“Punk Jews”: Film, Movement, and Party of the Summer

[Arts & Culture]

Several year ago, still sporting payess and a more-or-less Chasidic appearance, I met a girl in Greenwich village who stopped me on McDougal Street to tell me, “I think Hasidic Jews are so fucking cool. Those curls are just so…. PUNK!”

In the words of the very un-punk former presidential candidate Howard Dean: Yeeeaaaaaahhhhhhh!

But if Chasidim weren’t punk enough, there’s now a bona-fide Jewish punk movement, called (What else?) “Punk Jews.”

Officially, Punk Jews is an upcoming documentary series by Emmy-award winner, Jesse Zook Mann. But it is more than just a film: it is a bourgeoning culture of Jews, many of them religious, who are crossing boundaries with their creativity and embracing unconventional forms for creating art and community while drawing inspiration from their heritage and traditions.

While not exactly Chasidic, Chasidim and former Chasidim feature prominently in both the film and the movement. It brings together Isaac Schonfeld’s Chulent crowd,  Y-Love (AKA Yitz Jordan) and his hip hop blend of Yiddish/Hebrew/Aramaic, Levi Okunov’s Chasidic-inspired fashion designs, and Elke Reva Sudin and her “Hipsters and Hassids” art installation.

The project’s website says, “What excites us about Punk Jews are the stories of people owning their heritage, being creative with it, having fun with it – and doing so at any cost.” Right on!

To raise funds for the film, Punk Jews is holding what they call “the party of the summer!” with a range of musical performances and art installations this Saturday night, June 19th at 9:30pm at the Sixth Street Community Synagogue. Click here to view the Facebook page for this event.

They are also campaigning through Kickstarter.com, on which they hope to raise $10,000 by July 6^th. There’s a catch to the Kickstarter campaign: if they don’t reach the desired goal for funds, they get nothing at all. It’s part of the quirkiness of the independent film world crossed with the world of micro-fundraising on the web. As of this writing, they have 18 days left to reach that goal. To watch the film trailer and to donate funds, click here.