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Sundance documentary ‘Under G-d’ details the Jewish legal response to the Dobbs decision
(JTA) — Last summer, in the days after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected the right to an abortion, Paula Eiselt was doing press work for her acclaimed documentary “Aftershock.”
The film — which documents how the American healthcare system disproportionately fails to keep women of color healthy during and after giving birth — kept her busy with interviews as it earned a wide audience on Hulu and in theaters. But Eiselt felt pulled into thinking about a project tied to the Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe.
Staying true to her Jewish roots, Eiselt found a Jewish angle: the rabbis and Jewish organizations who are helping lead the charge in bringing lawsuits against the Dobbs decision.
“As a Jewish woman, a Jewish mother, to see that there are Jews, rabbis, organizations, standing up to these bans, to the Dobbs decision, and finding ways to flip the script on many of these laws was very inspiring,” said Eiselt, whose first film focused on an Orthodox female emergency responder service in Brooklyn.
Her new short documentary “Under G-d,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday and plays there throughout the week, shows how Jewish people and institutions are using state laws called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) — often used in the past by religious organizations on the opposite side of the abortion issue — to argue that Dobbs violates their religious freedom as American Jews. Traditional Jewish law permits (and even requires) abortion in some circumstances, particularly when the life or health of the pregnant person is at stake.
Among the first lawsuits aimed at Dobbs came from Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor in Boynton Beach, Florida. Its rabbi, Barry Silver, is a figure in Eiselt’s film, alongside 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 woman named Elly shown in film at a protest in Indianapolis with the Hoosier Jews for Choice group. (Courtesy of “Under G-d”)
“The test is this: Are you going to use RFRA only to protect fundamentalist Christians and their intolerance,” Silver asks in the 24-minute film, “or do Jews get to use it too?”
Cohen’s group led a lawsuit that led to a judge issuing a preliminary injunction in December against Indiana’s abortion ban, blocking its enforcement for now. Laser’s group joined a lawsuit filed in Missouri just last week. And three Jewish women filed a lawsuit alleging infringement of their religious freedom in Kentucky in October.
“The fact that Jews were leading this tactic and this battle, really no other group was thinking about it this way,” Eiselt said. “But as Jews, we know what it’s like when there is no separation between church and state, and this is the prime example of that.
“Of course, now there are many communities joining in with Jews, but Jews are kind of the one who started this,” she added. “I think that’s really true to Jewish involvement in civil rights and human rights, and it was inspiring.”
She noted that people from across the Jewish spectrum were included in the film — which ends with a rally that includes a Havdalah, or post-Shabbat service — and that the overwhelming majority of American Jews favor abortion rights, more than any other religious group, according to studies.
“Diverse Jews, different denominations,” the director said of her interview subjects. “The vast majority of Jews agree on this, from Orthodox to non-observant. There are very few Jews who will say that these bans are in line with values and law.”
Wieder, from Yeshiva University, says in the film that a minority view within Orthodox Judaism believes that “life begins at 40 days after conception,” while the majority says life begins at birth, and seemingly no Jewish religious tradition states that life begins at conception.
Eiselt, a mother of four, identifies as a Modern Orthodox Jew and is a board member of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, where she focuses on reproductive justice issues. She describes the group as “a feminist organization within the Orthodox space that uplifts women’s leadership and participation in Jewish ritual.”
Her first film, “93Queen,” told the story of Ezras Nashim, a female ambulance corps that had to fight for acceptance in the Borough Park haredi Orthodox community.
Funding for the new film came from various film companies and philanthropic organizations, including Concordia Studios and the Sundance Institute, as well as Jewish Story Partners, the foundation backed by Steven Spielberg that launched in 2021.
The film debuted Jan. 22 — on the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling — and is showing in competition at Sundance. After that there are other plans: A “large impact campaign,” as Eiselt described it, will include screenings around the country, including with “Jewish groups, political groups, and reproductive rights groups.”
“Whatever communities you’re in, women are having abortions,” Eiselt said. “Whether they’re mothers, not mothers, whether they have five children, no children. This is part of women’s health care, so it affects everybody and in certain communities, such as more Orthodox communities where I come from, people don’t really talk about it, but it happens commonly.”
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Israel Urges Lebanon to Disarm Hezbollah Under Ceasefire Terms
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu participate in the state memorial ceremony for the fallen of the Iron Swords War on Mount Herzl. In Jerusalem on 16 October 2025. Photo: Alex Kolomoisky/POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Hezbollah was seeking to rearm and that Israel would exercise its right to self-defense under last year’s ceasefire accord if Lebanon failed to disarm the terrorist group.
At the start of a cabinet meeting Netanyahu said Israel would “act as necessary,” if Lebanon does not take steps to prevent its territory from becoming a renewed front.
The US brokered a truce in November 2024 between Lebanon and Israel after more than a year of conflict sparked by the war in Gaza, but Israeli strikes across the border have continued sporadically.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Sunday that it had killed four Hezbollah members.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also said the Lebanese government must fulfill its commitment to disarm Hezbollah and remove the group from southern Lebanon.
Katz said maximum enforcement efforts would continue and intensify to protect Israeli residents in the north.
Under the ceasefire accord, Lebanon agreed that only state security forces should bear arms, which means Hezbollah must be fully disarmed.
Lebanese army sources told Reuters they had blown up so many Hezbollah arms caches that they had run out of explosives and they expect to complete their sweep of the country’s south by the end of the year.
Once the dominant political party in Lebanon, Hezbollah was severely weakened by the war with Israel, which killed thousands of fighters and longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has publicly committed to the ceasefire and has not opposed the seizures of unmanned weapons caches in the south. It has not fired on Israel since the November truce.
However, it insists the disarmament, as mentioned in the text, only applies to the south of Lebanon and has hinted conflict is possible if the state moves against the group.
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Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities ‘Wiped Out,’ Says Former Mossad Chief
The Mossad recruitment ad. Photo: Screenshot.
i24 News – Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen said in an interview with Fox News on Friday that Iran’s nuclear program had been “wiped out,” describing it as a turning point in Israel’s security posture and regional diplomacy.
Cohen claimed that Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities had been eliminated following joint Israeli-American strikes earlier this year.
“Iran is in a very different position,” he said. “They can no longer enrich uranium at present.” He echoed former US President Donald Trump’s earlier remarks that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “wiped out” during the operation.
Calling the strikes a “great success,” Cohen said the mission sent two messages to Tehran: that Israel could carry out such large-scale operations in coordination with the United States, and that it was prepared to strike again if Iran sought to resume uranium enrichment.
“We destroyed their air defenses, their Revolutionary Guard bases, and hunted them down even into their bedrooms in Tehran and other cities,” Cohen said, describing the extent of the offensive.
Turning to regional diplomacy, Cohen credited the Trump administration for its role in both the strikes and broader mediation efforts in the Middle East. He said the recent ceasefire between Israel and Gaza could open the door to a “reconstruction of relations” across the region and renewed peace talks inspired by the Abraham Accords.
Cohen also mentioned Saudi Arabia’s growing engagement, noting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected to visit Washington soon for discussions with US officials. “Not only is this visit important for him, but also for us in the region,” he said.
He added that other Muslim-majority countries, including Indonesia, had shown interest in potential peace initiatives. “We should expect to see more peace treaties in the near future,” Cohen said. “I believe we will witness a better Middle East.”
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Hamas Hands Over Three More Hostage Bodies
A Palestinian woman walks through the rubble of destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, November 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Hamas handed over bodies of three hostages on Sunday, even as the Palestinian terrorist group traded blame with Israel for violations of the tenuous truce that has mostly halted two years of war.
Israeli forces in Gaza received coffins carrying the bodies of three hostages, conveyed through the Red Cross, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The remains will be transported to Israel for identification.
The bodies are expected to be those of three of the 11 hostages whose remains Israel is seeking from Gaza under the terms of the ceasefire. Israel has said Hamas has been too slow in delivering them; Hamas says it is working as quickly as possible under difficult conditions.
The issue has been just one of the disputes holding up full implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire in place since October 10.
Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed one man in northern Gaza. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a militant who was posing a threat to its forces. Al-Ahli Hospital said one man was killed in the airstrike near a vegetable market in the Shejaia suburb of Gaza City.
“There are still Hamas pockets in the areas under our control in Gaza, and we are systematically eliminating them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks at the start of a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Hamas released what it described as a list of violations of the ceasefire by Israel. Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, denied that Hamas fighters had violated the truce by attacking Israeli soldiers.
VIOLENCE NOT COMPLETELY HALTED
The ceasefire has calmed most fighting, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to return to the ruins of their homes in Gaza. Israel has withdrawn troops from positions in cities and more aid has been allowed in.
Hamas released all 20 living hostages held in Gaza in return for nearly 2,000 Palestinian convicts and wartime detainees held by Israel.
Hamas also agreed under the ceasefire to hand over the remains of 28 dead hostages in exchange for the bodies of 360 Palestinian militants killed in the war. Before Sunday it had turned over 17.
Meanwhile, violence has not completely halted. Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 236 people in strikes on Gaza since the truce, nearly half of them in a single day last week when Israel retaliated for an attack on its troops. Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed and it has targeted scores of fighters.
The ceasefire was mediated by the United States, and both sides have appealed to Washington to halt violations.
The US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, met on Saturday with Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir during a visit to the region to discuss Gaza, the Israeli military said.
Netanyahu said any Israeli action in Gaza is reported to Washington. Hamas said the United States was not doing enough to ensure Israel abides by the ceasefire agreement.
About 200 US troops have set up base in southern Israel to monitor the ceasefire and help make plans for an international force to stabilize the enclave, as foreseen in later phases of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war.
There has been little sign of progress on the next stages so far, and major obstacles still lie ahead, including the disarmament of Hamas and a timeline for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.