A Fire in the Forest: The Life and Legacy of the Ba'al Shem Tov (2012)

Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698-1760), known as the Ba’al Shem Tov, is one of the most beloved and celebrated figures in Jewish history, but also one of the most elusive. Today, Jews all over the world, and even many non-Jews, revere him as the founder of the Hasidic movement, and as a model of piety and mystical spirituality. But many also find it difficult to say why he is so important to them, and to characterize his unique contribution to Jewish spirituality. Thus, A Fire in the Forest (running time, 58:21, directed by Chuck Davis and Netanel Miles-Yépez), a new documentary on the life and legacy of the Ba’al Shem Tov, sets itself the task of answering these basic questions, exploring how the Ba’al Shem Tov’s teachings can be applied to our live s today.

To do this, the filmmakers traveled with Rabbi Marc Soloway, our guide on this journey, around the world, talking to leading rabbis, scholars and teachers of Hasidism , traveling to the graves of the Ba’al Shem Tov’s spiritual heirs, and to his own prayer-house and grave in the town of Mezhibozh in the Ukraine. Through stories and historical information, interviews with today’s most important teachers and on-location footage , A Fire in the Forest shows us how the legacy of the Ba’al Shem Tov is still very much alive in our day and relevant to our daily lives.

Featuring interviews with Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, Rabbi Naftali Citron, Rabbi Alexander Dukhovny, Rabbi Mimi Feigelson, Rabbi Arthur Green, Dr. Susannah Heschel, Yuri Kadustin, Grand Rabbi Yitzhak Aharon Korff, Rabbi Nehemia Polen, Dr. Ada Rapaport-Albert, and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

Produced by Throughline Productions (http://throughlineproductions.com)

Directed by Chuck Davis and Netanel Miles-Yépez

Videography by Antony Cooper, Charles Murphy, Steven Grosssman

Edited by Chuck Davis and Netanel Miles-Yépez

Written by Netanel Miles-Yépez

Hosted and Narrated by Marc Soloway

Copyright (C) 2012