I’ve been watching Hallmark movies for the majority of my 47 years and this one is the best ever. I am a Christian and loved everything about it. Hats off to everyone involved in this project. Please bring us more like it soon.
Connie C

Hi, I just wanted to say that I really loved this movie. I know nothing of the Jewish culture but I have always been fascinated by different religions. It was an interesting concept the brother marring his brother’s widow. It really makes me curious as to the Jewish culture. But, more than that Leah and Jake’s characters were wonderful and it really was a love story movie! Whether or not she change her Hasidic lifestyle to a less conservative view it was still a great and eye opening movie! I can’t wait to buy it. -tiffany

I’m Jewish, and I totally loved it. It was great to see a movie that was unashamedly Jewish.

A perspective from a Chassidic woman. (Lubavitch)
It was a practice which protected women in the olden days. It gave a widow a chance to be taken care of and an opportunity to remarry without any difficulty. It is a practice that was only done if the brother did not have kids. It is uncommon for a marriage like that to take place today when love and attraction are key components.
BTW I saw parts of the film and it is not true to the lifestyle of the Lubavitch community. I wish they would’ve had a Lubavitcher to consult with. I guess most of the viewers would not know the difference, though. For the most part people like to put all chassidim into one category & generalize, when in fact, they are so different. In particular, the Lubavitch Chassidim.

You’ve probably heard this by now, but I’m about 99% sure that Yibum (Levirate Marriage) is no longer practiced and has been completely disallowed by the rabbis. Where necessary, everyone does chalitza (shoe-spitting).
I say 99% because I’m also pretty sure that somewhere out there is some small group of complete whack-a-doodles who are doing it. Probably hanging out with the Neturei Karta people, too.
My understanding is that the otherwise prohibited marriage to your brother’s wife (even his widow, natch) was allowed to give the dead brother a chance to continue his line – a child from that union was counted as if it had been born to the dead brother.
But that continuation is sort of dependent on the living brother’s having pure intent regarding the sister-in-law/wife; and we’re at a place now spiritually that the rabbi’s had serious doubts whether anyone could maintain that kind of purity and not just be all excited to be doing something otherwise forbidden.
So… “And does anyone really engage in Levirate marriage anymore?”
No.
–FD

You’ve probably heard this by now, but I’m about 99% sure that Yibum (Levirate Marriage) is no longer practiced and has been completely disallowed by the rabbis. Where necessary, everyone does chalitza (shoe-spitting).
I say 99% because I’m also pretty sure that somewhere out there is some small group of complete whack-a-doodles who are doing it. Probably hanging out with the Neturei Karta people, too.
My understanding is that the otherwise prohibited marriage to your brother’s wife (even his widow, natch) was allowed to give the dead brother a chance to continue his line – a child from that union was counted as if it had been born to the dead brother.
But that continuation is sort of dependent on the living brother’s having pure intent regarding the sister-in-law/wife; and we’re at a place now spiritually that the rabbi’s had serious doubts whether anyone could maintain that kind of purity and not just be all excited to be doing something otherwise forbidden.
So… “And does anyone really engage in Levirate marriage anymore?”
No.
–FD

Not being too familiar to the Jewish faith, I had some knowledge of the how the character of Leah married the brother after her husbands death. I found myself interested and tuned into this story from the start. As much as I wanted to watch the “Last Templer”, I was drawn back to this story. It was refreshing and a nice experience to to see both Leah and Jake expound on their individual uniformity to one another and develop a love for one another. To be honest, I am hoping this will mirror my life some day to find my special woman, to share in the love that these two were blessed in another Hallmark classic.

Dvarim 25: 5-10 says that if a man dies without having children, his brother is required to marry his widow or to complete the ritual of halitza to negate the requirement. Rabbis in the Ashkenazi tradition tend to favor the negation ritual, whereas in many Sephardi communities the marriage is encouraged. For further information see: Donin (294-5) and Dobrinsky (64-68, 394-9).
Dobrinsky, Herbert. A Treasury of Sephardic Laws and Customs. New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1986.
Donin, Hayim Halevy. To Be A Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life.
New York: Basic Books, 1972.
I did research on Sephardic film maker Moshe Mizrachi’s film “I Love You, Rosa,” based on his grandmother and her refusal to complete the halitzah ceremony.

I thought that Loving Leah was a beautiful love story. I am not of the faith that was the background of the movie, and I have no desire to research any facts. I just enjoyed the movie for the entertainment that it was….I expect nothing less from Hallmark…another feel-good movie. Just what this world needs.

Leah and her family were hardly Chassidic. They were charedi. Leah was too “modern” to be Chassidic.

We thought it was very sweet. I haven’t talked to my Jewish acquaintances about so I don’t know if they were offended. I do know of the custom of the mezuzah (sp.?) on the doorframe. And I’m aware that married Orthodox Jewish women cover up their real hair in public. I did wonder how her wig stayed on when she slept with him that first night. But deep down Leah didn’t want to stay that way. That’s why she snuck off to romantic movies. At first she was bashful in her new life, then she learned to literally and figuratively let down her hair. The cute young doctor learned that marriage is more than “just a ceremony.”
The female rabbi did seem surprised that some Jewish sects were still doing the Levirate. So maybe they took some poetic license on that. But I did go to a bar-mitzvah where the Jewish women all wore yarmulkes inside the temple. The non-Jewish women guests were not required to wear them, but ALL the men had one on.
Anyway, I think a lot of anti-Israel comments on the news are a lot more troublesome than a Hallmark movie!

It was a beautiful movie. Hallelujah there are still some moral values out there! How beautiful when Leah lit candles in Jewish tradition. i loved it! What made the doc fall in love with her was her love of God and her timidity. Who knew guys are still attracted to that sort of thing. Also it didn’t hurt that she was a great cook and smart.
I and my husband of 26 years loved the movie.

It was just OK. I had real problems with Leah’s mother. The actress appeared on The View a few days before this movie aired and had nothing but horrible insults to frum women. Basically calling them all ugly and that they all dress ugly. The women of the View did not challenge her and it was hard for me to get past that as I watched the film

I really enjoyed “Loving Leah”. While some things in the movie that dealt with Leah’s religion or her appearance may have troubled those more intimately familiar with the traditions and mores of Hassidic Judaism, I felt that to a non-Jew like myself, it was quite informative and a lovely romantic story. I learned about things like the Halizah ceremony the couple almost went through and what a Hamsa is. I have enjoyed Hallmark movies in the past, and I will continue to watch them.

It really doesn’t seem like they did their research or chose to ignore it. To someone who knows Lubavitch/Chasidic/charedi life intimately well, the movie was glaringly inauthentic.

Levirate marriage (Yibbum, in Hebrew) is a biblical commandment. Yes, it was practiced in ancient Israel (and in other ancient Near-Eastern civilizations). But no, it is NEVER practiced among contemporary Orthodox Jews, and hasn’t been practiced for a millennium, especially among Ashkenazi Jews. Even back in Talmudic times (ca. 500 C.E.) the practice was deemed objectionable by many.
While Yibbum is no longer practiced, by biblical law the widowed woman is still bound to her husband’s surviving brother if the couple never had children. In order to sever those bounds (without Yibbum), the widow and her brother-in-law must perform the ‘Chalitza’ ceremony. It is that ceremony which is practiced in ALL such cases among contemporary Orthodox Jews.
Apparently, the filmmakers chose to ignore this very important reality in favor of a fictionalized version of Hasidic Judasim in order to raise the intrigue and gain viewers. The premise is indeed intriguing; it doesn’t take a very astute filmmaker to know this. But it’s a cheap misuse of a rare, ancient, and, by now, only theoretical practice.

I really like the movie. For a person who is having some trouble in her religious life, this helped me connect to something again. I really loved all of the different refernces to Jewish culture. Even if they weren’t totally accurate, it makes me want to research certain things even more. Thank you Hallmark for stepping out of the box and actually looking into a religion other than Christianity. Very brave and praiseworthy.

Does anybody now the song that was playing when jake was making breakfast for leah.

I also loved the movie and the song played the morning after. It was by Micheal Buble called “everything”. I have already downloaded it on my Ipod. As a Jewish women I LOVED how they finally had a Jewish love story on TV. Hollywood has never been kind to Jewish women. They usually depict us in a very unflattering light. This goes back to all the original Hollywood execs who were Jewish and wanted so bad to assimilate that they turned their back on G-d and married non-Jeiwhs women. Art imitates life and most movies or TV shows usually have a Jeiwsh man married to a non-jewish woman. Mazal tov to those who had the chutzpah to make a movie about two Jews falling in love. A big thanks for making Leah out to be a beautiful Jewish woman, not the usual way Hollywood portrays us. Amen!

Corny? Sure! Trite? Maybe but I LOVED this movie.
I live in Los Angeles in a very Orthodox area & as a Christian, know very little about the customs.
But there was something so real. & honest & “loving” about this movie that I “rooted” for these two to make a go of it. LAUREN AMBROSE is a fabulous actress & made so much of 6 FEET UNDER work & this ADAM KAUFAMN guy is gorgeous & a fine actor as well, And ANYTHING that has the inimitable, MERCEDES RUEHL in it is definitely worth watching! I’m going to buy the DVD I loved it that much!

I loved the movie even though I knew how it would end as soon as I saw the trailer. An atypical Romeo and Juliet story.
However several things bothered me about it. The most annoying thing is that it never showed Jake’s mother mourning over the loss of her son Benjamin. Even though she is not orthodox, she should have been shown to mourn the death of her son. She showed up at the funeral and the only thing she said was about her mistake in wearing open-toed shoes.
There were many inconsistencies regarding religious observance and continuity, but I don’t know how many people would catch them.
Overall a nice little love story, a happy ending which we could use more of these days.
I had never seen either Lauren Ambrose or Adam Kaufman before. I was particularly impressed with Ambrose’s portrayal, but Kaufman was good also. He is VERY easy on the eyes!!

I too loved this movie! It is rare these days to see a relationship evolve from friendship in a very sweet way. Both Lauren Ambrose (who was luminous in her role) and Adam Kaufman (super cute!) were perfectly cast. I too had never seen either before and agree that both were very good. I recorded it, have re-watched it once, and will probably buy the dvd. I would love to see a “Loving Leah” Two made, but only with the original cast.

One of those rare treats..a movie that really touches the heart strings and you just know that these two wonderful people…thrown together by circumstances about which so many of us know so little – will eventually find the happiness they both deserve…Lauren Ambrose was quite beautiful and touching and you just wanted her to find someone who would love and cherish her and Adam Kaufman – a gorgeous hunk – in a way a true romance but not without its ups and downs! Can hardly wait until the dvd is available..to keep it and watch it again and again.

The young lady Lauren Ambrose played the role with a little know fact, is that she is not Jewish, as most have not noted here in the comments, thus can she act, you bet’um. Show me one movie since the 30′s that has everything right down to the lighting of the candles, come on you want a movie or do you want a documentary? My wife and I have watch it about four times now. It’s clean, it has light moments and yea I’m an old guy, but it brought smiles to my face and lots of memories.

I am about a year and a half late. I just discovered this movie. I want all of my family and friends to see it. I am not Jewish, I am Christian but realize the importance in understanding better those that are and treating them with respect. I love how it blended older times with modern times. How being a woman with skills to make a home still can matter to men. How being modest and pure can bring out the protective nature of men. This movie, showed such a contrast of how full a marriage can be and how empty casual relationships can be. I hope it will speak for itself. Maybe some of the details of the movie may not be acurrate to some but it certainly begs to open a discussion and inspire learning. Thank you Hallmark.