A Touch Away

A Touch Away takes a slice of contemporary Tel Aviv life and spins out a marvelous multi-family drama that will leave you wanting more.

This terrific series, produced for primetime television in Israel, broke ratings records with its broadcast in 2007.

The series focuses on two families whose lives fatefully intersect in an apartment complex in the Orthodox neighborhood of Bnei Barak in Tel Aviv. The Bermans are a strictly religious (Haredi) family whose daughter Rochele is about to enter into an arranged marriage with a wealthy young bridegroom. But sparks fly when a newly arrived, thoroughly secular family from Russia--including vivacious actress Marina and her handsome eldest son Zorik--takes over a neighboring apartment. The forbidden love that soon buds between the two young neighbors, and the secrets that each family must hide, threaten the families' deeply rooted cultural assumptions and challenge individual family members' beliefs. A Touch Away, cleverly scripted and well cast, never fails to entertain, but manages also to be a realistic reflection of the ongoing social challenges facing today's increasingly diverse Israeli society.

The series contains eight 40-minute episodes. Each episode includes a brief recap of the story, so it is not essential to see them sequentially. Screenings will take place in four two-episode blocks, separate admission for each block.

The series will be screened in Hebrew with subtitles in English.
The discussions in San Francisco will be in English. The discussions in Palo Alto will primarily be held in Russian.

Co-sponsored by the Israel Center of the Jewish Community Federation, the Consulate General of Israel, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Israel Aliyah Center.

During the last screening in May, the main series actor, a Russian-born Henry David, (who is the hottest thing in Israel right now), will be in attendance to answer your questions and lead the last discussion.