Documentary explores the journey of finding Jewish love
For Ben-Moshe, he’s hoping to cut through the noise of dating for Jews, especially given it is such a loaded topic due to fears around assimilation.
Josh Ben-Moshe is a sucker for a good love story. So for the documentary filmmaker, it made sense to face the age-old challenge for young Jewish people – marrying within the Jewish community and how to find love with such a small pool of possibilities.
Jewish Singles in the Snow is his first TV documentary and will air on ABC on July 9. The documentary is set during a Victorian Jewish singles ski trip which was also a drawcard for Ben-Moshe.
“I’m a sucker for love stories, and also for films set within a confined space and time. This felt like a quirky combination of the two,” Ben-Moshe told The AJN.
“Conceptually, I heard about these ski trips when I was grappling with the question of whether or not to marry Jewish myself.”
A graduate of Leibler Yavneh College, Ben-Moshe explained that he has always been immersed in the Jewish community and had never considered not marrying a Jewish person. But, he said, you get to a certain age where you pretty much know everyone in the community.
“Dating outside of it feels increasingly – and justifiably – tempting,” he said, continuing to explain that he had to consciously consider his Judaism – what it meant to him and the prominence he wanted it to hold in his life.
“Those are the questions you ask yourself when figuring out who you want to date, and it’s that exploration that is the broader story of this documentary,” Ben-Moshe said.
Throughout the film, Ben-Moshe talks to people who are on the trip looking to find love, focusing on a woman named Sara, and he also chats to the trip’s organisers Rabbi Yossi and Rikkie Wolf.
For Ben-Moshe, he’s hoping to cut through the noise of dating for Jews, especially given it is such a loaded topic due to fears around assimilation.
“I tried to capture the non-judgemental reality of what young Jews go through and consider when trying to find a life partner. I’ve tried to show that it’s rare to find a Jew who is entirely dismissive of their Jewishness, it’s just tricky finding a Jewish partner,” Ben-Moshe said. “The reality is that we are becoming more secular, and more integrated into wider society, and that’s the challenge our community faces in keeping young Jews connected – and connected in a way that is strong enough to stave off our need for romantic love. For the singles in our audience, I want their experience to feel seen. And if possible or necessary, challenged to think about their Jewishness.”
Ben-Moshe said he loves storytelling, and he loves people, so documentary always seemed like the best fit for him, giving him the opportunity to “capture real people, in real worlds, telling real stories”.
And that’s what Jewish Singles in the Snow hopes to achieve.
“It’s crazy the lengths we go to to find Jewish love. Romantic love is one of the strongest drives we have as humans, and yet some of the characters you meet in this film are in their late thirties, not religious and still adamant that, despite the limitations of the dating pool, they want a Jewish partner,” Ben-Moshe said. “That’s the takeaway of the film, really. It’s not “intermarriage good or intermarriage bad” – it’s the fact that it’s even a question. We value Judaism so, so much, and I think that’s beautiful.”
Jewish Singles in the Snow will air on ABC on July 9 and then on iView.
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