Tribeca Review: ‘Sabbath Queen’ is a Stirring Portrait of a Trailblazing Religious Leader

Going into the family business can come with a great deal of pressure, especially if there’s a long history of being in a particular profession. For Amichai Lau-Lavie, descending from thirty-eight generations of rabbis has certainly shaped his worldview and his own expectations of what his future might be. But as the documentary Sabbath Queen shows, Lau-Lavie’s Judaism isn’t the same as his ancestors’ or even as that of his uncle and brother, both of whom are rabbis, and he’s carved out a unique path that gives him fulfillment and has inspired many others.

Sabbath Queen derives its title from Lau-Lavie’s drag persona, Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, which communicates many humorous things about his historic family legacy and the tenets of Orthodox Judaism that can be especially entertaining and contradictory when looked at through the right lens by people with a sincere knowledge of what they are. Lau-Lavie’s identity as an out gay man found him a home in queer spaces in the United States in young adulthood, and contributed to his creation of Lab/Shul, a congregation marketed as “God-optional” with a tremendous number of devotees who find it to be an incredibly moving form of Judaism.

For those “in the know” and aware of the history of observant Judaism and how Lau-Lavie has forged his own way within it, this film will be a welcome opportunity to understand his perspective in an intimate manner and to trace his journey from what he learned during childhood to where he is now. For those with less familiarity, this is a thorough and highly descriptive journey that allows Lau-Lavie to tell much of his own story, explaining what he was raised to believe and the formative moments in which he realized something had to be different for him. There’s also depth and substance that offers as much background and well-researched information as possible within a timeframe of less than two hours.

This documentary spans an impressive range of time, filmed over twenty-one years with early footage of a young Lau-Lavie in New York City and chronicling his path to enrolling in a rabbinical school, the Jewish Theological Seminary, that wasn’t fully in line with his values. It also offers a range of perspectives, including interviews with Rabbi Dr. Benny Lau, Lau-Lavie’s brother, an Orthodox rabbi living in Jerusalem. He expresses his issues with his brother’s interpretation of Judaism yet affords him an intriguing level of respect even as he decries the way in which some of his actions, particularly his very public drag persona, have affected his family’s reputation.

What Sabbath Queen captures just as much as Lau-Lavie’s queer identity is his passion for social justice and for seeing people as humans. He sweats nervously as he prepares to officiate a same-sex interfaith wedding where the two grooms will bow to idols, a key prohibition of Judaism that he knows will earn him the ire of his peers. He also protests passionately in 2014 for a stop to the war in Israel and Gaza, and brings that same tireless need to advocate for what he believes in as the film closes on his desperate plea for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Watching Lau-Lavie accosted by other Jews at an earlier protest for sharing his opinions is both affirming and deeply disturbing, since he is insulted by those who see his Judaism as invalid despite his response that he has every right to be there, in no small part because of his experiences growing up in Israel and serving in the Israel Defense Forces.

This documentary captures what those who have seen Lau-Lavie express himself through Storahtelling, an innovative way of interpreting the weekly Torah portions through theater, and have attended Lab/Shul have been able to glimpse in their religious leader. He is a deeply conflicted person who nonetheless remains strong in his convictions, and the rawness with which his beliefs are presented leaves him completely vulnerable, both to those around him and to those watching the film. Though some may not agree with all of his opinions or the way he practices his religion, this documentary makes it impossible to deny his startlingly authentic spirituality.

Movie Rating: 8/10

Awards Buzz: Religion-based documentaries like Jesus Camp sometimes crack the Oscar barrier, and it’s possible that, if this film is widely seen, it could get shortlisted for the Oscar for Best Documentary.