PJFM In Conversation | ALLIANCE

Thomas Kinsella, Director of the South Jersey Culture & History Center, interviews Susan Donnelly, director of ALLIANCE, to talk about her extraordinary film. Included are Nachum Helig and William Levin, descendants of the Alliance Colony.
Desperate to escape religious persecution in 1882 Imperial Russia, 43 Jewish families fled the region to a desolate plot of land across the ocean in Salem County, NJ, 40 miles outside Philadelphia. This group of people, a community with little to no agricultural skills, went on to create the Alliance Colony, considered to be the first successful Jewish farming community in the United States. ALLIANCE¸ a meticulously crafted film about the little-known history of the colony, is a fascinating look at Jewish resilience and success, a tribute to the legacy of these immigrants who arrived with nothing and created a safe haven of their own that spanned decades.
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