The release of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which brought in $264 million at the box office during its blockbuster opening weekend, has sparked renewed interest in the 3,000-year-old poem on which it is based. It’s not difficult to understand why. The movie version is epic in scope, with magnificent cinematography and visual effects, and exceptional performances by an ensemble cast. And, like its source material, it tells a story of universally relevant themes: homecoming, forbearance, fate. This is why the story of Odysseus’ journey back to those he loves has inspired fascination and homage from the likes of James Joyce, the Coen brothers and now Nolan. It is also why there was a time (if recent archeological investigations into an ancient Ithacan shrine are accurate) that the king of Ithaca was not only admired as a hero but also worshipped as a God.

I thought a lot about that ruined shrine a few days ago, as I watched Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus in the new adaptation, swing his sword and string his bow from my seat inside a darkened theater in Tel Aviv, Hebrew subtitles flashing across the screen. And as the movie went on, even as I found myself enthralled by the unfolding story, I became increasingly aware of a dual narrative. There we sat, my wife, my children and I, watching a story about a homecoming while experiencing one ourselves. I thought about how Odysseus took 20 years to return home and about how the Jews took around 2,000 years, and I became acutely aware that the theater I was sitting in would not exist, the city I was sleeping in would not exist and the country that I love would not exist but for the enduring power of another great piece of ancient literature.

Like The Odyssey, the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, tells epic stories full of complicated characters. They are in thrall to mysterious visions.........

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