Loving Leah
Encyclopedia
Loving Leah is a television movie that aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame
movie on January 25, 2009. The film is directed by Jeff Bleckner and stars Adam Kaufman as an unobservant Jewish bachelor who feels compelled to marry his observant rabbi brother's widow, Leah (Lauren Ambrose) to honor him via the ancient Jewish custom of yibbum
(levirate marriage
).
Loving Leah began as a play by Pnenah Goldstein and was brought to Hallmark by Ricki Lake, who also appears in a minor role in the film. Goldstein also wrote the screenplay and "saw it in a way like Moonstruck
or Crossing Delancey
. To prepare for her role of widow in the Hasidic community
, lead actress Lauren Ambrose spent time with women of the close-knit community..
in order to nullify a levirate marriage
.
Jake and Leah agree, but Jake changes his mind after seeing a necklace which his brother gave him. Dating from before Benjamin left home, the necklace reminds Jake of how much he loved his big brother. He pulls Leah aside and tells her that he doesn't want to deny his brother's existence. After deciding that she wants to leave her mother's home, become independent, and start college, Leah agrees to move with Jake to Washington. Jake is constantly busy with work at the hospital, his girlfriend Carol has little patience for his new "wife", and Leah adjusts to finding her way around a new city. But eventually, true love arises, and the two find that the greatest gift Benjamin has left them is each other.
.
"In an appearance on the television talk show last week to promote her TV movie Loving Leah, in which she plays a Lubavitch woman, Essman commented on the appearance of female members of the Chasidic group."
“I learned that they're not very good dressers,” Essman said, describing what she discovered in making the film. “The wigs, you know they wear the wig because God forbid a man should see your hair and be driven wild with desire.” Her comments sparked anger in the Hasidic community.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
movie on January 25, 2009. The film is directed by Jeff Bleckner and stars Adam Kaufman as an unobservant Jewish bachelor who feels compelled to marry his observant rabbi brother's widow, Leah (Lauren Ambrose) to honor him via the ancient Jewish custom of yibbum
Yibbum
Yibbum , or levirate marriage, in Judaism, is one of the most complex types of marriages mandated by Torah law by which, according to the law, the brother of a man who died without children has an obligation to marry the widow...
(levirate marriage
Levirate marriage
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother....
).
Loving Leah began as a play by Pnenah Goldstein and was brought to Hallmark by Ricki Lake, who also appears in a minor role in the film. Goldstein also wrote the screenplay and "saw it in a way like Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
or Crossing Delancey
Crossing Delancey
Crossing Delancey is a romantic comedy film starring Amy Irving and Peter Riegert released in 1988. It is directed by Joan Micklin Silver and based on a play by Susan Sandler, who also wrote the screenplay...
. To prepare for her role of widow in the Hasidic community
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
, lead actress Lauren Ambrose spent time with women of the close-knit community..
Plot
Jake Lever (Kaufman) is a successful cardiologist living in Washington, D.C. While at the hospital, he dreams that his brother, Benjamin, tells him that they are okay. Jake is confused and is baffled after learning later that day that his brother has died suddenly. He feels guilty for not having kept in touch with his brother for several years. After Ben's funeral held in Brooklyn, Jake finds out that because his brother's wife Leah (Ambrose) has been left without children, they must perform a ceremony called halizahHalizah
Under the Biblical system of levirate marriage known as Yibbum, Halizah is the ceremony by which a widow and her husband's brother could avoid the duty to marry after the husband's death....
in order to nullify a levirate marriage
Levirate marriage
Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother....
.
Jake and Leah agree, but Jake changes his mind after seeing a necklace which his brother gave him. Dating from before Benjamin left home, the necklace reminds Jake of how much he loved his big brother. He pulls Leah aside and tells her that he doesn't want to deny his brother's existence. After deciding that she wants to leave her mother's home, become independent, and start college, Leah agrees to move with Jake to Washington. Jake is constantly busy with work at the hospital, his girlfriend Carol has little patience for his new "wife", and Leah adjusts to finding her way around a new city. But eventually, true love arises, and the two find that the greatest gift Benjamin has left them is each other.
Controversy
The plot of the movie is improbable as it is no longer customary in Orthodox communities for a man to marry his brother's widowYibbum
Yibbum , or levirate marriage, in Judaism, is one of the most complex types of marriages mandated by Torah law by which, according to the law, the brother of a man who died without children has an obligation to marry the widow...
.
"In an appearance on the television talk show last week to promote her TV movie Loving Leah, in which she plays a Lubavitch woman, Essman commented on the appearance of female members of the Chasidic group."
“I learned that they're not very good dressers,” Essman said, describing what she discovered in making the film. “The wigs, you know they wear the wig because God forbid a man should see your hair and be driven wild with desire.” Her comments sparked anger in the Hasidic community.
Cast
- Lauren Ambrose as Leah Lever
- Adam Kaufman as Jake Lever
- Susie Essman as Malka
- Ricki Lake as Rabbi Gerry
- Christy Pusz as Carol
- Mercedes Ruehl as Janice Lever
External links
- Loving Leah at CBS.com