This January, Beth Israel Congregation is inviting the Baltimore community to the table for an evening of sharp humor, cultural reflection, and conversation. On Saturday, January 10 at 7 p.m., the congregation will host a special screening of Bad Shabbos, the dark comedy that captured the Audience Award at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. The screening will be followed by a live Q&A and Kosher dessert reception with the film’s screenwriter, Zack Weiner.
Directed by Daniel Robbins and co-written by Robbins and Weiner, Bad Shabbos centers on a Shabbos dinner gone spectacularly wrong. Starring Kyra Sedgwick as Ellen, the formidable matriarch of a deeply dysfunctional Jewish family, the film unfolds over one long, tense evening where tradition, identity, and family dynamics collide—with deadly consequences.
Viewers are drawn into Ellen’s meticulously controlled household alongside her husband Richard, a man never short on opinions. Their eldest son David arrives with his fiancée Meg, a Catholic whose conversion to Judaism does little to soften Ellen’s passive-aggressive edge. Younger son Adam, chronically unemployed and riddled with physical and mental challenges, dreams of joining the Israeli Defense Force. Daughter Abby rounds out the gathering by bringing Benjamin, her widely disliked boyfriend. As insults fly and resentments simmer, a spiked drink sets off a chain of events that leads to Benjamin’s “accidental” death in the bathroom—rendering the familiar greeting of “good Shabbos” hauntingly ironic.
Following the screening, attendees will have the opportunity to engage directly with Weiner during a moderated Q&A, unpacking the film’s themes of faith, family, and the dark comedy that emerges when tradition meets modern tension. The evening will conclude with a Kosher dessert reception, offering space for continued conversation and community connection.
The event reflects the broader mission of Beth Israel Congregation, one of the region’s most dynamic Conservative congregations. Founded in 1956, Beth Israel is widely respected for its ability to balance Jewish tradition with contemporary life. Under the leadership of Rabbi Rachel Safman, the congregation has cultivated an inclusive, warm, and vibrant community grounded in ritual observance, lifelong learning, and acts of loving kindness. Programming like this film screening underscores Beth Israel’s commitment to engaging Jewish culture not only as religious practice, but as lived experience—complex, humorous, and deeply human.
Tickets for Bad Shabbos are $20 for Beth Israel members, $25 for non-members, and $15 for students. Parking at the synagogue is ample, free, and well lit.
For Baltimore-area residents seeking an evening that blends cinema, conversation, and community, Beth Israel’s presentation of Bad Shabbos promises a night that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.