Torn

Can a person be a practicing Jew and a Catholic priest? Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel’s mother left him as a baby on the doorstep of a Polish gentile family in 1943. She told her neighbor, "You say you are religious, so take him in the name of Jesus whom you so believe in." These words were prescient, for Jakub joined a seminary at 18 and began a lifelong journey in the priesthood. At 35, Jakub’s Polish mother revealed to him that he was Jewish. He continued working as a priest and teaching at the Catholic University in Lublin until age 67, when he was moved to try living in Israel. Encouraged by Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Jakub journeys to Israel where his dual identity as a Polish Jew and a Catholic priest confounds many of those he encounters. Ronit Kertsner’s (Menachem and Fred, SFJFF 2009) heartfelt and insightful documentary captures a poignant search for identity while raising questions about who is a Jew and what being Jewish means. —Nancy K. Fishman DIRECTOR Ronit Kertsner in person.