ABOUT THE FILM

The Land of Milk and Honey tells a compelling story that transcends cultural, religious and national boundaries. It is an education into how a society gathers support and strength through common beliefs and cultural activities. It’s about folklore and its significance to a nation’s identity. And it’s about the “other side of Israel”, the side the media rarely, if ever, reports. It’s about how beautiful and rich the people of Israel are. And how the “world events” surrounding them in no way defines them.

The original concept was to introduce to the world a man we believed was lost to history. From childhood on, we all sang and danced to the song “Eretz Zavat Chalav u’Dvash”, but like most, we believed the song was one passed down from generation to generation, a traditional song written eons ago, another song of the collective Jewish experience. But through a chance encounter a few years back, we learned that the composer, Eliahu Gamliel (now in his 80’s), was indeed alive and still teaching dance and music in Israel.

We immediately set out to produce a short documentary that told the story of Eliahu’s passion, his inspiration, and contribution to the Jewish culture. What we discovered however, was more than just a historical documentation about Eliahu Gamliel and how he came about composing the song… we discovered a man whose life was a tribute to Israel and its people. We discovered how he had been one of the principal contributors to much of Israel’s emerging folklore in the 50’s and 60’s, and how that folklore has ingrained itself into the consciousness of Jews around the world – often without their realizing it. And just as importantly, we discovered how integral folklore is in the Jewish experience and how it ties us all together.

Our story utilizes interviews with Israelis and non-Israelis Jews concerning the importance of music and dance in their beliefs, a variety of Jewish dance demonstrations (some impromptu, some orchestrated), vintage footage in public domain from jazz legend Nina Simone singing her version of “Eretz Zavat Chalav u’Dvash”, and of course, an intimate conversation with Eliahu Gamliel.