Israeli-Russian Film A GREEN CHARIOT

This song was originally written in Yiddish by Ovsey Driesse (овсей дриз), and set to music in Russian by Alexander Sukhanov. Although the song has hasidic origins, referring to the Merkava (flying chariot) of Hasidic belief, after Sukhanov's adoption it became a favourite song of all the Russian children in Soviet times. This scene has new actor Vitali Freedland (ויטאלי פרידלנד) and famous Israeli theatre-actress Lucy Dubinchik (לוסי דובינצ'יק).
MERKAVA YEROKA (A Green Chariot)
Narrative | 2005 | 48 min. - Languages: Hebrew and Russian
Directed by: Gilad Goldschmidt
Set in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, "A Green Chariot" is a drama about identity, belonging and romance. Yair (Vitali Freedland), a twenty-year-old Russian immigrant, yearns for acceptance as an Israeli, so he disconnects himself from his father and his secular Russian friends, finds a modern Orthodox girlfriend, and joins a religious/nationalist youth movement, Bnei Akiva. But on the eve of his wedding to Dafna (Daniela Wirzer), his world is upended and his new life is jeopardized. Rummaging through a package sent by his aunt, Yair, known in Russian as Sasha, discovers a crucifix. His father assures him that his late mother was thoroughly Jewish, but admits that his maternal grandmother was a Christian. For Yair, who has adopted Orthodoxy and is engaged to be married to an Orthodox woman, the revelation could unravel everything. For Yair, who has adopted Orthodoxy and is engaged to be married to an Orthodox woman, the revelation is troubling, to say the least.