(Courtesy of Jofa) Major Election Day victories by abortion rights advocates in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia on November 7 affirm the continued urgency of reproductive rights as an issue of national discourse, with specific relevance to faith communities and the approaching 2024 national election.

On Thursday, November 30, JCC MetroWest, in partnership with the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (Jofa), National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) Essex and the Jewish Women’s Foundation of New Jersey, are hosting a screening and panel discussion of the documentary short film “Under G-d.” The event will begin at 7 p.m. in the Maurice Levin Theater of the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC, at 760 Northfield Avenue, West Orange.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Paula Eiselt, “Under G-d” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2023. The documentary follows the American Jewish legal fight for abortion rights after Roe v. Wade, showing how Jewish people and institutions are using state laws called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) to argue that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion violates their religious freedom.

The film features Rabbi Barry Silver, who is leading a lawsuit against Florida’s anti-abortion law in the wake of the Dobbs decision. The documentary also features Elly Cohen, an Indiana activist and mother who is part of the Hoosier Jews for Choice group; Jeremy Wieder, a leading rabbi at the theological seminary of Yeshiva University; and Rachel K. Laser, who in 2018 became the first woman, Jew and non-Christian to lead Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

A panel discussion with Paula Eiselt (director), Dr. Michal Raucher (Department of Jewish Studies, Rutgers University) and Daphne Lazar Price (Jofa) will follow the film. Partner organizations will also have tables in the theater lobby with information about their initiatives and reproductive rights work.

For tickets, please visit https://jccmetrowest.org/event/under-g-d/