JxJ Festival

I Have Sinned (Al Khet)

Date : Sunday, May 17, 2026

This long-unseen, genre-defying gem of the 1930s was the first Yiddish sound film made in Poland, mixing melodrama, comedy, and musical to tell the story of Esther, a rabbi’s daughter who becomes pregnant by a German Jewish officer during World War I. When the Russian Army advances into the family’s village, Esther (Rachel Holzer) decides to abandon her baby and flee to the U.S.

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I Have Sinned (Al Khet)

Originally released in 1936, I Have Sinned (Al Khet) was the first Yiddish sound film made in Poland. It also marks the film debut of Polish-Jewish comedy duo Shimon Dzigan and Israel Schumacher. Unseen for generations until its new rescue and restoration by The National Center for Jewish Film, Al Khet blends melodrama with a bissel of comedy and music – including the popular ditty “Shpil Mir a Yidishe Tango.”

Set in a small Jewish town during World War I, the film follows Esther, a rabbi’s daughter who becomes pregnant by a German-Jewish officer. After his death in battle, she abandons the child and flees to America just as the town is evacuated before the Russian advance. It is Dzigan and Schumacher who find the baby, and complications unfold as they attempt to reunite mother and daughter. The film’s themes of dislocation and family separation due to war and poverty still resonate today.