Between God and the Gun

In 1930s Germany, young Hillel Kook and his brother Nathan face brutal antisemitism, prompting their father to move the family to British Mandate Palestine. But safety remains elusive. When Nathan is killed in an ambush while Hillel watches helplessly, the guilt consumes him. The biblical question haunts his every breath: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Consumed by the need for Teshuvah (repentance), Hillel dedicates his life to the resistance. Realizing that local skirmishes cannot save the Jews of Europe or Palestine, he is sent to New York City by the Irgun to raise funds and political support. Rebranding as Peter Bergson, he mobilizes a diverse coalition: recruiting Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht to write provocative newspaper ads and organizing a historic march of 400 Rabbis on Washington.

But his efforts are stonewalled. The American Jewish establishment remains timid. The Roosevelt administration dismisses him. When Peter realizes politics won't stop the slaughter or arm his people, he decides to cross a moral line that will haunt him forever.

Desperate for heavy weaponry that legal channels cannot provide, Peter approaches the infamous Jewish gangster Meyer Lansky. When the resistance runs short on cash, Peter and his friends make an agonizing decision: rob the safe of their own synagogue to fund the arms deal. In a tense confrontation, Peter challenges Lansky's conscience, convincing the mobster to provide Thompson submachine guns and mortars.

The story culminates in a high-stakes smuggling operation on the high seas, where Peter risks his life to land the weapons under British fire. In 1948, a battle-hardened Peter reunites with his father in the trenches of Israel, handing him a Thompson gun and finally answering the question that has haunted him: Yes, we are our brother's keepers.