Reviews:

"Raising the Sparks is an excellent and honest portrayal of a contemporary Jew's search for Judaism. It offers a compassionate and clear-eyed view of Jewish Renewal." - Tikkun

Description of Film:

In Raising the Sparks: A Personal Search for a Spiritual Home in Judaism (Throughline Productions and Delphi Productions, 2001), Chuck Davis explores his own decision to return to the religion of his birth. After twenty years of Buddhist practice and the birth of his first son, Davis found himself with many questions about spirituality in midlife. He set out to discover a true spiritual path in his Jewish roots, one that he hoped he could authentically ask his sons to take on. In this one-hour documentary, we follow not only his exploration of the Jewish path, but of spirituality as a whole.

Davis begins his journey with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi - the founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement and the former wisdom chair at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. Over the course of the Jewish liturgical year, Rabbi Zalman acts as both guide and counselor in Davis' quest. In this same year Davis also meets with Rabbis across Judaism's spectrum. He engages them in provocative discussions about the issues that have kept him at a distance from his birth religion: the importance and relevance of Hebrew and the Torah, Jewish meditation, the place of prayer in secular life - the problems and possibilities of inter-faith marriage and the need for the Jewish laws in a post modern world.

About the Filmmaker:

Chuck Davis has produced and directed several award-winning films, including Kosher Valley (1998), Second Chances (1994), and Cambodian Doughnut Dreams (1990).

This event is cosponsored by the IHC Jewish Studies Research Focus Group, Department of Religious Studies, Hillel, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.