How does it feel to have been pregnant or breastfeeding for most of your married life? This is one among many questions posed frankly in Be Fruitful and Multiply, which exposes the consequences of the biblical commandment-the mother of all Mitzvot-upon ultra-orthodox Jewish women, for whom life is a continuing cycle of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing and nurturing.

The film profiles four ultra-orthodox women, in the U.S. and Israel, including Miriam, the mother of 16 children in Brooklyn, New York; Emunah, mother of 14 in Jerusalem; Yaffa, mother of 5 in Kfar Chabad; and Yentl, mother of 4 in Meah Shearim. Be Fruitful and Multiply documents the women's daily routines of cooking, shopping, housework and child care, with the older children assigned chores to help their overburdened mothers.

In interviews, each of the women discuss their lives, focusing on their belief in the traditional and distinctive roles for women and men as dictated by Jewish religion-in particular such matters as education, work outside the home, and the proper raising of children-as well as on the condition of perpetual motherhood as the "natural" and desirable state of being for women.

"A sad, moving and wise film." - Ma'ariv

"Absolutely fascinating! Sensitive, entertaining, enriching, revealing." - Yediot Hacaronot