Educational Media Reviews Online

In 2010, Gabrielle Zilka volunteers for a six-month stint in Ghana with a women’s rights organization and finds herself creating a film about a Jewish community in Ghana. In Doing Jewish Gabrielle quickly gets caught up in not just the mystery of how a Jewish community found itself in Ghana, but begins her own journey into her Jewish heritage which to this point she had mostly ignored. Living with a host family involved with the Pentecostal Christian Church she realizes that she misses the Jewish celebration of New Year that she grew up with and begins looking for a Jewish community in Ghana. Her mother finds one about an hour away identified as Joseph’s House. Here she meets Alex Armah, the Jewish community leader in Sefwi Wiawso, who is hard at work becoming a rabbi and leader of the Jewish community he is very serious about. Gabrielle quickly begins to feel at home in this Jewish community despite the significant differences from her home Jewish community. She also begins to realize that Judaism means something to her, just exactly what she struggles throughout the film to determine.

The film covers the complex beginnings and formation of this unusual Jewish community in an unexpected part of Africa and follows the struggles of both Alex Armah as he strives to build a real Jewish community that is accepted by other Jewish communities as authentically Jewish and Gabrielle as she finds her own sense of Jewishness. Gabrielle brings an international character to the film when she returns to Canada and the United States at several points during the film to research further the history of Judaism in Ghana and find answers for her deepening personal search into Judaism. She maintains contact with Alex Armah and shares some of her personal search with him as he shares his frustrations with developing Judaism in an isolated part of Africa where little international Jewish mentorship is available.

At the end of the film Gabrielle has deepened her understanding and sense of commitment to Judaism, but is still uncertain about her long-term goals and spiritual direction. She does gain an understanding of the significance of her Jewish heritage and integrates some of this into her life in a more meaningful way than she had been at the beginning of the film. Alex Armah grows in his development as a rabbi and Jewish leader, but becomes distanced from the Sefwi Wiawso community.

This is a well-done film with good cinematography and sound. At 84 minutes it moves slowly at times, but the speed at which the story develops adds to the mood of discovery that is taking place in both Gabrielle and Alex Armah. The title plays on both lives who are Doing Jewish in very different ways. Gabrielle is seeking for roots and understanding about herself while Alex is desperately trying to establish a Judaism that is correctly done and will be accepted by the wider world of Judaism. Both struggle in meeting their objectives. Alex outgrows the community he starts in and realizes he is more concerned about doing Jewish right than the community around him is. Gabrielle realizes that Jewish tradition is important at many levels for her to share in a Jewish heritage that she unexpectedly finds meaningful when cut off from it by distance and surroundings. The biggest weakness to the film is the length of time it takes to unravel the story and the juxtaposition of Gabrielle’s search for Jewish identity conflicts some with the story of how Judaism appeared in an unexpected area of Ghana. In the end the story of Gabrielle takes precedence and shortchanges the story of Judaism in Ghana and the struggles faced there. This film attempts to tell too many stories that are essentially unrelated and as a result feels too long and too slow moving to be rated higher than recommended.

This is a good film for public library discussion groups, especially in Jewish areas. It is useful for high school and college courses on Africa, Judaism, and for higher level courses on spirituality and religion. Individuals searching for religious roots and spiritual meaning in their heritage will also find it helpful.