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Three religious leaders, a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew who live in the Galilee, Israel, all have a deep and intimate connection to the mythological story of the Binding of Isaac. Each has shared his deepest insights on this tragic narrative with his community and disciples.
This is the moving documentary intertwining three theological and personal odysseys, beginning with a 3800 year old biblical legend and culminating in a timely and relevant manner, capable of touching the heart of every parent and child throughout the world. For centuries these three religious movements have spilled each another's blood, despite the fact that all three foster scholarship, religious rituals and liturgy based on the model of the ideal believer, our father Abraham, who was asked to sacrifice his son as proof of his love and faith in God.
The story’s basic components are identical in all three religious narratives. God demands the sacrifice, the faithful father complies with His command, father and son walk for three days, the son accepts the verdict with love, the knife is raised to slaughter, only to be foiled at the last moment by an angel and finally, a different sacrifice is chosen.
From this point, each of the film's protagonists takes the story's message and factual interpretation to a different place: the duty to offer sacrifices to God, the obligation to die for His glory and the prohibition to kill – "Do not lay a hand on the boy."
We will embark on an exciting journey with these three inspiring religious leaders:
Sheikh Jamal Sawad - Sunni Muslim leader from the village of Ras El Ayin, Galilee. As an only son, Sawad's mother consecrated him to God and up until his later years, he lived the life of a monk.
 
Abuna Attalah Makhouli – a Greek Orthodox priest from the Kafr Yasif village in the Western Galilee. Abuna is true to his own conscience and even stands up against the Greek Orthodox establishment while holding aloft his own banner of education and love. Much like Abraham, he pays a high price for his convictions, to the point of losing his own children.
Rabbi Yehuda Gilad – Dean of the Maale Gilboa Yeshiva and Rabbi of Kibbutz Lavi in the southern Galilee. Rabbi Gilad fights for his own unique approach within the National Religious Zionist stream - "Divine morality and human morality are one and the same – this is what we should learn from the Binding."
Each of these believers is obsessed with the binding in a unique way and each of them makes relentless efforts to disseminate his own understanding of the Binding, at times paying a high price for his path and convictions. We will follow them during their personal journeys and experience the lessons and ideas each of them derives from the religious texts and prayers, while confronting relevant challenges from within their own communities - in the synagogue, mosque and church.
The film unfolds the binding as an epic universal tale. It presents the common denominators and the difference between the three religions in order to find common ground and mutual understanding.
The documentary’s scope is universal and relevant to international audiences as it transcends boundaries and cultures.

Production Stage
The necessary research has already been conducted.
A few filming days have already been carried out.

Secured Finance              
Producer’s investment (out-of-pocket): 12,000 Euros
Required Finance:         141,000 Euros
Estimated length:         60 minutes

English Trailer:              https://vimeo.com/102865150

Producer
Mr. Moshe Alfi has produced numerous documentaries, TV programs and web-series. He is highly interested in religious, current affairs, political and historical topics.

The Samaritans: A Biblical People

The Samaritans are best known for “the Good Samaritan” of New Testament fame. Many people mistake them for Jews, but they are not. They are descendants of the ancient northern tribes of Israel. While most of their brethren are long “lost,” this small remnant carries on. For 3,600 years, the traditions of this biblical people have developed side by side with Judaism, and then Christianity and Islam.

The Samaritan holy mountain is holy Mt.Gerizim, near biblical Shechem, modern Nablus. They claim to preserve the most ancient and complete Torah scroll in the world, written at the time of Moses himself in ancient biblical Hebrew script.

The Samaritans: A Biblical People is a window into the world of this ancient yet modern people, its religion, culture, rituals and beliefs. It will intimately reveal Samaritan rituals of the Day of Atonement and the Pascal sacrifice on Mt. Gerizim, which has continued from antiquity to the present. It will search the world for their treasured manuscripts and reveal priceless ritual objects seldom seen.

This ancient people has experienced trials and tribulations throughout their long history. While in the first century there were perhaps a million Samaritans, the community numbered only 141 souls at the dawn of the 20th century. Thanks to the support of dedicated American Protestant friends and especially of the Zionist movement led by Yitzhak Ben Zvi, the second president of Israel, their number has steadily grown to over 850 today.

The Samaritans are dramatically caught between their commitment to preserve their ancient traditions and the rapidly changing world around them. On the most personal and intimate level, Samaritan men, unable for demographic reasons find Samaritan brides, struggle to marry. This crisis has caused many to seek non-Samaritan wives from Eastern Europe, the first nonIsraelites ever to be brought into the Samaritan community, The trials of a single couple will be documented from their initial courtship in the Ukraine to marriage and the complexities of live as a mixed-Samaritan family.

The Samaritans are torn between modern nations and rivalries. Half reside in the Israeli city of Holon and are completely Israeli. Those who reside on Mount Gerizim, above Nablus in the West Bank, are citizens of the Palestinian Authority. Precariously, this split community exists at the cusp of the Israeli-Palestine crisis, navigating carefully between the warring sides.

In a sense, the Samaritan struggle is a metaphor for the ways that all traditional cultures are impacted by modernity, but with a level of immediacy and constant crisis that allows for few errors.

The Samaritans: A Biblical People will present the lives of several key individuals within the Samaritan community, exploring the deeply religious and spiritual world of this ancient yet endangered biblical people.

Academic and Cinematic Support 
A renowned international academic has been assembled that will ensure the academic quality of this article documentary. Members are Professor Steven Fine (Yeshiva University, chair), Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem (Hebrew University). Prof. Menachem Mor (Haifa University) and Prof. Avigdor Shinan (Hebrew University). The committee unanimously approved both the choice of Alafi as the filmmaker and the plans for this film. This documentary is the centerpiece of the Yeshiva University Israelite Samaritan Project (yu.edu/cis) and is involved at every state of production.

The New Fund for Cinema and Television (http://nfct.org.il/en/) is a leading Israeli film fund, established over two decades ago, dedicated to supporting and promoting Israeli cinema, with a special focus on documentary films.

Production Stage 
Research and initial conversations with our academic committee have been concluded. The main characters for the film have been located and have consented to be filmed. Filming began October 2018 in Ukraine, Holon and Mt. Gerizim, and continued during November 2018 in New York and Cincinnati, Ohio.

Estimated Length: 60 minutes

Committed Funding Partners
Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies, New York and Jerusalem The New Fund for Cinema & Television, Israel

Total Secured Funding: 50,000 USD

Required Funding: 130,000 USD

Producer
 Moshe Alafi, the director and producer, has produced numerous documentaries, TV programs and web-series. He focuses on religious, current affairs, political and historical topics.