Between the Temples

8/27/2024

"Cantor Ben" (Jason Schwartzman) has recently become a widower and is struggling to get on with his job working for Rabbi "Bruce" (Robert Smigel) at the Sinai Synagogue. He has one too many chocolate-laced "Mudslingers" in a bar one evening and that leads to an altercation that leads to a reunion with "Carla" (Carol Kane). Though neither recall immediately, it transpires that she used to be his childhood music teacher. Next thing we know, she has turned up at his synagogue where she declares her Jewish heritage and that she wishes to have her Bat Mitzvah. I didn't know that took over year to study and prepare for, and neither did she - but after a bit of convincing, he is cajoled into preparing her and the story picks up the pace as, predictably but not in a predictable fashion, the two st

1/4/2025

The burdens of rules, conventions and traditions can weigh heavily on us, especially when they’re not serving us, allowing us to be ourselves or taking much of the joy out of life. The impact can affect us in many ways, too, including emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, physically and socially. So it is for Benjamin Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman), a disillusioned forty-something cantor/Bat Mitzvah instructor at a conservative synagogue north of New York. He’s experiencing a crisis of faith as a result of the rough year he’s recently undergone, having lost his wife and now facing the prospect of losing his voice (and his livelihood). He’s also had to move in with his two well-meaning but overbearing mothers (Caroline Aaron, Dolly De Leon), who perpetually try to fix him up with new rom