546: Torah Tropical in Cali: How Far Would You Go to Find God?

The journey of making Torah Tropical began in 2021, in the midst of Colombia’s historic civil unrest. Despair at the Duque government’s policies and botched implementation of the Peace Process boiled until erupting into the tumultuous National Strike of April 2021. The uprising was the defining moment for a generation of young Colombians, a time those of us in the streets remember as an expression of hope, of a shared dream for a just society where a young person can aspire to a fulfilling, violence-free life. So, this week, we speak to Ezra Axelrod and David Restrepo about this new documentary and what making it meant to them and where it took them and the protagonists in terms of the great questions in life, religion, identity and place. Description of the Documentary: In a tropical paradise turned dystopian by the Drug War, a struggling Colombian family in the city of Cali, reinvent themselves as Orthodox Jews who believe God is calling them to the Promised Land. Over the course of year in which reality and religious parable collide, they risk everything in an attempt at making Aliyah to Israel, putting their faith and family to the ultimate test. Torah Tropical tells the universal story of searching for identity and belonging in the face of adversity. Through Isska and Menajem’s struggle to give their daughters a better life, the consequences of economic, racial and religious exclusion are explored with poetic intimacy, inviting audiences to fall in love with a family that defies stereotypes and inspires us to find hope in the middle of the world’s cruelest intersections. https://www.torahtropical.com