Sabbath in Paradise

The German documentary filmmaker Claudia Heuermann has investigated the Jewish music culture in New York City. In order to answer the question what Jewish music really is, she follows contemporary Jewish musicians during rehearsals and performances. The musical experiment (varying from jazz to avant garde) turns out to be a way for these musicians to react to the traditional Jewish klezmer music. One of the musicians who are portrayed in the film reads from ‘Sabbath in Paradise’, an ancient Jewish folk tale discussing the Sabbath and all kinds of rituals. Subsequently, the tale is also enacted, featuring the musicians as actors. Through these musicians, Heuermann presents an extremely inventive portrait of the Orthodox Jewish culture on the one hand, and of the radically Jewish culture of the Lower Eastside on the other.