• Please note: Additional presentations of GOD SPEAKS YIDDISH are scheduled for summer 2024 in Berlin & Hamburg •
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At the request of theatergoers who attended the June, 2024 JTNY's presentation of GOD SPEAKS YIDDISH at the Triad but missed the follow-up Q&A, click HERE
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Press Release
Presentation Date: June 5, 2024 - 8:00p
Triad Theater, 158 W. 72 St, NYC
Reservations: TheJTNY@aol.com or 212-494-0050
In English, Yiddish & Hebrew, with English subtitles
“Best Documentary” – Berlin Indie Film Festival, 2024
An Official Selection of the Jewish Film Festivals in Vienna and Berlin
Q&A with Tuvia Tenenbom following presentation
Film based on "Careful, Beauties Ahead!"
Reservation: TheJTNY@aol.com
Cost: $10 at entrance
God Speaks Yiddish is a first totally unbiased look into the ultra-Orthodox Jews of Israel, 14% of its population and growing, who will most likely decide the future of Israel, not to mention its current hold on power in Israeli politics. The book on which this film is based, "Careful, Beauties Ahead!," which also examines the ultra-Orthodox perspective on the events of Oct 7, was initially published in Hebrew and German editions (a top bestseller in Israel and a Spiegel bestseller in Germany) and is now available in English.
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Direction: Tuvia Tenenbom
Camera: Florian Krauss
2nd Camera: Isi Tenenbom
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What the critics say about “Careful, Beauties Ahead!"
“Extraordinary, profound, enlightening, and entertaining.” – Der Spiegel
“Tenenbom is the funniest, most entertaining writer in Israel.” – Channel 13 TV, Israel
“A spiritual journey full of Jewish wit and wisdom.” – Jerusalem Post
"Full of laughs and great scenes.” –
Algemeine
"A fun journey with many laugh-out-loud moments." –
Jewish Journal
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“Gripping, extremely funny, mercilessly direct, this first-person report – subjective, pointed and biting as one could expect from the suspenders-wearing chubby man – is rousing and very human.” – NDR (Germany)
“With a lot of humor, and in countless anecdotes, Tuvia Tenenbom opens the doors to a world that doesn’t reveal much about itself at first.” – Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany)
“He provokes, but he also has a lot of humor.” – Deutschlandfunk Kultur (Germany)
“Extraordinary, profound, enlightening, and entertaining.” – Der Spiegel (Germany)
“A fascinating in-depth journey of ultra-Orthodox existence.” – Walla! (Israel)
“Tuvia Tenenbom has written a fascinating book, shedding light on the world of ultra-Orthodox Jews. The intensity of Jerusalem, evident to the casual visitor of the city, builds up in the reader the more he reads this book. The tourist, who will hopefully come to Jerusalem again soon, will now see the people of Mea Shearim with totally different eyes.” – Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
“Tenenbom is the funniest, most entertaining writer in Israel.” – Channel 13 TV (Israel)
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Careful, Beauties Ahead!
Tuvia Tenenbom, son and grandson of ultra-Orthodox rabbis, left the fold as a very young man. Decades later he comes back, living for over a year in Mea Shearim, Jerusalem, arguably the most authentic ultra-Orthodox community anywhere in the world. Tenenbom, the Artistic Director of the Jewish Theater of New York, wanted to know how the Orthodox culture and way of life had changed, if it had, and how restrictive it is these days in a wider world that is itself increasingly restrictive. To answer this question, and many others, he became one of them again, doing what they do: praying with them at synagogues and studying with them at yeshivas, eating with them, singing with them, joining them for Sabbath meals, driving with them to the graves of their holy rabbis, chatting with their spiritual leaders, and all the while speaking God’s language, Yiddish. In time, he gained their trust, people opened up to him, and their world of faith revealed itself in all its fascination and contradictions. Careful, Beauties Ahead! is a spiritual journey deep into the world of faith, packed with Jewish humor, Jewish fears, Jewish wisdom, and Jewish traditions.
Careful, Beauties Ahead!, aka God Speaks Yiddish, is a book, a film, and a theatrical event being performed in the EU, Israel, and the USA.
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“Tenenbom’s delicate and biting, ever humane gaze into the sometimes irrational is a blessing – especially since the 7th of October.” – Kurier (Austria)
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“A mind-changing, extraordinary, brilliant, fascinating, and entertaining anthropological journey into the world of the ultra-Orthodox.” – Kikar Hashabat (Israel)
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“A spiritual journey full of Jewish wit and wisdom.” – Jerusalem Post
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