Outback Rabbis
Frisco Kid meets Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. On a road trip like no other, ultra-Orthodox Chassidic Rabbis hit the Aussie bush looking for “lost Jews”. Dressed in black suits and fedora hats, the Outback Rabbis embark on a journey filled with surprising and emotional encounters with Aussie outback characters and laced with Jewish wit, music, and culture.
The Rabbis are members of the Chabad of RARA (Remote and Regional Australia), an organization devoted to traveling the country to search for and minister to Jews. The RARA mission is to reconnect Jews with Judaism and to ensure “No Jew gets left behind”. From lush islands and rainforest in North Queensland to Uluru and the Red Centre, the road trip travels to some of the most spectacular sights in Australia. This colorful documentary is humorous and touching as it reveals the stories of men on a mission, Jews in unlikely places, and the broader community of rural and regional Australia.
Award winning producer and director Danny Ben-Moshe is one of Australia’s leading documentarians who established Identity Films and Productions in 2006 driven by a passion to tell stories that matter in entertaining, compelling and creative ways. Danny’s acclaimed films have screened on leading networks around the world, i...
Reflections
Three times the charm
In one scene, a Rabbi tells someone interested in learning about conversion that he “does not recommend it”. How might this be different from other religions?
Traditions and rituals
What Jewish rituals are demonstrated throughout the film? Were these all familiar to you or did you learn something new?
For those who don’t identity as Chassidic:
Outback Rabbis gives us a close look into the practices and beliefs shared by the ultra-Orthodox Chassidic community in Australia. What similarities do you see with your denomination of Judaism or Jewishness?
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