SHORT SYNOPSIS
OUT OF FAITH, a feature-length documentary (82:00), follows three generations of a family torn apart by conflicts over interfaith marriage. The family's matriarch, Leah Welbel, and her husband Eliezer, both survived nearly three years in Auschwitz; however, in their minds, their grandchildren marrying non-Jews represents a posthumous victory for Hitler.
LONG SYNOPSIS
OUT OF FAITH, a feature-length documentary (82:00), follows three generations of a family
being torn apart by conflicts over interfaith marriage. The family’s matriarch, Leah Welbel, and
her husband Eliezer, both survived nearly three years in Auschwitz; however, in their minds,
their grandchildren marrying non-Jews represents a posthumous victory for Hitler.
As filming for OUT OF FAITH commences, Leah and her first grandchild to “marry out,” Danny,
have not spoken for six years. Although conflicted over what her stance is doing to her family,
Leah genuinely believes that her position is morally imperative.
“My grandkids, I love all of them; they mean a whole lot to me, but I’m in touch with four, not
with all five...as a Survivor, I paid the highest price possible for my Jewish faith, I paid it with
blood, and that reminds me, stick to your faith.”
In spite of Leah’s stringent belief that intermarriage is a betrayal of one’s faith, family and
people, when her second grandchild, Cheryl, marries a Christian, she takes a different
approach: she showers Cheryl with love and attention, hoping that by keeping the lines of
communication open, she will be able to convince Cheryl’s husband, Matt, to convert to
Judaism. Cheryl resists:
“I would like a Jewish family, but I’m certainly not going to impose on Matt and push all these
things on him, because that’sthe worst thing you can do in a relationship. Because I know if
he said to me, ‘Cheryl, I want you to convert to Christianity,’I’d say ‘take a hike!’”
OUT OF FAITH follows the Welbel family for three years as they try to resolve these issues. The pressure mounts on Cheryl as people tell her that interfaith marriage is decimating the Jewish population; and pressure mounts on Leah as her grandson's wife is about to have a baby—Leah's first great-grandchild. Will Leah and Danny reconcile? Can Leah continue to engage Cheryl without giving in to her belief that by doing so she is "betraying her family" murdered in the Holocaust? An unexpected family event changes everything.
