Jewish Film Festival 2026 | Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold (2025)
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2026
Time:
Venue: Chelsea Theater, Chapel Hill
Price: Individual Tickets $15 | Festival packages available
Category: Community
Join us for our annual Jewish Film Festival including six award-winning and critically acclaimed first-run films that sample a range of international subjects and filmmakers, historical moments, and contemporary issues. Each film will include an introduction and talk back with a special guest. - Labors of Love explores the fascinating history and enduring legacy of Henrietta Szold, one of the most influential American Jewish women who ever lived. With her rare blend of logistical genius and hands-on dedication, Henrietta created a night school for Eastern European refugees in Baltimore that became the template for ESL programs today. Her remarkable story has not yet been told in film. Following a major heartbreak, in 1912 Henrietta founded Hadassah, a service organization that became the bridge between American Jewish women and the needs of people, both Jewish and Arab, living in Palestine. She helped established a modern healthcare system that remains an oasis of equal care for Jews and Arabs. In a crowning achievement, Henrietta spearheaded Youth Aliyah, which successfully rescued 11,000 Jewish children from Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe in the 1930s and transported them to safety in Palestine. Henrietta — who never married or had children of her own — became mother and mentor to thousands of young Jews, helping them to survive and flourish against terrible odds.
