Hippocrates cautioned that "The sick must battle both their illness and their doctors." It's especially true today, with medicine emerging as an incomprehensible series of specialists and doctors, options and opinions, experimental drugs and high-tech medical equipment. To help them through this maze, about 150 patients a day seek an unbiased second opinion from an unusual rabbi, self-educated in medicine. He can change the way his patients are treated with a single phone call, often to world-renowned experts in their fields. Rabbi Elimelech Firer, a 54-year-old Orthodox Jew, has been advising in medicine for the past 30 years on a voluntary basis. With dogged determination, up to date knowledge and unique diagnostic abilities, he challenges doctors to think again and again about the well-being of the patient. Is he really an emissary of good will and disinterested kindness, or does he wield too much influence that spawns dangerous preferences within the medical system? This is a story about a need in modern day medicine, and an exceptional Rabbi who employs religious values and the power of knowledge against the mighty medical establishment. Admired by some doctors and criticized by others, he remains a fascinating and unusual phenomenon in the world of medicine.


Rabbi Firer: A Reason to Question

(Doc., 58 min. DVD/HDV, color, 2008)

Written and Directed by: Amit Goren
Produced by: Amit Goren & Galia Bador
Sponsored by: Channel 10-Israel; Gesher Multicultural Film Fund & The National Lottery Council for the Arts
Language: Hebrew, English with English subtitles
TV Sales World-wide: Cinephil

DVD - For Home Use Only :
$29.90

Synopsis


Hippocrates cautioned that "The sick must battle both their illness and their doctors." It's especially true today, with medicine emerging as an incomprehensible series of specialists and doctors, options and opinions, experimental drugs and high-tech medical equipment. To help them through this maze, about 150 patients a day seek an unbiased second opinion from an unusual rabbi, self-educated in medicine. He can change the way his patients are treated with a single phone call, often to world-renowned experts in their fields. Rabbi Elimelech Firer, a 54-year-old Orthodox Jew, has been advising in medicine for the past 30 years on a...

Awards

  • Platinum Remi Award – WorldFest Houston Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2009

Festivals

  • Hamptons Synagogue, USA, 2010
  • Seattle Jewish Film Festival, USA, 2010
  • Religion Today Int'l Film Festival, Italy, 2009
  • The JCS Triangle Jewish Film Festival, NC, USA, 2009

Additional info

Gallery

Festivals

  • Hamptons Synagogue, USA, 2010
  • Seattle Jewish Film Festival, USA, 2010
  • Religion Today Int'l Film Festival, Italy, 2009
  • The JCS Triangle Jewish Film Festival, NC, USA, 2009
  • Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, USA, 2009
  • Rio de Janeiro Jewish Film Festival, Brazil, 2009
  • Sao Paulo Israeli Film Festival, Brazil, 2009
  • Zagreb Jewish Film Festival, Croatia, 2009
  • Film IsReal Festival, The Netherlands, 2009
  • Hamburg Int'l Film Festival, Germany, 2008
  • Jerusalem Int'l Film Festival, 2008
  • Screened at the Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Rosh Pina Cinematheques, 2008

Educational

  • Duke University
  • Ohio State University
  • UCLA
  • Yeshiva University
  • Maryland University
  • Library of Congress
  • Harvard University
  • University of Pennsylvania
  • Milwaukee Jewish Resource Center

Awards

  • Platinum Remi Award – WorldFest Houston Int'l Film Festival, USA, 2009