‘Ushpizin’ showing Oct. 5 at synagogue

SAINT AUGUSTINE – The St. Augustine Film Society presents “Ushpizin” Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in partnership with First Congregation Sons of Israel at 161 Cordova St. The event is free and open to the public but donations are requested  to be able to continue showing unique and inspiring foreign & independent films in St. Augustine.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The film is set in Jerusalem’s orthodox neighborhood where Sukkot, a seven day harvest festival that instructs us to welcome the guest, is about to begin. A devout couple, Moshe and Mali, married nearly five years and childless, are broke and praying for a miracle. Suddenly, miracles abound: a friend finds Moshe a Sukkah (a temporary hut used in the festival) he says is abandoned. Moshe is the beneficiary of local charitable fundraising, and two escaped convicts arrive on Moshe and Mali’s doorstep in time to be their ushpizin – their guests.

Oy, what to do? Probably the only film that ever used Sukkot as one of its central themes.