[Film] Innocence Personified

Courtesy Damien Blaylock

Lior Liebling never misses a chance to play an April Fool’s joke in “Praying with Lior.”

by Ronni Mott
January 14, 2009

At 13, Lior Liebling is a kid with a great sense of humor. He is innocence personified, pure joy and happiness, living fully in the present moment. His favorite joke? April Fools, where he can tell a little white lie just to see your reaction.

Lior, which means “my light” in Hebrew, was born with Down syndrome, giving him a host of physical and mental problems. He’s high-functioning, which means he can communicate fairly well, although without the film’s captions, you might have trouble understanding his garbled speech.

The film centers on Lior’s Bar Mitzvah, a defining event for every devout Jewish boy at his age, celebrating a boy’s transition to manhood. Lior must lead a congregation in Hebrew prayers, read from the Torah and make a speech, daunting even for “normal” boys, much less for a disabled 13-year-old.

The documentary, though, presents Lior’s life and challenges without the saccharine dramas often used to generate pity for those “less fortunate.” In the context of his faith, his supportive family and community, what you’ll see are Lior’s similarities instead of his differences. “Praying with Lior” provides viewers with an open, airy avenue for examining what faith, family and community mean, while gently torpedoing preconceived notions about disabled people’s abilities to contribute. Lior and his family don’t ask for pity; they don’t need it.

Some claim Lior is a spiritual genius. He delights in prayer, chanting with total abandonment and joy, easily carrying listeners into his ecstatic state. But, as one member of his community notes, if his upbringing were devoutly Christian, he might be singing hymns, instead. His father admits that he is certainly not a Rabbi or teacher, as he is unable to pass his spiritual knowledge on; actual understanding seems just out of his grasp.

But understanding, some say, is inconsequential when it comes to matters of the heart; the devout find spirituality in their hearts, not in their minds. And Lior, with his unabashed enthusiasm and wide-open demeanor, feels the spirit of God; of that, there is no doubt. Ultimately, Lior is an unusually happy, well-adjusted young man, and isn’t that what every parent wants for their children?

Winner of several independent film awards, “Praying with Lior” will have you laughing, and unless your heart is made of stone, you might also shed a tear or two.