| Loving Leah | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Jeff Bleckner |
| Produced by | Michael Besman |
| Written by | Pnenah Goldstein |
| Starring | Lauren Ambrose Adam Kaufman Susie Essman Ricki Lake |
| Music by | Jeff Beal |
| Editing by | Geoffrey Rowland |
| Production company | Hallmark Hall of Fame |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release date | January 25, 2009 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
Loving Leah is a television movie that aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie on January 25, 2009. The film is directed by Jeff Bleckner and stars Adam Kaufman as an unobservant Jewish bachelor who feels compelled to marry his observant rabbi brother's widow, Leah (Lauren Ambrose) to honor him via the ancient Jewish custom of yibbum (levirate marriage).[1]
Loving Leah began as a play by Pnenah Goldstein and was brought to Hallmark by Ricki Lake, who also appears in a minor role in the film. Goldstein also wrote the screenplay and "saw it in a way like Moonstruck or Crossing Delancey. To prepare for her role of widow in the Hasidic community, lead actress Lauren Ambrose spent time with women of the close-knit community.[2]
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Jake Lever (Kaufman) is a successful cardiologist living in Washington, D.C. While at the hospital, he dreams that his brother, Benjamin, tells him that they are okay. Jake is confused and is baffled after learning later that day that his brother has died suddenly. He feels guilty for not having kept in touch with his brother for several years. After Ben's funeral held in Brooklyn, Jake finds out that because his brother's wife Leah (Ambrose) has been left without children, they must perform a ceremony called halizah in order to nullify a levirate marriage.
Jake and Leah agree, but Jake changes his mind after seeing a necklace which his brother gave him. Dating from before Benjamin left home, the necklace reminds Jake of how much he loved his big brother. He pulls Leah aside and tells her that he doesn't want to deny his brother's existence. After deciding that she wants to leave her mother's home, become independent, and start college, Leah agrees to move with Jake to Washington. Jake is constantly busy with work at the hospital, his girlfriend Carol has little patience for his new "wife", and Leah adjusts to finding her way around a new city. But eventually, true love arises, and the two find that the greatest gift Benjamin has left them is each other.
| "Loving Leah" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hallmark Hall of Fame episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 58 Episode 2 |
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| Production code | 345 | ||
| Original air date | January 25, 2009 | ||
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