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64 December 7 • 2017 jn arts&life f i l m The new documentary, streaming on Netfl ix, reveals the consequences of leaving the Chasidic community. F ewer than 2 percent of Chasidic Jews ever leave the fold. The documen- tary One of Us reveals why, tell- ing the stories of three people who have left — and paid a high price for their personal freedom. Etty, a young mother of seven, walks out on her abusive husband and loses custody of her children. Luzer, an actor, struggles with depression and his decision to leave his family. And Ari battles addiction as he comes to terms with the trau- ma of childhood sexual abuse. "Coming from a community where the collective is all that matters, these people had a 'me' inside that needed to have a voice," said Heidi Ewing, who co-directed the film with Rachel Grady. The filmmakers met in 1999 while working on a TV docu- mentary about the Church of Scientology. "We've been able to build a career digging deep into subjects that interest us," said Ewing, adding that film- making is "an opportunity to go into unknown worlds, ask ques- tions and put together a story." Among their successes was the Oscar-nominated 2006 documentary Jesus Camp, about a charismatic Christian summer camp, and last year's Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. They also co- created Detropia, the 2012 award-winning documentary about Detroit's decline and slow rebirth. For their sixth film together, the filmmakers sought to crack open a window on a world they knew little about, one hidden in plain sight in their Brooklyn neighborhood. "We were no experts on the Chasidic community before we started doing this film," Grady said. "As outsiders, we will never truly understand." Grady, a nonreligious Jew, and Ewing, a non-practicing Catholic, found their way into that world through Footsteps, a support organization that helps Chasidic Jews who want to leave. There, they found Etty, the young mother, who agreed to participate, Grady said, "with a lot of caveats," such as hid- ing her face until she was ready to reveal it. "This is not someone who seeks attention," Grady said. "She would never have chosen the spotlight had she not been in these circum- stances." The film chronicles Etty's custody fight amid ostracism and a smear campaign by the Chasidic community. "We couldn't even grasp how dif- ficult it was for these people to exit and start over — especially in Etty's case," Ewing said. "She's considered a turncoat, a traitor because the suspi- cion is that she won't raise her children Chasidic," Ewing said. "The way they look at it, these are the community's children, to make up for what was lost" in the Holocaust. Grady finds it ironic that Jews, who have a long history of facing religious oppression, would persecute their own. The Holocaust, she said, "gives you some context for this extreme behavior — things start to make sense, like why they hate the police, why they hate dogs," she said. Another of the film's story lines follows Ari Hershkowitz, a young adult who as a boy was raped and beaten by a counsel- or at a Chasidic summer camp. GERRI MILLER N.Y. JEWISH JOURNAL One Of Us A group of Chasidic women in One of Us Etty, left, is featured in One of Us.