Film on Team Israel to be Presented at Towson Hillel Event

Team Israel players are shown here in 2017 lining up for the singing of the national anthem prior to the World Baseball Classic game against the Netherlands. (Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Veteran filmmaker Jeremy Newberger says his latest documentary happened almost by accident. Good timing, an abundance of preparations and a confluence of events helped make “Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel” a reality, he says.

The 87-minute film tells the David-and-Goliath story of Israel’s national baseball team while competing for the first time in the World Baseball Classic of 2017. With a roster including many Jewish-American Major League Baseball players – such as Ike Davis, Josh Zeid and ex-Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway — the team made sports history and won the hearts of Jews around the world.

“Heading Home,” which was released last year, will be screened on Sunday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Hillel Lounge at Newell Dining Hall at Towson University. The screening will be hosted by Towson Hillel and the Jewish Tigers Alumni Alliance.

“This movie has great religious, social and spiritual elements, and seems like a great way to engage the school community,” says Towson Hillel executive director Lisa Bodziner. “It really goes a long way to following the mission we’ve set out through Hillel.”

Infielder Cody Decker of Team Israel holds mascot The Mensch after a World Baseball Classic game. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Newberger says he — along with co-directors Seth Kramer and Daniel A. Miller, who head the Garrison, N.Y.-based Ironbound Films company — were approached several years ago by MLB.com reporter Jonathan Mayo about producing a documentary following a group of Jewish baseball players on their first trip to Israel. Mayo was a Jewish summer camp friend of the filmmakers.

Initially, Newberger, Kramer and Miller liked the concept but were not certain of its appeal to the general masses. That all changed in late 2016 when many of the players selected for the film project tried out for Team Israel to qualify for the WBC. At the time, Team Israel ranked 41st in the world, but somehow defied the odds and qualified for the 16-team field.

The filmmakers were then able to raise funds to follow the team on its first trip to Israel in January of 2017, just two months before the tournament. As Team Israel’s fame grew, Newberger says that Ironbound Films had no problem crowdsourcing the remaining funding for the project on Kickstarter to follow the Israeli team to the tournament in Seoul.

“We really stumbled into this documentary,” says Newberger,46, a New York native. “We wanted to collaborate with [Mayo] for a Jewishbaseball project. When Team Israel qualified for the World Baseball Classic,the story told itself. Having the players’ interviews on their trip to Israelmade it even more special.”

Team Israel kicked off the round-robin WBC with winsover South Korea, Chinese Taipei and the Netherlands. They then advanced to thesecond round in Japan, where Team Israel defeated Cuba before losing to theNetherlands and Japan.

Dean Kremer
Dean Kremer, who pitches for the Orioles’ Triple-A team in Norfolk, Va., is featured in “Heading Home: The Tale of Team Israel.” (Photo by Ira Gewanter)

Team Israel – whose roster included current Oriolespitcher Richard Bleier and Dean Kremer, an Israeli-American pitching for the Orioles’Triple-A team in Norfolk, Va. — qualified for the 2021 World Baseball Classic,thanks to their performance in 2017.

Since its release, “HeadingHome” has won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the 2018 Gold CoastInternational Film Festival, the Audience Award for Documentary at the 2018Washington Jewish Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best DocumentaryFeature at the 2018 Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival.

“This documentary was as much a spiritual film as itwas a sports one,” Newberger says. “Many of these Jewish-American players had atenuous relationship with Judaism at best prior to this experience. We alsowanted to accomplish the goal of showing others how young Jewish kids connectedthrough baseball.”

The Towson screening of “Heading Home” is free and open to students and the general public. Ballgame food will be provided at the event. For information or reservations, email to lisa@towsonhillel.org.

Ron Snyder is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.

You May Also Like
Everyman Theatre to Present ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
Everyman Midsummer

This spring, Everyman Theatre will bring director and Associate Artistic Director Noah Himmelstein’s unique vision for Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" to the stage in a contemporary production that's full of surprises.

Mother-and-Daughter Artist Team Exhibited at Gordon Center’s Meyerhoff Art Gallery
Margy Feigelson and Laura Kellam

On display through May 1, “It’s All Relative: Dual Impressions of Nature" features the works of Margy Feigelson and Laura Kellam.

Birthright Participants Find Visiting Israel During Wartime a Unique Experience
Birthright Israel

Birthright Israel packs an emotional wallop for those participating in the aftermath of Oct. 7th.

Hiring People With Disabilities is a Win-Win for Everyone
woman at desk

People with disabilities bring the same assets and qualities to a job as any other perspective employee, writes Stanley Stith of Jewish Community Services.