THE CHOICES OF RAMA LINDHEIM

The film tells the fascinating life story of Irma Lindheim, an American Jew who made a courageous trip, with many detours, on the quest to fulfill personally the Zionist dream. Irma was born in 1886 to Jewish immigrants in NY. She married Norman Lindheim, a rich lawyer, from an assimilating family. She gave birth to five children. During World War I she joined the US Army, and took with her the Cadillac car, a present from her husband. She was one of the few Jewish women who served as officers. At the end of WWI her husband was accused (because of anti-Semitic reasons) of Treason as he signed, representing an American company a commercial contract with a German company. He was tried and imprisoned. This caused a big crisis in her life. She started to take interest in Judaism, and was one of the first women to be accepted to the Rabbinical School of Rabbi Stephen Wise. When her husband was released, She had a break down and traveled to The “Land of Israel” to recuperate, with a film Camera given to her by her husband. She came just to the inauguration of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus (documented on film). Then she toured the country on horse-back riding, for 2 months, accompanied by Yigael, the famous guard, of HASHOMER group. She fell in love with the land and with the Zionist ideas. Upon her return to the US, she accepted Henrietta Szold’s offer to become the third President of the Hadassah organization. After the sudden death of her husband, she resigned and decided to become a member of Kibbutz Mishmar –Haemek. She felt reborn and changed her name to RAMA. She lived in the Kibbutz almost to her death, although her children left Israel each one in his turn. Her eldest son died in NY from kidney disease, her 2ed son was killed in Europe in WWII.. Her married a British Officer and converted to Christianity. Rama died in 1979, and buried in the Kibbutz.

The film includes unique archival footage, shot by the Lindheim’s film camera, in the USA and Israel in the 1930s.It uses also rare footage of the early years of the Kibbutz and Hadassah. The story of Rama Lindheim, covers roughly 100 years, it is the story of an outstanding woman who had the courage to follow her beliefs and the determination to fulfill her dreams. She took the challenges of the Jewish people in a period punctuated by revolutions and disasters, She was happy to live and die realizing to the best of her understanding the Zionist Dream through the ideal of a Kibbutz as a bridge and a mirror to a brave new world.

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