Recommendations for Selichot Programs This Year

 I have tried to choose subjects which are particularly relevant this year.

PTSD

In the post October7th, 2023 period, and during this ongoing war, we have begun to see the terrible effects of war and trauma.  Literally thousands of Israelis, mostly young soldiers, are suffering from some form of post traumatic stress.  Although made before October 7^th, 50 Broken Pieces, directed by Micha Amitai, is a strikingly moving documentary film (70 minutes) which provides a portrayal of two men in crisis and offers us a glimpse into how shellshock can affect a person’s life.  

A Memoir by Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr was well-known in Israel for two major achievements – he directed the iconic coming-of-age film, Late Summer Blues (1986), and he was the founding director for 30 years of the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School in Jerusalem.  He died just a few months ago.

In his sophisticated documentary film, Wake Up, Grandson – Letters to My Rebellious Rabbi (המעורר) (93 minutes), Schorr has combined three elements -- a personal memoir, the story of the state of Israel (since its establishment in 1948), and the story of his grandfather who had a profound impact on his life.  

I suggest that you recommend to your participants to watch LateSummer Blues before coming to see this highly recommended memoir!

Looking Back Two Years

The story of the terrible massacre that occurred at a roadside shelter (מיגונית) near Kibbutz Re’im on that terrible day, October 7^th, 2023, can be seen in its entirety in the hard-hitting documentary film The Last Recording (Hebrew title: Death Shelter: The Last Recording), by Assaf Liberman and Nadav Ben Zur.  Here is the story that so many people have heard – the terrorists threw grenades into the shelter and Aner, repeatedly picked them up and threw them back out.  He was a true hero.  This is when his friend, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, lost his hand. 

Holocaust Memory

Perhaps you would prefer a feature film, instead of a documentary? 

The Property, directed by Dana Modan, is a Holocaust feature film that includes a bit of romance, some nostalgia, a lot of humor and an array of quirky characters. 

 

Late Summer Blues Director Renen Schorr Creates a Personal Memoir

Wake Up, Grandson – Letters to My Rebellious Rabbi (המעורר) is a documentary film, directed and written by Renen Schorr Heller.  Renen Schorr is well-known in Israel for two major achievements – he directed the iconic 1986 film, Late Summer Blues, and he was the founding director of the Sam Spiegel Film and TV School in Jerusalem, which now sits in one of four buildings in a major impressive cultural complex in downtown Jerusalem.  Schorr served for 30 years in that position from 1989 to 2018.

 In this sophisticated documentary film, he has combined three elements -- a personal memoir, the story of the state of Israel (since its establishment in 1948), and the story of his grandfather who had a profound impact on his life.  In so doing, he combines documentary footage, family movies and stills, and even some re-enactments. The results are a fabulous interweaving, with superb editing and excellent cinematography (particularly of Jerusalem and Safed).

Schorr’s grandfather, Rabbi Avraham Zeida Heller, was an orthodox rabbi, fourth generation in Safed. In fact, his own grandfather had been the chief rabbi of Safed in the early 19^th century!  Rabbi Avraham Zeida Heller was the head of a Safed yeshivah during the War of Independence and was known for believing in both the importance of prayer and military defense.  He is quoted in the film as saying: “It is important to recite Psalms, but the miracle was when the Palmach arrived!” He was married with five daughters, one of whom was the mother of Renen Schorr. 

The film is centered around many years of an exchange of letters between the grandfather and the grandson.  The elder is forever begging his grandson (in literary Hebrew) to give up his love of Truffaut and to follow the path of Uri Zohar, to carry on the Jewish tradition. [Uri Zohar, who was a hero to Schorr in his early years of filmmaking in the 1970s, was a famous Israeli filmmaker who gave up film for a life as an ultra-orthodox rabbi.]

In this poignantly personal film, Schorr portrays his growing up, his living through the War of Attrition with Egypt (1969-1970), army life, his service as a war correspondent, the horrors of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, his gradual falling in love with the field of cinema and his profession as a teacher and filmmaker.  The descriptions of the hardships of producing a full-length feature film as a young artist were eye-opening.  Moreover, the footage that he found and used in the film was stupendous, including footage from Late Summer Blues itself. This famous film was well-known in Israel for its satirical criticism of the War of Attrition with Egypt. The screenplay raised many critical questions about the goals and futility of war, which are particularly relevant for our current situation in Israel today, when we are fighting two wars of attrition.

In 1989, Schorr was chosen by Teddy Kollek, the popular mayor of Jerusalem, to head a new film school which was being established at that time.  Schorr had to contend with the obstacle of drawing secular film students away from Tel Aviv and bringing them to Jerusalem.

The film reveals the tensions in Israeli society between the religious and secular, between the film world of Tel Aviv and the dreams of Teddy Kollek for Jerusalem, between the holiness of Safed and the hedonism of Tel Aviv. 

Schorr’s grandfather lived well into his 90’s and a final request is sent to his grandson – make a movie about me.  Towards the end of the film, Schorr changes his name officially to Renen Schorr Heller, as a beautiful way of memorializing his grandfather, and he undertakes to direct a scene which was written by his grandfather and which takes place at the turn of the 20^th century in Safed. 

Wake Up, Grandson is an extraordinary documentary film (93 minutes) – beautifully conceived, with great pacing, which combines the personal and the national in an  effortless way.

The film is available from Go2Films.