By Danny Gocs, Australian Jewish News
Each year rabbis from Chabad of RARA (Rural and Regional Australia) head off the beaten track searching for ‘lost’ Jews who have settled in isolated places ranging from Alice Springs in the outback to one-pub towns on Queensland’s tropical coast.
Sharing the duties are Cairns-based Rabbi Ari Rubin and his wife Mushkie, whose territory covers north Queensland; and Melbourne-based director, Rabbi Yossi Rodal and his wife Malki, who look after the rest of Australia.
Traveling in a brightly-colored campervan dubbed the mitzvah tank, the rabbis often encounter locals who have never met a Jew, let alone rabbis wearing black suits, hats and tzitzit.
Whether shopping for kosher food, praying in the outback or in the center of a small town, the rabbis ensure that they are visible in the hope that anyone Jewish will come forward.
They are also proactive, checking local phone directories and calling anyone with a Jewish-sounding surname – often with surprising results.
For more than 10 years, Melbourne filmmaker Danny Ben-Moshe has wanted to make a documentary about Chabad of RARA’s rabbis at work, but his idea never got off the ground.
However, when SBS announced a few years ago that it was planning a series of documentaries set around diverse communities titled Untold Australia, Ben-Moshe thought a film about Chabad of RARA rabbis could be a perfect fit.
Ben-Moshe’s idea was one of more than 100 pitches received by SBS for the latest Untold Australia series and fortunately, it ended up being shortlisted.
After another selection process, Ben-Moshe, who runs Identity Films, was commissioned to make Outback Rabbis, one of the four documentaries in the series which premiered on SBS this month.
Location filming took place in August last year when Ben-Moshe and a crew that included a producer, cameraman, sound recordist and director of photography followed Rabbi Rubin and his family on a two-week trip from Cairns to Magnetic Island, and Rabbi Rodal and his family a two-week 3000-kilometer trip from Melbourne to Uluru.
“It is such a special story – I’ve always thought of it as a cross between The Frisco Kid and Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” said Ben-Moshe.
VIDEO: Trailer
Much of Outback Rabbis is filmed as reality-style TV as the camera follows the rabbis questioning locals in small townships over whether they know any Jews.
In Mission Beach in Queensland Rabbi Rubin takes his quest into a pub, while in a supermarket in outback Coober Pedy Rabbi Rodal asks shoppers and the checkout lady.
“We were concerned that we may encounter some anti-Semitism along the way, but we didn’t during filming,” said Ben-Moshe. “For the most part people were very welcoming and hospitable.”
Ben-Moshe found filming in Central Australia to be grueling because of the vast distances that they traveled.
“The film crew traveled in a convoy behind the mitzvah tank,” he said. “This was probably the hardest shoot that I have ever done in terms of covering territory to get the content that you need.”
The traveling rabbis caught up with Jews that they have met before who live in Alice Springs and Magnetic Island and welcome the personal contact.
Ben-Moshe, whose documentary films include Shalom Bollywood which was screened at last year’s Jewish International Film Festival and the award-winning 2014 film Code of Silence, is thrilled with Outback Rabbis.
“It’s upbeat and quirky and has lots of characters,” he said. “As a director there is always the pain of what you have to leave on the cutting-room floor and I would like to make a feature-length version to screen at international film festivals.”
SBS’s Outback Rabbis will air on May 23
https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1229302851994/outback-rabbis-untold-australia
if you NOT in australia can use vpn to watch it
Very cool that on the same collive page is the nshei article about M Rodal and right after is the article about his descendants. So nice
We are considered Ultra-Orthodox because of our level of religious observance, even though a Jew that doesn’t practice Judaism is still Jewish that Jew isn’t Ultra-Orthodox. The point of “Jewish looks” is foolish because there are Jews that dress a certain way but are involved in such things as unethical business practices, obtaining false IDs, and evading taxes to name just a few things Jewish looking Jews do, not all but some do these and similar things.
Terrific work, Rabbis, Hatzlacha, משיח כאו!!
cant wait to see the final clip!
In Australia (and some other countries) you can watch it at this link https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/1229302851994
BS”D Nice and Great line-hunted down with
Love
Tried getting to see it but couldn’t as it doesn’t allow it to be viewed outside of Australia
Way to go Ari and Yossi
keep up the good work
This is great stuff… true shlichus! But why are we still considered ultra-orthodox? We’re just Jewish looking Jews.