Etti Grotes

An adaptation of a popular Israeli stage musical. Kazablan is an army veteran turned gang leader in the Israeli port of Jaffa who masks his feelings of bitterness with a lot of bravado. He's sweet on Rachel, a young woman who lives with her father and stepmother. The budding relationship scandalizes the neighbors (not to mention Rachel's parents) and infuriates Yanush, a middle-aged shoe store owner who wants Rachel for himself. (Yanush feels he's entitled to marry Rachel since they're both Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern European origins, whereas Kazablan is a Sephardic Jew from Morocco.) The neighborhood has something else to worry about besides the antics of Kazablan and his gang: the city wants to tear down their crumbling homes. The residents pool their resources to save their houses, but the money that's collected is stolen. When he's jailed for the theft, Kazablan must find a way to clear himself.

A fatherless family immigrates to Israel from Egypt during the British Mandate period. The film traces the hardships the family suffers in the politically unstable country.

The Bukharan neighborhood of Jerusalem in the 1920s Naftali is a wealthy trader and a middle-aged widow whose all his former wives have mysteriously passed away and he is afraid to remarry with a belief that he has a curse on him. The matchmaker presses and the old woman coaxes and finally carries Flora, a 24-year-old virgin, but not to infect her with a curse, he avoids any physical contact with her. The plot gets complicated when Flora gets hurt as a result of her relationship with the fabric merchant, and Naftali, who can't bear the shame, turns his anger on his young wife.