In the last couple of months, three new Chanukah-themed picture books have been published. Most recently, out of Mahone Bay, N.S., is Hanukkah Lullaby. Out of New York City are Oskar and the Eight Blessings and The Parakeet Named Dreidel. All three are delightful.
Hanukkah Lullaby, written by Ruth Abrams and illustrated by Tia Mushka, is part of a series of books from Baby Lullaby Publishing. Until this holiday edition, the series – the books of which have various authors and illustrators – has focused only on places: in Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Alberta; in the United States, Hawaii and Alaska. Each book, intended for a 0-to-6-year-old audience, has a link to its own song and video. The music for Hanukkah Lullaby was composed by Keith Andrews and the video was made by Jonah Peveril, both of whom have contributed to other lullabies in the series.
Hanukkah Lullaby follows one family’s celebration: enjoying the winter snow, making dreidels, lighting the chanukiyah, dreaming of the Maccabees, eating all the fried treats, spending time with Baba and Zayda, singing songs, telling the Chanukah story and having a lantern parade. The last two pages of the 18-page board book offer a very brief overview of the holiday’s symbols and rituals, and a paragraph summarizing the story of the Maccabees. Abrams’ lyric text and Mushka’s bold, colorful artwork make for a lovely read.
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Oskar and the Eight Blessings (Roaring Brook Press), written by husband-wife team Richard Simon and Tanya Simon and illustrated by Mark Siegel, is for somewhat older readers, ages 4-8.
It begins, “Oskar’s mother and father believed in the power of blessings. So did Oskar … until the Night of Broken Glass. His parents put him on a ship to America. He had nothing but an address and a photo of a woman he didn’t know – ‘It’s your Aunt Esther.’ – and his father’s last words to him: ‘Oskar, even in bad times, people can be good. You have to look for the blessings.’”
When Oskar arrives in New York, it is the seventh day of Chanukah and he wants to reach his aunt’s – 100 blocks away – before she lights the chanukiyah. Along Broadway Avenue, he encounters a woman feeding some pigeons, a newsstand vendor, Count Basie, boys having a snowball fight, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a Christmas tree seller. He is treated with kindness at every turn, and is able to reciprocate on more than one occasion. Siegel’s rich illustrations beautifully capture the darkness and the hope of Oskar’s journey.
In the author’s note that follows the story, Richard Simon writes about the inspiration for the book and its 1938 setting, including a bit about the real people the fictional Oskar meets along the way.
“Oskar has lost everything,” he writes, “but from his despair he awakens to his freedom: the choice to see the good in his new world. I like to think that this orientation of optimism is the key to our survival, as individuals and as a species. It is how we, as American Jews, have made a place for ourselves beyond the shadow of darkness that tried to destroy us.”
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The playful and imaginative watercolor illustrations by Suzanne Raphael Berkson dovetail perfectly with Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story in The Parakeet Named Dreidel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Intended for kids age 5 to 8, the title character loses his way. As David and his parents celebrate Chanukah, David notices the yellow-green bird outside their window. A cold Brooklyn night, they quickly move aside the chanukiyah (so the bird won’t get burned by its candles), open the window and welcome it in. Initially frightened, the bird settles down, eats some millet, drinks some water, plays a little dreidel – and speaks some Yiddish! “Zeldele, geh schlofen.” (“Zeldele, go to sleep.”)
Despite posting notices around the neighborhood, no one claims the lost bird, who the family names Dreidel. The “photo” montage of Dreidel and David growing up together is wonderful. The bird really does become part of the family.
When, years later, David meets a woman named Zelda at college, it turns out that she is Dreidel’s Zeldele. But lest readers worry that Dreidel leaves David’s parents, the bird becomes part of a larger family when David and Zelda get married, their families come together, and the couple decides to start a family of their own.
All of three of these books are available from chapters.indigo.ca and their respective publishers in hard copy and electronic formats. Hanukkah Lullaby will be available at the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, Nov. 21-26, at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.
From filming and acting, to walking the red carpet, a group of 5-to-7-year-olds were filmmakers this summer. Their creation? The short Odd Life of Dr. Tooth. (photos from Art City)
It’s not every day that a group of 5-to-7-year-olds creates a movie. But that’s just what happened in Winnipeg this summer at Art City.
Art City was founded in 1998 by local artist Wanda Koop. She saw a need for engaging programming for kids and youth and, being an artist, she thought it would be great if there were a place where they could go to make art for free.
Since its opening, Art City has been providing after-school programs. In the summer, they run all day, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
“Part of our model is that our staff and volunteers are mostly all artists,” said Josh Ruth, Art City managing director. “We also hire guest artists to come in and lead workshops, bringing their own art practice, perspectives and methods into the context of our community.”
One of the summer drop-in programs is Green Art, which is held at the park behind Art City. The idea of creating a movie came from the coordinator’s consultation with the kids about what they wanted to do this year. Art City invited as a guest filmmaker Noam Gonick.
“We all know him from his reputation as a filmmaker and he’s sort of a local art star,” said Ruth. “I asked if he would be interested in helping us out and he was really keen. He said the only reason he’d never done anything with Art City before was because he’d never been asked.”
Art City puts the kids’ ideas at the forefront of everything they do. In this case, participants wrote the script, developed the characters, made the costumes and sets – basically, they steered the whole creative process.
“The kids obviously developed their skills in terms of storytelling and understanding how to convey the message they are trying to get across to an audience,” said Ruth. “We feel it has some strong implications in terms of helping to grow literacy – not just reading and writing, but social literacy, and all those sorts of things, and working together in a team. Collaborating in that way always takes patience and problem-solving.
“In terms of working with Noam, he brings a huge amount of expertise, certainly in filmmaking, but in art-making in general. For example, I was in the office one day during the shoot and I overheard him talking to one of the participants who, for whatever reason, didn’t like what he was suggesting they do. And I heard him tell her, ‘You know, if you take direction well, people say you’re easy to work with, and then you’re more likely to get more work in the future. If you don’t take direction well, then people say you’re difficult to work with and that can be bad for your career. So, just keep that in your back pocket.’
“I thought that was a great way for him to shoot straight with the participants, even at such a young age, about the fact there are times when you get to do what you want and other times when you need to follow direction.”
Ruth felt the kids did an amazing job and that Gonick did a great job directing. As well, those involved in the post-production work were also invaluable, people like Ryan Simmons who edited the film along with Gonick, and Andy Rudolph who did the sound production.
Ruth and staff created a première screening of the film that included the stars getting dropped off in a limo, walking down a red carpet, and enjoying champagne glasses full of gummy bears.
“The kids got out of the limo one by one and walked the red carpet,” said Ruth. “Then, they came into Art City, where we had set up a big screen and the kids had made their own VIP lounge passes. I was the security guard.”
Gonick said he felt a little lost at times, due to how Art City runs and the fact that he had very little control over many aspects of the film.
“They were looking for someone to mentor them, but not to bring an original concept to the table, just to help the kids realize their idea,” said Gonick. “Mostly, the shooting process, editing and, really, the idea came out of a workshop that Art City staff and kids did on their own.
“I was mostly just given their script. They cast it themselves and did all the designing ahead of time…. It was like being a director for hire and having 7-year-old producers. Given some of the producers I’ve worked with, the 7-year-old mindset was just par for the course.”
For Gonick, the experience was all about ensuring that everybody felt empowered, had fun and was involved. “You know, you don’t want children to be traumatized,” he said. “So, you just kind of make sure everyone gets to participate and that the ideas are fluid enough that everybody gets a part.”
There was a core group of six 5-to-7-year-olds but, on the morning of the first day of shooting, a seventh child joined the group, so a new role and scenes had to be created on the spot.
Gonick was at ease working with the kids, as he has been working with young stars as of late. “They are like any other group of actors,” said Gonick. “Everybody has their own needs and abilities. You just have to be responsive in the moment and get out of them what you can. The difference between this and working in a professional environment with kids is that I was conscientious that I didn’t push them too much.”
The 10-minute film, Odd Life of Dr. Tooth, is a surreal, non-linear story that follows the main character, who is a dentist. It begins with the dentist working on someone’s mouth and commenting on their poor dental hygiene. Then, suddenly, the camera closes in on the mouth of the patient and transports the viewer to outer space. Gonick incorporated this concept of traveling to outer space and animal kingdoms via patients’ mouths as a way to connect the disparate ideas that the kids had. The movie can be viewed at vimeo.com/138120558. For more on Art City, visit artcityinc.com.
Assaf Gavron (photo from JCC Jewish Book Festival)
As it does every year, the 31st annual Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival offers readers the chance to meet some of their favorite authors. Sean Michaels, the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize winner, starts it all off on Nov. 21 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver’s Rothstein Theatre. Among the festival’s many highlights are Israeli writer Assaf Gavron and American writer Nomi Eve, to whom the Independent had a chance to e-speak recently.
Gavron’s latest novel, The Hilltop (translated into English from Hebrew by Stephen Cohen), deals with one of the most contentious and emotion-laden aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the settlements in the West Bank. It does so with humor and humanity – and an even eye, examining the larger societal issues through the troubled relationship of two troubled brothers. Family, bureaucracy, unintended consequences, and more, factor into the story.
JI: What is it about fiction that allows it to communicate controversial ideas or speak to controversial topics in a way that seems to be more easily received than other media, such as journalism, academia, documentary film?
AG: I think that usually when ideas are termed “controversial,” it is on a simplistic level – when you can sum it up in a sentence or two, it is easy to annoy, or touch a nerve, or whatever. The other forms of media you mention, like journalism or documentary, are also susceptible to this superficiality. Fiction gives you more time, and depth, to really get to the story and to the people behind it. And, whatever the subject is, it can’t remain on the simplistic level. Yes, hopefully it causes more thinking and a better understanding of complexities. I like that about reading fiction, but as to the reason why I choose to write, I think that, over the years, I learned that it is the kind of storytelling I am best at, and most comfortable with.
JI: When I used to ask my grandmother how she was doing, her response often was that she still had her sense of humor – once she lost that, then…. What purpose does humor serve in your writing, or is it “just” a matter of style?
AG: That’s how I write, it is part of me, part of how I communicate. I can identify with your grandmother. I think that it is important, and sane, not to take things too seriously. And not less so, probably more so, in situations that are perceived as sad and difficult and tragic. We must be able to smile. In writing, it is mainly entertainment. It is more fun and enjoyable to read something that makes you laugh. In my books, I would like to entertain as much as anything else, like making a point, educating, etc.
JI: Not everyone can put themselves into someone else’s shoes, something you seem to have mastered in your writing, including your latest novel, The Hilltop. Does that openness and empathy extend into your “real” life? What is it in your personal “toolkit” that allows you to at least write from multiple viewpoints with sincerity?
AG: I disagree. I think everyone can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. This is why people read books, go to movies, read newspapers or even just talk to each other – they are curious about the experiences of others and, when they hear or read or watch them, they are always imagining if it was them, what would they do, how would they react. But it is true that people are reluctant to identify or see the world through eyes of people they perceive as an enemy, or as very different, as an “other,” in the real life. Sure, I hope I’m as open in real life. I think it is crucial to fundamentally accept that there are others, and to attempt to get to know them. I guess that it is no more than this belief that is my “toolkit.”
JI: You write books, translate, create videogames, are in a band … could you share a little bit about your background and how you came to your expertise in these areas?
AG: First and foremost I’m a fiction writer. But I’m also a curious person, like to keep myself interested … so I tend to do other things as well. The band, for example, is a lifelong project of three friends, who decided to do this for the long run, with little interference to our “daily” life. This is why we release an album every six years and not more frequently. Translating and teaching I do sometimes for income and sometimes for interest. The computer game was a one-off project.
JI: Your write-up on Wikipedia notes that you were in Vancouver in 1997, studying “new media.” Do you still have Vancouver connections?
AG: I do! My first cousin lives there with her family. Having family was part of the reason I came, and what I heard and imagined of the city and the school, which offered what I was interested in studying at the time. I had a great year in Vancouver, had a lovely apartment in Kitsilano. That year, I also wrote what would be my second book. I have been back only once since then, in 2003, I think, so it’s been awhile. I’m really looking forward to this visit, my first as a writer.
JI: Where are you and your family currently based?
AG: We are in Omaha, Neb. I have been teaching here for the past year. I’m moving to your time zone, San Diego, in January for six months, and then next summer back home to Israel.
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The main character in Nomi Eve’s second novel, Henna House, is Adara, born in Yemen in 1918, the year that Imam Yahya took control of the region. He passed many restrictive decrees, including the Orphans Decree, calling “for any Jewish child to be confiscated, converted and quickly adopted by a Muslim family if a father died,” writes Eve. When the story begins, Adara’s father is already ill.
The bulk of the novel follows Adara and her family – notably, two cousins – from the 1920s in Yemen to the early years of Israel, briefly touching upon Operation On Wings of Eagles, better known by its nickname Operation Magic Carpet, when almost 50,000 Yemenite Jews were airlifted to Israel between June 1949 and September 1950.
JI: Research is an essential part of your creative process, but you also said in one interview that reality limits your creativity. How did you navigate the need for both research/reality and imagination in your two novels, seeing as both are rooted in “real” historical spaces?
NE: History is much more than a backdrop in my fiction. It also provides soul and substance. But I never let myself feel straightjacketed by history. I make things up and let my readers know that this is fiction, not academic research that they are reading. In Henna House, the fact that I have a first-person narrator also helped me navigate this terrain. My narrator uses her memory and imagination to construct her own version of the past. Memory is porous, and doesn’t always hold truth. Memory is powerful and often finds truth in unlikely places.
JI: Have you reached your 100 Book Clubs goal?
NE: I did book club #143 tonight – it was a Skype visit to Toronto. I love my book club visits. Readers are my wildest dream, and I feel lucky each time I get to chat with a new group.
JI: In Henna House, you write about Mizrahi Jews. What is your background? Did you have a mix of traditions growing up, given that your father was from Israel?
NE: My family is Ashkenazi, but I have a Yemenite aunt. It is from her that I learned to love Yemenite Jewish culture. But most of what I learned about the history of the Jews of North Yemen and Aden I learned through my own research. The most fascinating things that I learned were about henna traditions, and the Orphan’s Decree. Both of these things became central to the plot of my book.
JI: Your two novels are both set in the past. What appeals to you about the past and imagining what it might have been like?
NE: I find it easier to write about the past than about the present. The past feels multi-dimensional to me, whereas the present feels one-dimensional. I think that I am attracted to the fierce power of memory and the perspective gained by the passage of time.
Assaf Gavron in conversation with Marsha Lederman takes place Sunday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m.; tickets are $18. Nomi Eve speaks with Israeli-Canadian writer Ayelet Tsabari on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at an intimate gathering at 6:30 p.m. ($16) and to a book club and book-lovers event at 8 p.m. ($18); to attend both, the price is $30. For tickets to these and other festival events, call 604-257-5111 or drop by the J in person. For tickets and the full festival lineup, visit jewishbookfestival.ca.
From Hofesh Shechter’s barbarians trilogy. (photo by Gabriele Zucca)
Before barbarians was even created, DanceHouse had included the Hofesh Shechter trilogy in its 2015/16 season.
“Programming work before you have had the chance to view and experience it yourself is always risky,” DanceHouse producer Jim Smith told the Independent in an email interview. “Programming work that has not even been completed or performed, some would say is even way beyond this risk, primarily because no one can speak to the work other than the artist who is in the process of making it. However, if we believe in an artist, if we have a relationship with their work and we can see they have developed a track record, then agreeing to present their new work before you get to see it is one of the highest compliments you can offer them. It also allows our audiences the opportunity to see work that is very fresh in its life, before it has been performed elsewhere around the world.
“In the current DanceHouse season,” he continued, “there are two artists whose works were confirmed before they were completed. Hofesh Shechter is one, and the other is Crystal Pite, with her collaboration with Jonathon Young of the Electric Theatre Company and their production titled Betroffenheit (which we will see in February).” Completing the season is Companhia Urbana de Dança in April.
Smith described Hofesh Shechter as “part of an international generation that is currently defining how dance is being made and carving out the state of the (dance) art.” He included Israel’s Sharon Eyal, the United Kingdom’s Wayne McGregor and Vancouver’s Pite in this generation of artists.
The Hofesh Shechter Company was at DanceHouse in 2009. Hosting the company again is very satisfying, said Smith, as it allows local “audiences the chance to see how his work has developed and evolved, allowing them to have a deeper relationship with his work.”
In promotional material, barbarians is described as being about “intimacy, passion and love.” In an interview with artslandia.com, Smith described it as “loud, visceral rage.” Acknowledging the potential incongruence, he said, “I would offer that in exploring the extremes that lead to my characterization of loud, visceral rage, it creates a contrasting space for notions of intimacy, passion and love to emerge, rather than simply being portrayed. I have heard Hofesh himself describe experiencing his work as a series of images that move faster than the mind can necessarily process or think through. He also says his work often reveals frustration and buried hope, and a lot of different emotions that relate to humans under pressure. I think barbarians could be viewed/experienced in this fashion.
“The barbarians program is three distinct works, which makes for a different flow to the evening, rather than one longer single work. There is highly precise movement, and there is baroque music, which gives the effect of things being controlled. However, there is also a sense of things breaking free and getting out of control. The last work on the program is a duet made for two long-standing dancers in the company, which I think reveals the collaborative approach between dancer and choreographer, and also the admiration that exists within those particular relationships.”
DanceHouse has hosted more than one Israeli choreographer or company over the years. Is there an Israeli style?
“There has been much discussion and observation about the work that is of Israeli dance artists and the Diaspora. (For example, Hofesh now resides in the U.K.) Many dance observers would say that it is Ohad Naharin of Batsheva Dance Company that is the central figure who led the Israeli dance domination that has been going on for the past number of years. Artists such as Shechter, but also Sharon Eyal and Andrea Miller – all of whom have been on the DanceHouse stage – are part of a generation that studied and worked with Naharin and Batsheva, and have gone on in the wake to carve out unique and distinctive choreographic voices. I don’t think there is an element or style that we can point to that characterizes or typifies the Israeli work, rather it is a larger sensibility, which you appreciate from experiencing a number of works of these artists and, of course, being able to contrast them with different work.”
barbarians is at Vancouver Playhouse Nov. 13-14, 8 p.m. For tickets, visit dancehouse.ca.
Most of us can only dream about what it would be like to have a role in a Broadway production. Illinois-born Jewish community member Zander Meisner has four in the touring production of Once: The Musical, being presented in Vancouver by Broadway Across Canada Nov. 17-22 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Meisner is a swing for the roles of Andrej, a Czech immigrant working in a fast-food joint; Svec, Andrej’s brother; Eamon, the manager of a recording studio; and Emcee, the host of a bar’s open mic night. This means that he has to be prepared to step into any one of these parts (“tracks”) on any given night – he has to know all of their music (including the playing of multiple instruments), choreography, dialogue, blocking onstage, manoeuvring backstage, and has to be able to pull off convincing Czech and Irish accents.
“My method was a three- to five-month freak-out period in rehearsals in the first few months of tour in 2013, where I practised my face off,” explained Meisner in an email interview with the Independent. This was “followed by my first performances, which gave me the confidence to continue honing my musical skills and polish each character – and getting more and more excited (and less and less nervous) for my future performances. I go on a lot more frequently than I did on the beginning of tour, and these shows keep me sharp.”
In his early 30s, Meisner has been a musician and actor since his youth. He was born and raised in Deerfield, about an hour’s drive north of Chicago. His first role was a part in his high school’s production of Gypsy.
“Gypsy was more a transition from music to theatre than just my first show. I had played clarinet for six years at that point, and the small role I was cast in had me playing the clarinet onstage. Then I simply fell in love with theatre. High school gave me the opportunity to do musicals without any ‘nerdy’ choir prerequisites (which I ended up doing anyways). I pursued vocal performance and theatre at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.”
A singer/songwriter, Meisner still performs on occasion despite being on tour with Once. “I book evenings called Zander and Friends,” wherein he and a “handful of super-talented friends” take over a bar for the night. “I’m the goofball emcee and headliner,” he said. “It’s beyond fun, and a great opportunity to do some music outside of Once. I have one scheduled in Raleigh, N.C., and I hope to have one in Boston.”
Meisner also tries to maintain a level of religious observance while on the road. “I do follow Judaism,” he said, “as I was raised Conservative, and try and follow tradition as best as possible with my crazy schedule (though not as well as my mother would like).”
This tour of Once closes on Dec. 27 in Boston. “It will have been 2.5 years!” noted Meisner, who will be doing Peter and the Starcatcher in January/February in Ithaca, N.Y., before heading back to New York City.
Once: The Musical is loosely based on the Academy Award-winning film about the whirlwind romance of an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant, “drawn together by their shared love of music.” It is award-winning in its own right, garnering eight Tonys, including best musical, for which it was also honored by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League, among others.
Tickets for Once at Queen E. start at $25 (plus service charges), and are available from ticketmaster.ca or 1-855-985-5000.
Lilian Broca with the diptych “Judith Meeting Holofernes,” part of the Heroine of a Thousand Pieces: The Judith Mosaics of Lilian Broca exhibit that opens at Il Museo on Nov. 12. (photo from Lilian Broca)
Artist Lilian Broca calls her most recent subject – the apocryphal Judith, who slew the general Holofernes and saved her village – “a woman’s woman,” because “she was able to do what she wanted to do.” Granted, times have changed, and that’s not such an unusual phenomenon, but equality is still an issue for many, there are still oppressors, the world is still in need of repair, tikkun olam. Broca’s work reminds us of the power we each have, woman or man, to save, heal or improve at least a part of the world in which we live. And it does so in the most beautiful way.
Heroine of a Thousand Pieces: The Judith Mosaics of Lilian Broca opens at the Italian Cultural Centre’s Il Museo on Nov. 12, 7 p.m., with a reception. It is the artist’s second major mosaic series. Her first – seven years in the making – told the story of Queen Esther, the heroine of Purim.
“Throughout my career,” writes Broca in the Judith exhibit catalogue, “I have deliberately used powerful women figures from mythology as symbolic figures and role models whose experiences, I contend, shed light on today’s concerns, thereby becoming relevant to our contemporary society. In my last three series of artworks, I have profiled three exceptionally wise and fearless legendary figures: Lilith, Esther and now Judith.”
Over the years, she has worked with a variety of media, but the Queen Esther series called for a new medium: “In the Book of Esther, it is written that King Xerxes’ palace was magnificently adorned with a floor encrusted with rubies and porphyry in pleasing designs – in other words, mosaics.”
As with the Esther series, the nine panels depicting seven scenes from the story of Judith are created in Italian smalto glass. The panels range from 72 to 78 inches tall and 48 inches wide.
As a widow with no children or family, Judith was able “to act on her own without getting permission from the alpha male of her family,” Broca told the Independent. That allowed her to do what she did, “because women, as you know, in biblical times belonged to a male, either a husband, father, brother, son. She had none of those, and she was wealthy because her husband had left her quite wealthy. So, she was a woman’s woman, she was able to do what she wanted to do.”
In short, Judith wanted to save her village of Bethulia from the Assyrian army, which was under the command of General Holofernes, who answered to the ruler Nebuchadnezzar. A beautiful woman, she seduces her way into Holofernes’ camp and, eventually, into his tent, where she manages to get him so drunk that he passes out. She then cuts off his head with a sword, smuggling it out of the camp with the help of her servant. She presents it to the people of her village, while Holofernes’ army flees in disarray.
“We meet her at the point where she calls the town officials, and tells them that she’s going to be victorious,” and that she’s going to be successful with the help of God, explained Broca of the exhibit’s first panel. Judith doesn’t, however, tell them what she’s going to do.
In the second panel, Judith is praying, asking God to help her deceive Holofernes and his men. Not knowing how women prayed at the time, Broca contacted Dr. Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum (where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed), but, despite his and other biblical specialists’ efforts, they weren’t able to answer that question. “So, I was left with my artistic licence,” said Broca. “I figured that light is always associated with the divine, and so I had a lot of photos of oil lamps dating from that century … and I decided to have her praying in front of that lit oil lamp, with that light, and her hands … she is begging God, she is arguing with God, she is having a dialogue, so I put her hands in a kind of gesticulating [position], up in the air.”
The third scene – one of the exhibit’s two diptychs – depicts Holofernes first meeting Judith in all her finery and beauty. “Judith, just like Esther, was articulate, spoke very well, and perhaps also God helped her,” said Broca. “She told the general a cockamamie story about God coming to her in her dreams and saying to her, you have to go down [to see him] because he will be the winner of the war, he’s a great leader, and I’m going to punish the people of Bethulia … because they broke the dietary laws. Well, that was true: they were starving, they had no water. The general knew that the Israelites had a very powerful God” who would protect them if they were faithful to Him and kept His laws. Judith continued, said Broca, “saying that God will tell her in three days’ time when is a good time to attack. During those three days, she will stay with him in the camp but, every night, she will go with her maid … to pray, and then come back to the camp. And then, on the third night, God will tell her. In the meantime, the general wanted to seduce her, that’s all he had on his brain.”
In this way, the sentry was used to seeing Judith coming and going, said Broca, which is why she was ultimately able to steal the severed head, hidden in a sack, out of the camp. The fourth scene of the exhibit is a diptych of Judith plying Holofernes with wine, the fifth panel shows Judith about to bring down the sword onto his neck, while the sixth has Judith and her maid running to Bethulia, sack and sword in hand. The final panel shows Judith raising the head for her people to see.
Broca started this work about four years ago. Roitman was in Vancouver giving a talk on the Dead Sea Scrolls and visited her studio. “When he saw Esther, he said, oh, now you have to do Judith.” He told her that Judith was likely written as a response to Esther, that Judith is the flipside of Esther. “And it is absolutely true,” said Broca. “When I read the story, I knew right then and there that my greatest dream in life is to have both Esther and Judith exhibited in one very large museum.”
Because they are completely different personalities, Broca used different methods in creating the two mosaic series. “Esther was executed in a Byzantine style, and that was because
Esther was a quiet, loyal little girl who manipulated men to do a dirty job, basically…. Judith, on the other hand, was a warrior from the get go.” Judith acted independently and “in a manly manner,” while Esther “acted within the accepted nature of women’s role in life,” said Broca. This is why the artist couldn’t create
Judith using “that very quiet, icon-like Byzantine style…. I had to use a more Baroque style to show her personality.” Judith’s depictions needed to have more action and movement, as well as more emotional facial expression.
Broca said that what attracted her to the stories of Judith and Esther, true or not, was that “these heroines illuminate the fundamental truth … and that is that one single individual, not just a group, male or female, can – and will – make a difference in a threatened community. Today, we have Malala [Yousafzai] – she is an example of such a heroine. And both Esther and Judith save their communities from being exterminated, or taken into slavery, as was the case with Judith, I believe.”
Both Esther and Judith are examples of women’s empowerment, and can serve as role models, said Broca. As well, the medium of mosaics bears its own message, not only connecting an ancient art with contemporary times, the past with the present, but also in that “our world is becoming more and more fragmented, and it’s essential that all these fractured elements should be put together in order to heal, to make the world whole once again.”
In the Esther series, the unifying motif that ran through the panels was a wrought-iron lattice that appeared in each one. Broca said she agonized for weeks over what would be the unifying motif in the Judith series. “Finally, I came up with this idea of a torn sketchbook page. The reason for that is because I thought, well, what am I doing? I’m revivifying or reenacting an ancient story, and I’m starting from scratch, and it’s from my personal vision.” Since she started with sketches that became the mosaics, she thought, “Why don’t I show the whole process?” The sketchbook also becomes a “21st-century prop,” something that brings the work, and the ancient story it tells, into the present. Included in the exhibit are Broca’s sketches and painted sketches (which are called cartoons). “In total,” she said, “there will be 14 pieces under glass accompanying the mosaics.”
The catalogue accompanying the Judith exhibit is comprehensive. It is a full-color, 94-page publication with essays by Broca and Roitman, as well as by Dr. Sheila Campbell, archeologist, art historian, curator and professor emerita of the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies; Dr. Angela Clarke, museum curator at the Italian Cultural Centre in Vancouver; and Rabbi Dr. Yosef Wosk, adjunct professor and Shadbolt Fellow in the humanities department at Simon Fraser University. The book’s foreword is written by Rosa Graci, curator at Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery in Toronto, where the Judith series will be displayed from May 5-July 4, 2016.
Imagine finding a play so funny and thought-provoking that you just had to mount a production of it in your hometown – and you actually had the talent and wherewithal to do it.
Famous Artists Limited’s Bill Allman saw Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews in London. He’s bringing it to Rothstein Theatre Nov. 10-21, directed by Jay Brazeau and starring two other members of the Jewish community, Amitai Marmorstein and Goldie Hoffman. Rounding out the cast are Alex Rose and Kayla Dunbar.
“It’s really difficult to pick one or two moments of hilarity or emotion from a play that kept me laughing and thinking for its entire duration,” said Allman, “but I loved the raucous interaction between [cousins] Liam and Daphna and, in particular, watching Melody (that’s Liam’s shiksa girlfriend) react to them. The loudness and the verbal vitriol looks completely insane to her and yet the three cousins are sort of saying, ‘What? This is how people talk!’
“As for deep thought, much of the script gives the audience a chance to think about where faith and culture intersect and how these values affect daily life and interaction with others. The great thing about the play is that the characters are drawn in such a way as to illustrate a wide range of human experience and it doesn’t matter where you fall on the spectrum – there will be something in one or more of the characters that makes you say, ‘I’m like that.’ And you may laugh or you may wince but, inevitably, you’ll laugh because 10 seconds later, it’s somebody else’s turn to wince!”
Secular Liam, his “Jew-ish” brother Jonah and their staunch Zionist and Orthodox cousin Daphna fight over the right to their grandfather’s chai necklace after he dies; he had managed to get it (and himself) through the Holocaust, and they each attribute a different importance and symbolism to it. Witnessing the mayhem, as Allman noted, is Liam’s non-Jewish girlfriend, Melody.
“Which one of them is the ‘best’ Jew?” reads the promotional material. “Is it the religious and cultural zealot Daphna, who changed her name from Diana? What about her privileged cousin Liam, who missed Poppy’s funeral to go skiing with his non-Jewish girlfriend Melody? Or perhaps Liam’s brother, Jonah, the quiet one who would prefer not to get involved in the fight?”
Marmorstein, who plays Jonah, was emailed by Brazeau with a request to read the script. “I’ve known Jay for awhile and have always been a very big fan of his,” Marmorstein told the Independent. “He arranged for Goldie and I to come in and read and talk about the play. He kept saying it wasn’t an audition even though it sort of was. I think he just didn’t want us to get nervous or anything. But the ‘non-audition’ went well, I guess, and Goldie and I were both offered roles.”
Director, writer, actor and producer Ben Ratner recommended Hoffman (who plays Daphna) to Brazeau. “Ben runs and teaches at Haven Studio, and I’ve trained with him a lot, working on many intense plays and scripts in multiple genres. So, it’s really thanks to Ben that I got this part,” she said, “both because of his recommendation and also thanks to his training.”
Hoffman was asked by Brazeau and Allman to read with Marmorstein, and she also recalled being told, “‘Don’t think of this as an audition, Goldie …’ they said and, as I jokingly thought to myself, the unsaid continuation of that line was, ‘… but this read will likely affect whether or not you get the part.’
Fortunately, I got the part, and I’m thrilled and truly honored to be playing such a fun role and being part of this ensemble.”
Characters that are a “type” can come off as superficial. When asked in what ways they infuse their characters with humanity and depth, Marmorstein said, “The best way to never be a stereotype is to work with great writing. Joshua Harmon has written such honest, original, devastating characters that our job becomes much, much easier. I think creating real, non-stereotypical characters is precisely what the art of acting is, so we just try to be creative and honest and hope people connect to it.”
Hoffman went into more detail. “I think it’s important not to judge your character as good or bad, right or wrong,” she said. “Humans are complex individuals and it’s important to remember that when you portray any character. In fact, generally in real life, we don’t set out to be wrong or behave badly. Most of us try to go through life making good choices, and when we make bad ones or hurt people, we often don’t intend to or don’t even realize the impact of our words and actions. When playing a character, I try to portray their point of view, as best as I can understand it. In fact, after first reading the play, I was actually offended when first seeing Daphna described as a ‘zealot’ in online play reviews and synopses, because I see that term as quite negative, and I didn’t see (or want to see) her that way.
“I feel I really understand where Daphna is coming from, even if I don’t share all her views. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, this is a character that is closest to me of all the roles I’ve ever portrayed – to the point where it’s scary and even embarrassing. As for playing a certain ‘type,’ it’s true there is a certain stereotype and similarity many Jewish girls and women share and, yes, a lot of it does apply to me: brunette, outspoken, loud, animated and, yes, also stubborn and annoying – but also spunky, fun, caring, intelligent and funny (and clearly modest). Hey, let’s face it, get a bunch of Jewish girls in the room, and I challenge you to tell me many don’t look and sound like sisters. Daphna shares these qualities, too, but, at the same time, we’re of course all individuals, and so our views and outlooks on life can be extremely different.
“As far as her being real,” Hoffman continued, “to me, Daphna already is a real person, and I can completely see and hear her, so I only hope I can translate that successfully to the audience. Aside from the parts of her that I relate to, I even know several ‘Daphnas,’ especially being raised Jewish in both N.Y. and Montreal and now being in L.A. a lot, all big ‘Jew-towns.’ There is a unique experience that Jewish girls and women have, which I relate to. For example, facing certain sexist traditions and customs (especially if raised Orthodox), family dynamics, rivalries, pressures and high expectations and, of course, last but not least, we are aware of our brethren’s love of ‘shiksappeal,’ which my character’s cousin Liam has. Though, on that subject, having dated several non-Jewish guys, I say, ‘It’s all good, boys, ’cause it goes both ways.’”
Speaking of which, where would Hoffman put herself on the spectrum of the “bad Jews” depicted in the play?
“In many ways, I think the play is actually poking fun at that very notion of being a ‘bad Jew,’ as there’s really no such thing – or, if there is, well then, we’re all ‘bad Jews’ in one way or another. There is no right way to be Jewish, either religiously or culturally, and, as Jews, we grapple with what that identity means to us and how much we want it to affect our lives and sense of self,” she said.
That being said, Hoffman compared herself to aspects of both Daphna and Liam. “My experience and views about my ‘Jewishness’ continue to change and evolve, so I’ve been all over the map. For instance, as a kid, I was raised Chassidic, and then, as a teen, I became non-observant, but was still a believer. Then, I identified as ‘spiritually Jewish.’ Now, I no longer believe in Judaism, and I’m a secular humanist, but culturally or ethnically, I am definitely Jewish (whether I like it or not). I think this is something a lot of non-Jews have trouble understanding, because the term Jew can apply to both the religion Judaism, but also the Jewish culture, ethnicity, nation and community, as we are such an old people that we predate these modern terms.
“As for Israel, as you know, that’s such a sensitive and ambivalent issue for the Jewish community and something we all have different views on. For my character Daphna, Israel is extremely important and she plans to make her life there. I used to share her fervent Zionism as a teen, and even considered going to Israel as well, either to a kibbutz or to do one of their volunteer programs with Magen David Adom (their national emergency medical disaster, ambulance and blood-bank services as well as national aid society).
“I am still a supporter of Israel, though not without my criticism, just like with other countries; but, unlike Daphna, I don’t support Israel from a religious standpoint and don’t believe in the existence of holy lands. I can speak, read and write Hebrew (also some Arabic), and tend to really like and get along with Israelis and have a few friends and acquaintances in Tel Aviv who are in the arts scene. I think Israeli Jews are such a unique, interesting and strong people, and they’re very different from North American Jews. If I’m fully honest, I think they’re our cooler cousins, because they’re people who just ‘happen’ to be Jewish, versus we here who are taught our Jewish identity and worry about how it squares up with our national one, and who are, by and large, much more sheltered and privileged than they are. I also think Israelis are better looking than we are, but I know that’s up for debate. But c’mon, all those people mixing from all those different countries and backgrounds? You can’t compete with that!”
Turning more serious, Hoffman said she struggles “with the paradoxical dilemma of how to continue the survival of the Jewish people and Israel, while still supporting humanism, secularism, democracy and the belief that mixing is a great thing for humanity. I think this is a major theme the play deals with and questions, and something most Jews can relate to, as well as many non-Jews with strong cultural and ethnic identities and communities.”
Allman is an example of the latter. “I was baptized Presbyterian, but fall very squarely into the religiously lapsed category – I have 50 years of Christmas trees that far outnumber my appearances in an actual church,” he admitted. “The themes in Bad Jews are universal – they’re struggles with personal identity, with philosophy and with both the intimacy and disconnect that everyone struggles with in regards to the religion and culture of their ancestors.”
He added, “[T]here is a very intellectual aspect to Judaism that I find extremely compelling – and that aspect doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it’s tied to practical living. It is certainly behind our initiative to have Rabbi [Jonathan] Infeld come in on Nov. 19 for a talkback with the audience and cast after the show. We’re going to go after the issues behind the story! I love the deeply thoughtful traditions that can give birth to a work like Bad Jews – a work like this comes from inner turmoil and passion. Now that’s living!”
For tickets, click here or visit famousartists.ca. For the full interview with Goldie Hoffman, click here.
Goldie Hoffman is set to play the character of Daphna in Bad Jews, a play by Joshua Harmon. It will be in Vancouver at Rothstein Theatre from Nov. 10-21, directed by Jay Brazeau and produced by Famous Artists Limited. For the Jewish Independent article on the play, which includes portions of the interview below, click here. For tickets, click here.
JI: How hard was it for you to put yourself into your “bad” shoes, or in what ways are you similar and different with respect to the Jewish spectrum than your character?
GH: I’m wearing my “bad Jew” shoes as we speak! In many ways, I think the play is actually poking fun at that very notion of being a “bad Jew,” as there’s really no such thing – or, if there is, well then, we’re all “bad Jews” in one way or another. There is no right way to be Jewish, either religiously or culturally and, as Jews, we grapple with what that identity means to us and how much we want it to affect our lives and sense of self.
That reminds me of the Jewish saying, “two Jews, three opinions,” and that’s something that I think aptly describes Jews, but is something we should be proud of – that we accept and even thrive on debate, discussion, questions and, of course, the fact that we can openly poke fun at the religion and culture. There’s definitely something very Fiddler on the Roof-esque about this play and the characters – each character deals with their Jewish identity, changing times, and the weight of historical and cultural legacy and community, in their own way.
With respect to my character, in some ways I’m both my character Daphna and her cousin Liam, or at least have been aspects of both of them at one time or another. My experience and views about my “Jewishness” continue to change and evolve, so I’ve been all over the map. For instance, as a kid, I was raised Chassidic, and then as a teen I became non-observant, but was still a believer. Then I identified as “spiritually Jewish.” Now I no longer believe in Judaism, and I’m a secular humanist, but culturally or ethnically, I am definitely Jewish (whether I like it or not). I think this is something a lot of non-Jews have trouble understanding, because the term Jew can apply to both the religion Judaism, but also the Jewish culture, ethnicity, nation, and community, as we are such an old people that we predate these modern terms.
As for Israel, as you know, that’s such a sensitive and ambivalent issue for the Jewish community and something we all have different views on. For my character Daphna, Israel is extremely important and she plans to make her life there. I used to share her fervent Zionism as a teen, and even considered going to Israel as well, either to a kibbutz or to do one of their volunteer programs with Magon David Adom (their national emergency medical disaster, ambulance, and blood bank services as well as national aid society).
I am still a supporter of Israel, though not without my criticism, just like with other countries; but unlike Daphna, I don’t support Israel from a religious standpoint and don’t believe in the existence of holy lands. I can speak, read and write Hebrew (also some Arabic), and tend to really like and get along with Israelis and have a few friends and acquaintances in Tel Aviv who are in the arts scene. I think Israeli Jews are such a unique, interesting and strong people, and they’re very different from North American Jews. If I’m fully honest, I think they’re our cooler cousins, because they’re people who just “happen to be Jewish,” versus we here who are taught our Jewish identity and worry about how it squares up with our national one, and who are by and large much more sheltered and privileged than they are. I also think Israelis are better looking than we are, but I know that’s up for debate. But c’mon, all those people mixing from all those different countries and backgrounds? – you can’t compete with that!
I realize I’m sounding a lot like Daphna now in my praise of Israelis, but again, it’s from a different angle. As an artist, I’m specifically very impressed with Israel’s amazing and thriving arts, culture and film scene, especially given all they deal with on the international and domestic front. As I said, I’m not without criticism, but I do feel Israel is unfairly castigated and vilified in the world and held to unfair double standards. I’m unfortunately disillusioned about the possibility of peace there, and can’t help but think of Israel and that entire region with a tinge of sadness. Still, I’m definitely overdue for a visit and would love to perform live there or work on an Israeli film.
However, all that said, I struggle with the paradoxical dilemma of how to continue the survival of the Jewish people and Israel, while still supporting humanism, secularism, democracy, and the belief that mixing is a great thing for humanity. I think this is a major theme the play deals with and questions, and something most Jews can relate to, as well as many non-Jews with strong cultural and ethnic identities and communities.
JI: Characters that are a “type” can come off as superficial. In what ways have you tried to infuse your character with reality/humanity to prevent them from becoming stereotypes?
GH: I think it’s important not to judge your character as good or bad/ right or wrong. Humans are complex individuals and it’s important to remember that when you portray any character. In fact, generally in real life, we don’t set out to be wrong or behave badly. Most of us try to go through life making good choices, and when we make bad ones or hurt people, we often don’t intend to or don’t even realize the impact of our words and actions. When playing a character, I try to portray their point of view, as best as I can understand it. In fact, after first reading the play, I was actually offended when first seeing Daphna described as a “zealot” in online play reviews and synopses, because I see that term as quite negative, and I didn’t see (or want to see) her that way.
I feel I really understand where Daphna is coming from, even if I don’t share all her views. In fact, I’d go as far as to say, this is a character that is closest to me of all the roles I’ve ever portrayed – to the point where it’s scary and even embarrassing. As for playing a certain “type,” it’s true there is a certain stereotype and similarity many Jewish girls and women share, and yes, a lot of it does apply to me: brunette, outspoken, loud, animated, and yes, also stubborn and annoying – but also spunky, fun, caring, intelligent and funny (and clearly modest). Hey, let’s face it, get a bunch of Jewish girls in the room, and I challenge you to tell me many don’t look and sound like sisters. Daphna shares these qualities, too, but at the same time, we’re of course all individuals, and so our views and outlooks on life can be extremely different.
As far as her being real, to me Daphna already is a real person, and I can completely see and hear her, so I only hope I can translate that successfully to the audience. Aside from the parts of her that I relate to, I even know several “Daphnas,” especially being raised Jewish in both N.Y. and Montreal and now being in L.A. a lot – all big “Jew-towns.” There is a unique experience that Jewish girls and women have, which I relate to. For example, facing certain sexist traditions and customs (especially if raised Orthodox), family dynamics, rivalries, pressures and high expectations, and, of course, last but not least, we are aware of our brethren’s love of “shiksappeal,” which my character’s cousin Liam has. Though on that subject, having dated several non-Jewish guys, I say, “It’s all good, boys, ’cause it goes both ways.”
JI: How did you come to hear about Bad Jews and audition for it?
GH: Our director, Jay Brazeau, contacted me after speaking with director, writer, actor, producer Ben Ratner, who recommended me to him. Ben runs and teaches at Haven Studio, and I’ve trained with him a lot, working on many intense plays and scripts in multiple genres. So, it’s really thanks to Ben that I got this part, both because of his recommendation and also thanks to his training. I was then asked to read with Amitai (who plays Jonah) in front of Jay and our producer Bill Allman in an informal non-audition audition. “Don’t think of this as an audition, Goldie …” they said, and as I jokingly thought to myself, the unsaid continuation of that line was, “… but this read will likely affect whether or not you get the part.” Fortunately, I got the part, and I’m thrilled and truly honored to be playing such a fun role and being part of this ensemble.
JI: Are you going to get a perm to play Daphna?
GH: Oh no, you’ve just outed me as a straight-haired chick! I’m honestly still debating if I should get a perm or not. I’ve had friends with the real “Jew-fro,” and used to be jealous of them, even with their complicated product-regimen they had to wrestle with, and, of course they were jealous of my straight locks. We want what we don’t have, right? I may curl my hair each night, and I’ve been experimenting, burning my fingers, while I curl my hair trying to get it just right so it looks realistic and doesn’t have that “fake curls look.” I know some actors have used extensions for this part, but I want to be able to use my hair in the scene. So, as I write this now, I’m leaning towards a perm, but we’ll see.
JI: As I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing before, can you share a bit about your background? How you’re a dual citizen, and split your time between Vancouver and LA? In what other shows Vancouverites might have seen you recently? Whatever else you might like to add.
GH: Ah, now to sum up myself and my background quickly. As you can tell, I’ve clearly mastered the art of being concise.
Long story short, I don’t have the typical North American Jewish experience, because I was raised in more than one. I was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., into a Chassidic family. My mother was from Montreal, my father from San Diego, and their youthful act of rebellion was to leave their secular Jewish lives, and join an ultra-Orthodox Chassidic movement in N.Y., much to the dismay of their families. Talk about being “bad Jews” and trying to define what that means.
They had us 10 kids quickly, one after the other, and I spent my childhood growing up extremely religious with strict kosher rules, dress codes, and no television, secular music or books (though we were sometimes “bad Chassidic Jews” and cheated with books, and also went as a family to see some movies in Manhattan) – a time I now refer to as the fun “cult days.”
Their experiment with ultra-Orthodox Judaism ultimately didn’t work out for us, and my parents divorced. My mother went back to Montreal to be with her family, and we kids along with her. My father is still Chassidic actually, but I’d say he has his own version of it, and he lives in Vegas now. He is quite a character, and that’s putting it mildly, as is my mother, even more so than in the “typical Jewish parents” way.
In Montreal, we re-integrated into “normal” North American Jewish lifestyles, starting out as Modern Orthodox, but then with varying and changing levels of observance, and each of us being allowed to do our own thing. When I graduated, I was actually going to study law, like all good, smart Jewish girls, but changed my mind at the last second about having a stable life in order to pursue performance and the arts instead.
I got accepted into Studio 58’s professional theatre acting program, so that’s what brought me out here. It was pretty scary because I knew nothing about Vancouver, I knew no one here, and had no money to scout out the city beforehand. After studying, I decided to stay here and started acting and doing comedy. Having been here for several years and because I’m a dual American-Canadian citizen, I recently decided to make the jump to L.A., too, since there is more opportunity there – and, of course, because you can’t beat all that sun and ocean. I love being on the West Coast, though I poke fun at it often, because in many ways I’ll always be a bit of a fish out of water here as an ex-East Coaster. My aim is to try to juggle both cities, L.A. and Vancouver, as much as possible taking advantage of the acting and comedy opportunities both cities have to offer.
As far as other performances Vancouverites may have seen me in, I played Connie in Raving Theatre’s production of My Big Gay Italian Wedding, which was put on at the Cultch. I also played Natalie, in the local independent feature dark comedy, Thirty One Scenes About Nothing, which won best picture at the Oregon Independent Film Festival (OIFF) in Portland. I also perform lots of live stand-up and sketch around town. Last year, I ran a weekly comedy variety show, called The Comedy Cabaret, along with co-host Ruven Klausner, in which we performed various comedy characters and acts. We formed a comedic partnership, previously called Schtuptown (a nod towards our Jewish heritage), now called The Goldie & Ruven Show, in which we perform live and create comedy shorts which are published online.
The Middle East is awash in virulent antisemitism, from the battlefield to the classroom. An Anti-Defamation League global survey of anti-Jewish sentiment last year pinpointed the West Bank, Gaza and Iraq as the world’s most antisemitic lands in the world. More than 90% of those who took the survey in those areas expressed anti-Jewish views.
Some Middle East observers link the blind hatred of Jews in the Middle East to the work of Islamic preachers and Arab leaders who perpetuate the ideology of Nazi Germany. They say that antisemitism is the driving force behind the endless cycle of wars and that nothing that Israel does matters. They maintain that Israel’s enemies will fight until the Jewish state is wiped out and all Jews in the Middle East have been killed.
Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz, in Nazis, Islamists and the Making of the Modern Middle East (Yale University Press), provide ammunition for those who argue that peace is impossible with antisemitic Palestinian and Arab leaders. Rubin, who died before the book was published, was a prolific writer and leading Middle East scholar at the Global Research in International Affairs Centre in Israel. Schwanitz, an accomplished German-American Middle East historian, was a visiting professor at GRIAC at the time of the book’s publication.
In their richly researched book, Rubin and Schwanitz document the ancestry of antisemitism in the Middle East over the past century, connecting some of the contemporary Arab and Palestinian leaders to the vitriolic antisemitism of the Nazi collaborator, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husseini.
Backed up by new archival material and previously published research, Rubin and Schwanitz maintain that profound doctrinal hatred for Jews remains the core reason for the Arab-Israel conflict’s enduring and irresolvable nature.
Take a look at Israel’s partners for peace. Heads of state who were once Nazi sympathizers ran regimes that lasted 40 years in Iraq, 50 years in Syria and 60 years in Egypt. An echo of the antisemitism of the 1930s reverberated through speeches of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Iraqi’s Saddam Hussein, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi and Saudi Arabia’s Osama bin Laden. A Nazi sympathizer educated Yasser Arafat.
However, Rubin and Schwanitz in this book undermine their own credibility by mixing well-documented historical accounts with sweeping pronouncements that seem to be driven by a narrow ideological bias. At times, they sound more like polemicists than historians. They focus on an extreme interpretation of Islam, painting 1.2 billion Muslims with one brush. They ignore history that does not fit easily into their portrait. And their perspective does little to shed light on the contemporary Middle East, where Muslims fight Muslims.
The most provocative assertion in the book is that the grand mufti was responsible for the Nazi gas chambers and crematoria.
Rubin and Schwanitz portray al-Husseini as the most powerful leader of the Arabs and Muslims around the world in mid-century. At the height of his power, he promised Adolf Hitler that the entire Arab people would rally around the Nazi flag and wage a war of terror against Britain and France if Germany would stop all Jewish immigration to Palestine and guarantee independence to countries in the Middle East.
Rubin and Schwanitz maintain that Hitler decided to kill all the Jews only after al-Husseini insisted that they not be deported to Palestine. None of the European countries would accept Jewish refugees. If Palestine would not accept them, the reasoning goes, Hitler had no choice but to build gas chambers.
But their theory has a few holes in it. Historians have never discovered any Nazi plans to transport all the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia to Palestine. Britain was already restricting immigration. Hitler’s support for al-Husseini’s demand to stop deportations to Palestine was an empty gesture.
Most historians regard al-Husseini as a minor historical figure. Al-Husseini was part of the Nazi war effort and played a role in the death of thousands of Jews. But he was not as powerful or influential in the
Middle East as he is portrayed here. As Rubin and Schwanitz point out, al-Husseini had no plan for actually staging insurrections in support of Nazi Germany. He recruited only 1,000 soldiers outside of Iraq, although he promised 100,000 for the Nazi cause. It is hard to imagine that the Holocaust would not have happened without al-Husseini’s intervention.
Regardless, Rubin and Schwanitz do a good job of placing al-Husseini in the context of the Middle East’s historic ties to Germany. They begin the tale with Max von Oppenheim, an advisor to Kaiser Wilhelm II in the early 1890s, who urged the German ruler to use Islam to inspire a Muslim revolt in the colonies of Germany’s enemies. At that time, Britain, France and Russia controlled the Middle East, India and North Africa. Zionism was not relevant.
The kaiser made a formal pact in 1898 with the Ottoman Empire’s sultan, Abdul Hamid II. Germany anticipated the alliance would lead to an Islamic jihad throughout Muslim lands, but the righteous call to jihad had little impact. Muslims, Turks and Arabs saw themselves as divided by religion, ethnicity, regional interest and self-interest. They paid little attention in their daily lives to the sultan’s belligerent proclamations.
During the First World War, von Oppenheim ran Germany’s covert war in the Middle East, reinvigorating the policy of Islamic jihad. Germany pushed Sultan Mehmed V to trigger a pan-Islamic revolt, as well as attack Russia’s Black Sea ports, and established activist groups in Arab communities dedicated to spread jihad in Russia-ruled Caucasus and in Arab-populated lands. However, once again, the pan-Islamic revolts never materialized. Tribal leaders took the money from Germany and did nothing.
By the late 1930s, the dynamics had reversed. Al-Husseini sought out the support of Nazi Germany. Hitler was initially cool to an alliance, believing the dark-skinned people of the Middle East were inferior to his blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan nation, but he soon realized the Nazis and Muslims confronted common enemies – Britain, France and the Jews.
A strident antisemite who had been fighting Zionism since 1914, al-Husseini claimed the mantle of leader of transnational Islamism after Turkey, in 1924, abolished the Islamic Caliphate. He solidified his position within the Arab and Muslim communities through violence and murder.
Under his leadership, militancy became mainstream and moderation was regarded as treason. He turned Palestine into the defining issue of the Middle East. Anyone who did not support him or his views was a Zionist and imperial stooge. In the 1930s, he attracted attention for making passionate nationalist speeches in Jerusalem while crowds chanted “Death to Zionism,” rioted and killed Jews. His work clearly set the stage for Arab and Muslim leaders who followed his lead.
Meanwhile, in Germany between the wars, militant Islamists, backed by the disciples of von Oppenheim, solidified their control over mosques in Berlin and elsewhere, espousing an ideology that Rubin and Schwanitz say can be heard today from the pulpits. They cultivated relations with the leadership of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, Iraq’s Ba’ath Party and radical factions in Syria and Palestine. By the time the Nazis looked to the Middle East, they found a ready-made network of radical antisemitic Islamists from Morocco to India, led by al-Husseini, with similar ideology, worldviews and interests. But the Islamic jihad failed once again to materialize.
Nazi ideology collapsed in 1945. However, a radical Arab nationalism, accompanied by a form of al-Husseini Islamism steeped in hatred of the Jews, flourished after the war. Little has changed despite the passage of decades, events and generations. Rubin and Schwanitz say al-Husseini’s legacy can been seen in the words and actions of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda. For them, as for the Nazis and al-Husseini, Jews are the villains of all history, the eternal enemy without whose extinction a proper world would be impossible.
Rubin and Schwanitz say the Arabic-speaking world’s historical connection with Nazi Germany was not solely responsible for the terrorism, conflict with Israel and anti-Jewish hatreds. However, they say, the historical relationships, along with the ideas and motives prompting it, help explain what has happened over the past 70 years. The forces that forged the partnership between al-Husseini and Hitler returned to help shape the course of Middle East history ever since. And it was not just the Nazi doctrine. In many cases, the individuals responsible for the Middle East’s post-1945 course had direct links to the Nazi era, they say.
“Comprehending this fact is the starting point for understanding modern Middle East history, its turbulence, tragedies and its many differences from other parts of the world,” Rubin and Schwanitz say.
Yes, they make a fascinating case for a starting point in trying to make sense of relations between Germany and the Middle East. But in this book they do not examine the record of contemporary Arab and Muslim leaders in much detail. They leave out other influences and other leading players that contributed to the making of the Middle East. Also, Rubin and Schwanitz seem to ignore that the antisemitism of the radical Islamists preceded their embrace of Nazism.
Rubin and Schwanitz have illuminated one diabolical aspect of a complex state of affairs – but much more remains to be said for a full understanding of the modern Middle East.
Robert Matas, a Vancouver-based writer, is a former journalist with the Globe and Mail. This review was originally published on the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library website and is reprinted here with permission. To reserve this book or any other, call 604-257-5181 or email [email protected]. To view the catalogue, visit jccgv.com and click on Isaac Waldman library.
The Farewell Party screens Nov. 10 in the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. (photo from VJFF)
One could compile a very long list of movies whose enjoyment is enhanced by watching them with someone you love. The Farewell Party is the rare film that should be seen with someone you trust with your life.
Israeli filmmakers Tal Granit and Sharon Maymon set their funny, sensitive and ultimately moving tale among a small coterie of longtime friends heroically maintaining their independence and dignity in a Jerusalem retirement home. The suffering of a terminally ill member of their circle forces them to consider the merit, and confront the risks, of friend-assisted suicide.
There’s some pithy dialogue about the difference between helping a buddy and committing murder, but The Farewell Party isn’t interested in advancing a position on euthanasia or even grappling with the ethics or morality of one’s right to die. The film’s concern is for the spouse tasked with the agonizing responsibility of carrying out the decision of a suffering husband or wife.
Lest this sound like a must-avoid movie of the week, Granit and Maymon filter the proceedings through the deliciously absurdist mix of baleful fatalism and real-world pragmatism that is Jewish humor.
Through its first half, The Farewell Party smoothly glides from deadpan comedy to black comedy to bittersweet comedy. The chuckles taper off en route to a perfectly conceived anti-climax, a poignant coda to the lifelong love affair to whose last chapters we’ve been privy.
The Farewell Party screens Nov. 10, 6:45 p.m., in the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival (vjff.org). Wonderfully played by a cadre of veteran comic actors, it’s the film for anyone who’s ever grumbled that nobody makes movies for older audiences anymore.
After a marvelously droll opening scene in which Yehezkel (Ze-ev Revah) plays God to persuade a beloved friend to choose life and continue her treatment, the retired inventor is reluctantly corralled into helping ease the anguish of an expiring pal.
“They’re keeping him alive as though dying was a crime,” says the man’s wife, Yana (Aliza Rozen).
One of the movie’s refreshingly tart assumptions is that the elderly can’t afford the luxury of self-deception. Well, with one huge exception, that is: Yehezkel refuses to acknowledge that his wife’s steadily worsening memory lapses will necessitate moving her to an assisted-living facility in the not-distant future.
Notwithstanding the recurring presence of Yehezkel and Levana’s adult daughter and grandchild, this is a film about a stratum of society – older people – that is essentially invisible to everyone but its distinguished (and roguish) members. Out of necessity, they are compelled to create their own community.
There are moments in The Farewell Party, consequently, that edge toward a comedy about codgers executing a heist, or a drama examining the portentous final stages of long-term relationship. But Granit and Maymon maintain such a solid grasp on their film’s tone and esthetic that it never tips too far in either direction. The austere palette of cool blues and greys, combined with the near-absence of music, eliminates any whiff of sentimentality or, for that matter, situation comedy. What comes through in every frame of The Farewell Party is compassion for the human condition. If you think about it, movies can’t offer anything more compelling – or rewarding – than that.
Michael Foxis a writer and film critic living in San Francisco.