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. 

 

Searching for Holocaust Memory

The Delegation (המשלחת), directed by Asaf Saban, won the award for best screenplay at the 40^th annual Jerusalem Film Festival, this past week.

According to the jury for Israeli feature films at the festival: “With a very contradicted and difficult subject matter, this script finds a very clever and special perspective which does not ignore the past of the topic, but also finds a fresh answer for the new generation.”

About a class trip to Poland, this is a joyful film, full of warmth and good spirit.  The story focuses on three good friends, 2 boys and a girl – Ido is popular with the girls, Frisch is hoping to have a first sexual experience, and Nitzan is the glue that holds them together.  There is the fooling around in the hotel, some drinking, and also some serious moments. 

It was nice to see that there is a section of the story that deals with encounters with the local Polish population (because most trips to Poland ignore the contemporary reality completely).  When Frisch gets left behind as the bus pulls out from a rest stop it leads to his meetings with the local people, which adds an interesting perspective to the film.  

Just as I was feeling that the film doesn’t deal enough with memory and how the viewer, as the younger generation, fits into that picture, Nitzan, who is a bit crazed by what she sees, steals a shoe from those masses of old shoes in a scene that is very hard-hitting.  Nevertheless, I was left feeling a bit disappointed since it seemed to me that the young people didn’t seem to understand or even care about why they went on this journey to visit the death camps. Similarly, the filmmaker wasn’t adequately able to express it. There just wasn’t enough grappling with Holocaust memory and its implications for young Jews growing up in Israel today.

 

 

Issues of Memory and the Shoah

Some of Israel's best award-winning documentary films of the last few years deal with issues of memory and the Holocaust --

check out:

• ·         Arnon Goldfinger's The Flat
• ·         David Fisher's Six Million and One
• ·         Yael Hersonski's A Film Unfinished
• ·         Tal Haim Yoffe's The Green Dumpster Mystery
• ·         Netalie Braun's The Hangman

Reviews of these films have previously appeared on this blog! 

Restoration

Restoration (Hebrew title: Good Morning Mr. Fiedelman), directed by Yossi Madmony, is a sensitive and moving look at father-son relations.and at memory. 

Last week at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the film won a prize for best Israeli feature film.  The statement of the jury was as follows: "For its exploration of fatherhood in its many manifestations – tender, angry and finally hopeful – in a highly original and moving context."   

The film also won awards for best editing, music and cinematography.

See my previous review for more information.

Restoration by Yossi Madmony

Restoration, directed by Yossi Madmony, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival last night.  It is a touching and sensitive study of a man and his relationship with his son.  A film about our attachment to old things and memory -- Mr. Fiedelman (Sasson Gabai) works at restoring antique furniture.  His partner of 40 years dies suddenly of a heart attack after a visit from a prostitute.  Previously, Fiedelman worked with the wood and his partner did the dealings with customers and suppliers.  Now, he has to handle all aspects of the business and he discovers that the situation is not so good.   

His ambitious son, Noah, wants to close his father's shop and instead build an apartment building on the premises.  But Fiedelman is not so ready to give up his life work.  He pins his hopes on his new, young apprentice, who himself is hiding from the world and running from his family (though we do not learn why). The apprentice, who tries desperately to win Fiedelman's trust and help him raise the cash to keep his business running, is an accomplished pianist.  He entices Fiedelman into restoring an antique Steinway piano that they find in the back of the shop. Perhaps this will help them raise the funds needed. 

As the rivalry between the two "sons" increases, the apprentice becomes involved with Noah's pregnant wife.  Thus the two "sons" are competing for the attentions of the same woman and, at the same time, competing for the father's inheritance and blessing. Note the Biblical theme.

Erez Kav-El won the award for best dramatic screenplay for his script for this film at Sundance. Restoration (Hebrew title: Good Morning Mr. Fiedelman) is available from the producer, Chaim Sharir.

It's interesting to note that two additional recent films deal with father-son relations --
Dusk and Footnote, both reviewed on this blog in the last month.

The Hangman

The Hangman, directed by Netalie Braun, is a powerful and complex documentary portrait of the man who was Eichmann's executioner. This is a close look at a very special man.

Shalom Nagar is a 75-year-old Yemenite, ultra-orthodox (haredi) man who makes a living as a ritual slaughterer (shochet). As a prison guard, 50 years ago, he was the one who actually pressed the button to open the floor under Eichmann at his hanging. Then he had to lift him and help to remove the body. He says that he had nightmares for a year and that, as a result, he was strengthened in his religious beliefs and he became a ritual slaughterer. It is apparent that this event helped to shape the course of his life. Shalom went on to work at the Hebron prison where he was assistant warden and was one of the founding settlers of Kiryat Arba (the Jewish settlement abutting Hebron).

But this film is about much more – it is about Shalom's very special humanity, his warm and loving personality and his charm and sense of humor. According to the filmmaker, Netalie Braun, who spoke at a symposium following the screening on March 15, 2011, at Mishkenot Sha'ananim: There is much compassion here and also a paradox. Shalom is the hangman and also the ritual slaughterer. But he states clearly: "Thou shalt not kill." Even though he is a Yemenite Jew, he saw himself as if he had been a survivor of the Holocaust, which is one of the most unique aspects of this film, since all too often it is assumed that Sephardic Jews did not see the Holocaust as part of their historical identity.

Another surprising element of his personality was elaborated upon by the filmmaker in her discussion with the audience last week. She told us that Shalom created a revolution at the Hebron prison where he was the assistant warden when he wouldn't permit the guards to beat the Arab prisoners. Also, in a very unusual step, he made special arrangements for the prisoners to cook for themselves since the food being offered was so terrible!

This film presents us with a very authentic and surprising voice of a man who had clearly seen a lot and experienced some traumatic moments in his personal life and in the life of the State of Israel. Previously, Shalom had no voice, since he was not permitted to speak out by the authorities in Israel. Moreover, as a Sephardic and ultra-orthodox Jew in Israel, he was considered to be peripheral, not only in Israeli society in general, but also in respect to the subject of the Holocaust as well as the subject of the treatment of Palestinians under Occupation. But here, in this film, he has the central platform and his humanity, compassion and charm all come through loud and clear.

This is a film about life and death seen through the unique perspective of one man. The metaphor, of course, is the prison guard or hangman who becomes the slaughterer and conducts the ceremony of kaparot before Yom Kippur, helping others with their atonement. (Kaparot is a mystical ceremony practiced by ultra-orthodox Jews in which a chicken is swung over your head, giving you a clean slate as your sins are symbolically transferred away to the chicken.)

Finally, the film has a paradoxical political twist. When the infamous Jewish doctor, Baruch Goldstein, slaughtered Muslims at prayer at the Cave of the Machpelah in Hebron on Purim in 1994, Shalom was no longer capable of living in Kiryat Arba and he moved away in protest. According to the filmmaker, his humanism should be seen in contrast to those celebrating (after Baruch Goldstein's rampage) in Kiryat Arba. This is an amazing political statement--which clearly upset some of the Jews in the audience last week in Jerusalem. Indeed, Eichmann's hangman has trouble with the massacre of Palestinians by a Jewish settler. Clearly, in his view, Jews should not behave this way after what was done to us in the Holocaust!

The Hangman was awarded the prize for best Israeli documentary at the Haifa Film Festival in 2010. Produced with support from the Rabinovich Foundation - Film Project and the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund, it is available from Hedva Goldshmidt at Go2Films.

Description of a Memory

Description of a Memory, directed by Dan Geva, is a poetic essay using references to the original Chris Marker classic film, Description of a Struggle, winner of the Golden Bear at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival.

In this updated version, Dan Geva succeeds in creating a dialogue with Chris Marker, using grainy images from then compared with the new, remarking on the sights and sounds, bringing us the protagonists of 30 years before and helping us to understand where Israel is going. This is a look at Israel today, through the lens of yesterday. Questioning, critically probing, seeking memory.

Who are we? What are our dreams? How have we changed since the original film in 1960?
The film includes signs and cryptic images from then and now. Then: a burnt tank, concrete walls, an Arab boy on a cart, a camel, a coin. Today: McDonald's, a road blocked by a wall "born of hatred and of living in fear", disengagement, land confiscation.

The film is made up of 13 memories or sequences. Just a few of them --

Assassination in the name of God
A weekly meeting of a kibbutz, a utopian society which was "meant to counteract all the axioms of the old world." The meeting is presided over by the kibbutz general secretary, Rachel Rabin, sister of Israel's later-to-be prime minister. Now that the utopian society is no more, the filmmaker revisits Rachel. In that original scene, she was wearing a pin that her brother Yitzhak brought her from a secret mission outside the country. Interestingly, he was talented and experienced in protecting himself from without, "but not from the dangers lurking within."

The Urgency to Make Peace not War
At the Wailing Wall, soldiers swear an oath and are inducted into the army. The narrator states: "Stronger than their will to die for their country is someone else's will to sacrifice them." The other side of the coin: A youngster pushing a cart in East Jerusalem dreaming of blowing himself up. Why are both sides so willing to sacrifice their sons in the name of country?

Materialism
In the original film, Noah Rosenfeld, chess champion at the age of 11, grew up on a kibbutz, "in a world where money had ceased to matter." Years later, we see him as a high school teacher, living in the city, criticizing the materialism that he sees around him.

The Disengagement – A Moment of truth
Two sides of the coin. The filmmaker's closest friend from childhood is being uprooted from his home as part of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. He sees his home as part of a "divine promise" whereas the filmmaker sees it as "tragic hubris." Two childhood friends -- "to each his own memory".

Description of a Memory is bookmarked by pictures of an artist. As a young girl in the original film, Chris Marker saw her as the "swan girl" (because of her stunningly beautiful and long neck) and his film portrayed her as an image or sign of Israel for the future. Dan Geva finds her today, living and painting in London, and sees her not as a swan or a sign but as a human being. And that is the crux of the film -- Israelis are not symbols or metaphors. Israelis are real people living real lives, grappling with issues and sometimes messing up.

Photographed with a fisheye lens causing a distorted, hemispherical image, the film is strikingly compelling and lyrical (2006, 80 minutes). It is available from JMT Films.