A Shabbat On The Other Side Of The River |
A rubber boom in the vast Amazon rainforest more than a century ago prompted a group of adventurous and courageous Jewish men and boys from Morocco to throw caution to the wind and set off to Brazil with little more than high hopes and suitcases. They ventured deep into the largely unexplored Amazonian basin, determined to cash in and prosper.
Their little-known story is the subject of Diego Lajst’s absorbing documentary, A Shabbat On The Other Side Of The River. It will be screened at the forthcoming Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which runs from June 4-14.
The graves of these intrepid pioneers can be found in 16 Jewish cemeteries along the Amazon River. Imagining their lives in this immense tropical wilderness, one of their descendants says,........