Loving Leah

Jake is a Washington, D.C., physician who has been accepted into a fellowship program. He is engaged to Carol, who he met at the hospital when they were having lunch at the same time. Carol is pretty and seems to work at the hospital, but I'm not sure what she does.

Jake, who grew up Jewish but is no longer observant, dreams that he sees his brother Benjamin, a rabbi who he has not kept in touch with, telling him everything is now all right between them. They used to be close, as shown in flashbacks. Jake then finds out Benjamin is deceased.

Jake goes to Brooklyn to attend the funeral. He finds out that he obligated by scripture (Deuteronomy 25:5) to marry Benjamin's widow Leah. Neither Jake nor Leah wants to do this, but a halizah ceremony is required to release Jake from his obligation. The words Jake is forced to say would require him to denounce his brother, which he can't do. So he goes through with a sham marriage and moves Leah into his very masculine Georgetown apartment, giving her the other bedroom. The two rarely see each other.

Still, you can imagine how this makes Carol feel. Meanwhile, there is an additional complication: the mothers of Jake and Leah don't know the marriage is fake. So they have to go through the motions to keep up the charade.

Leah wanted to leave Brooklyn anyway; she wants to go to college and investigates the possibility. Very devout and conservative, she also seeks out a place of worship. The one she finds is very different from the one in Brooklyn; instead of lots of men with black hats and beards, this temple has a female rabbi.

The "marriage" appears unlikely to succeed. But wait: why does this movie have the title that it does? Maybe there is hope after all.

The leading actors in this movie all do a good job. Lauren Ambrose is pleasant enough, and she is attractive but very plain, though she has beautiful hair (it's actually a wig). I especially liked Ricki Lake as the female rabbi who helps Leah find answers in a new community of faith. Susie Essman plays Leah's mother as abrasive (but in New York City, that's actually love) and intolerant (would an on screen Jewish mother be anything else?). Mercedes Ruehl does an especially fine job as Jake's mother.

It is rare to see this much detail about the Jewish faith. Most movies and TV series show Jewish people as non-observant or, where they are faithful, we often don't see the details of what is required of them. The Brooklyn Jews in this movie are the most conservative Jews I have ever seen portrayed. And yet the female rabbi teaches Leah a lot about how all the requirements may not be necessary. Leah and Jake have a lot to teach each other as well.

It was worthy of the name "Hallmark Hall of Fame".

I have been pleasantly surprised by this movie. The level of acting was verry good, the story was excellent and I liked it very much.

How do you explain a religious tradition? This movie succeeded in bringing non-Jewish viewers in contact with a specific tradition from the Jewish religion.

The characters were portrayed very well by the cast.

Most movies for me are just to pass the time, this, however, made me pay attention. I chose it as a romantic movie, but it was so much more.

I hope there are more of these movies to follow. And I learned to look beyond the cast. That was an eyeopener for me.

I was a religious Jew once or I pretended to be, and I did crazy things like Leah do in the film. That's perhaps the reason why I identify with the movie a lot. I love the way how tradition and religion is illustrated and introduced to people unaware of Judaism. I definitely believe the writer went through a very profound research to gather the story well. Yibbum and Halitzah is mentioned in the Torah (Deuteronomy 25:5-10) and truly is no longer practiced, but the Halitzah ceremony until now exist; Like the Pidyon haben (redemption of the first born son) and many other symbolic ceremonies that are part of the Jewish culture, religion and tradition. I am glad the movie is around for all of the reason above, I loved it so much that I expended one week every night watching it.

I saw Loving Leah recently for the first time and a few times since. Lauren was faithful to the character throughout and nudged her "replacement husband" from his almost terrified responsibility to his deceased brother for the good of his brother's name and Leah. Jake seemed barely into the idea of marriage as it turned another relationship upside down in a way that was slightly comical as Jake squirmed as he dealt with the two women in his life and not being sure which way to turn. (Having know a woman co-worker years ago who lived a closely guarded with chaperons on dates and strict public and private moral behavior, I think I can in a small way understand what Leah was going through.) Leah was like a butterfly emerging from the restrictions that bound her to her faith and duty for her deceased husband and this new husband and ever so subtly made the new life inescapable for Jake who tried to carry on his own life as a doctor while being drawn into Leah's innocent charm. Leah's quiet charm had me falling in love with her too!

First, I would like to thank Hallmark for putting on this movie because in doing so they took a chance that people could actually relate..and not be afraid to throw in a story with a religious element..the old adage is never talk about politics or religion. While it is true that we delve into some fundamental issues of the Jewish faith, this is first and foremost a story of friendship offered and love found. One review called this a romantic comedy..others found faults here and there but there will always be those that look for some shortcomings. I see this as a tender story of two people discovering that they have much to offer each other after Jake's brother dies leaving a widow. She has her ways steeped in tradition and Jake has his ways..not being home much and a girlfriend and working long hours at the hospital..did I mention that his girlfriend initially encouraged Jake (Adam Kaufman) to befriend the young widow (Lauren Ambrose)?After all, she's family. The first days and weeks thrown together as "roommates" are played in such a realistic and touching way, you are drawn into "their" story..and it is theirs and the memory of his dead brother..and mothers wanting what's right for their kids..this is a sweet, innocent and tender. Telling of simple love..there's no comedy here..but the facial expressions and the eyes say this is really some fine acting..I waited for this to come on and was not disappointed. And neither will you.It's that good.