Flames of Freedom

history, society, culture, religion, spirituality · EN

Flames of Freedom is a docudrama chronicling how forty-two courageous Jews risked their lives in 1733 to cross the Atlantic Ocean, hoping to settle in the American colony of Georgia. They were fleeing the Portuguese Inquisition, murderous pogroms of Eastern Europe, and antisemitism in England to build a future with religious freedom and economic opportunity. They gambled with their lives and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean on the slim chance they would be allowed to settle in the new American colony of Georgia to be founded by James Oglethorpe. Nothing about this journey from oppression to liberty was easy, nor was the desired outcome certain. Given the Georgia Trustees’ blatant objections to Jews settling in the new colony, the possibility that Oglethorpe would reverse course and accept them seemed nearly impossible. But an unforeseen epidemic threatening to wipe out the budding colony would completely change that calculus.