By Maria Esteves – February 7, 2012

The 21st New York Jewish Film Festival 2012 (NYJFF2012) presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center special film screening of TORN, by Israeli filmmaker Ronit Kertsner commenced Tuesday, January 17, 6:00 PM at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, New York.

TORN is a powerful documentary that follows the life of Jacob Weksler (Romuald Waszkinel) a true Messianic believer, a completed Jew on a spiritual journey to Israel who won’t give up his birth right as a Jew nor his love for Messiah Jesus (Yeshua). A priest from Poland who served the Catholic Church for seventeen years is revealed the truth about his Jewish heritage. In Lublin, Poland, during the Holocaust a Polish Jewish woman Batia Weksler about to be taken to the death pit saves the life of her newborn son by giving him to a Polish family who renamed him Romuald Waszkinel. This profound faith based film reminds me of the biblical stories of the early Christian church founded by Jewish believers and the story of Moses where his mother expressed a deep love for her son. For further study, check Exodus 2 and Isaiah 53.

TORN, directed by Ronit Kertsner | Israel | 2011 | 72 min. | Documentary | Polish, Hebrew, French, English with English subtitles. Best Feature Length Documentary Nominee, at the 2011 Israeli Documentary Forum Awards. Special film screening, at the 21st New York Jewish Film Festival 2012.