Genre
Synopsis
In 2014, The Jewish Museum in Berlin launched an exhibit where a Rabbi raced a robot - who could write the Torah scroll faster? The obvious answer was the Robot - it would take three months to do what would take the Rabbi over a year. Between the meticulous rituals, quill sharpening, and ya know…the need to eat and sleep, there was no way to match the Robot’s pace. Many scribes feared that their livelihoods were in jeopardy.
However, when the exhibit ended it was as if the ordeal had never happened. Even though the robot’s scroll was faster and cheaper, Synagogues wanted the real thing. They wanted to feel the spirit of the inscriber, to know that the letters were written by somebody who took this mitzvah seriously. The ancient practice, materials, pace and intentionality are what make a Torah a Torah.
For the first time in history, a handful of women have emerged as scribes. Even though Jewish law commands this mitzvah be done by a man, the draw is undeniable for these soferets - female scribes - and they’re going to do it whether it’s permitted or not.
This film will intercut sit down interviews with scenes from the soferets’ daily lives. While there are only 15 female scribes in the world right now, they are links in a long chain that connect them into the past of their ancestors and a future they are building where more equality and inclusivity is going to occur - whether traditionalists like it or not.
Bio
Lauren Greenhall is an award winning, webby nominated producer and director whose work explores joy in its many complexities: rebellion, zaniness, self-realization, creativity. With a background in comedy and video journalism, she works in a variety of genres and formats. She has directed TV and video for Nat Geo, The New Yorker, Matador Records, NY Post, CBS Interactive, HuffPost, and Inside Edition and branded content for Marvel, Footlocker, and Dove.
Her parody "The Miss Quarantine Pageant" was a NY Times Critics pick and was featured in the Wall Street Journal. Greenhall's feature documentary ZELDA about an ultra-orthodox Jewish woman and her relationship with her wig is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts and the Jewish Film Institute and is in post production. Her short film about female Torah scribes was recently awarded the 2024 The Matthew Harris Ornstein JxJ Short Film Fund and is currently in production. Her psychological thriller Perfectly Good Moment is currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.
