have been involved in the preproduction, production and postproduction of The Giving. The team responsible for constructing and finalizing the story is currently in formation, as is the team charged with marketing and distribution.

To Donate

THE GIVING is a not-for-profit project produced by REMproductions, the film and media group of the Lempert Family Foundation (LFF). Donations are 100% tax deductible and 100% of your donation will be used to help complete and distribute THE GIVING. In addition 100% of sales of the film and ancillary materials will be used to fund other not-for-profit projects and established charities.

LFF is a private operating foundation established in New York State in 1998. LFF funds the development of original programs (documentaries, internet productions, exhibitions, memorials), and it supports other like-minded established charities and institutions through monetary and in-kind donations. The Foundation is classified under section 4942((jj)(3), tax exempt under section 501(c)(3). For more information on LFF, please visit: http://nlempert.org/

To donate by check:
Please write a check payable to Lempert Family Foundation with "THE GIVING" in the memo line and mail to:

Lempert Family Foundation
16 Fairview Ave.
Stamford, CT 06902

To donate on-line using paypal please click on the button below
THANK YOU!

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