:!
Power of the Movie Screen as Weapon of Knowledge, Agitation
By HERBERT G. LUFT
Caul 'VIP `£L6V-7ti2pSdo3)
Motion pictures have
unique powers to serve as a
crutch against mental and
physical collapse.
In a scean from the mo-
etion picture based on Alex-
ander Solzhenitsyn's "One
Day in the Life of Ivan Den-
osovich," the camera singles
out a couple of wretched con-
victs in a dreary Siberian
slave labor camp while the
micophone picks up snatches
of muffled conversation.
In all earnestness, the two
prisoners discuss aesthetics
of Russian films, especially
the artistic values of S. M.
Eisenstein's classic, "Potem-
kin." They argue about the
director's basic integrity as
if such a thing would matter
behind the barbed wire of the
detention camp where men
suffer in sub-zero weather,
freezing and hungry and near
collapse.
Solzhenitsyn appraises the
importance of the film med-
ium in a work that has
reached the screen.
The slave laborers, en-
dispute, for a few minutes
were a million light years
removed from their daily
misery. To people in normal
conditions, the dispute about
refinement versus simplicity
in the work of Soviet film di-
rector Eisenstein seems gro-
tesque, if not outright ridic-
ulous. But the Nobel prize-
winning novelist, who experi-
enced the hardships of a de-
tention camp, knows of lone-
liness and despair and senses
the hidden powers of the
screen to create peace of
mind and contentment.
Cultural life had ceased to
exist for us in Germany in
1937 when movies, concerts
and theaters were sealed off
to the non-Aryan minority.
Only the Jewish "Kultur-
bund" supplied us with en-
tertainment and enlighten-
ment and somewhat meager
enjoyment. Molly Picon's
Polish-made picture of 1937
"Yiddel mit dem Fiddle,"
became a major film event
in our drab and dreary ex-
istence. The unsophisticated,
rather primitive movie had
a soothing effect on those
who had almost given up any
hope for survival.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the
father of the Bolshevik rev-
olution, as early as 1918, rec-
ognized "that among the
instruments of art and educa-
tion, the cinema can and
must have the greatest sig-
nificance for the state. It is
a poi,verflul weapon of scien-
tific knowledge and the most
effective agitation."
To the masters of the Third
Reich, a motion picture was
a propaganda weapon more
deadly than a machine-gun.
They fought World War II
more effectively with the
camera than with the mec-
hanized weapons in the field.
While 15-year-old boys were
drafted into the . Wehrmacht
to defend the home front,
Famous Tolstoy Vow .. .
Jew as Emblem of Eternity
By LEO TOLSTOY
What is a Jew? This ques-
tion is not at all so odd as it
seems. Let us see what kind
of peculiar creature the Jew
is, which all the rulers and
all nations have together and
separately abused and mol-
ested, oppressed and perse-
cuted, trampled and butch-
ered, burned and hanged—
and in spite of all this is yet
alive! What is a Jew, who
has never allowed himself
to be led astray by all the
earthly possessions constantly
offered him in order that he
should change his faith and
forsake his own Jewish re-
ligion?
The Jew is that sacred being
who has brought down from
heaven the everlasting fire,
and has illumined with it the
entire world. He is the relig-
ious source, spring, and foun-
tain out of which all the rest
of the peoples have drawn
their beliefs and their relig-
ions.
The Jew is the pioneer of
liberty. Even in those olden
days, when the people were
divided into but two distinct
classes, slaves and masters
—even so long ago had the
law of Moses prohibited the
practice of keeping a person
in bondage for more than six
years.
The Jew is the pioneer of
civilization. Ignorance was
Please join us in our magnificent sanctuary and
condemned in olden Palestine
help us bring in the New Year.
more even than it is today in
civilized Europe. Moreover,
in those wild barbarous days,
Featuring one of the worlds greatest known cantors
when neither life nor death of
our 'own beloved cantor Hyman J. Adler.
any one counted for anything
at all, Rabbi Akiba did not
refrain from expressing him-
Featuring Rabbi Hayim Donin renown author of
self openly against capital
punishment, a practice which
"To Be A Jew", and outstanding orator and teacher
is recognized today as a
for the past 20 years.
highly civilized way of pun-
ishment.
Inquire about the different types of memberships
The Jew is the emblem of
that are available. Please call 557-8210.
civil and religious toleration.
"Love the stranger and the
sojourner," Moses com-
mands, "because you have
been strangers in the land of
The Birmingham Temple
Egypt." And this was said
in those remote and savage
times when the principal am-
bition of the races and
nations consisted in crushing
and enslaving one another.
As concerns religious toler-
ation, the Jewish faith is not
only far from the missionary
sprit of converting people of
Jewish Histories and Heroes
other denominations, but on
Hebrew Customs and Ceremonies
the contrary the Talmud
commands the Rabbis to in-
• A NEW Kind of Jewish Education
form and explain to every one
For Your Children
who willingly comes to accept
the Jewish religion, all the
NURSERY THROUGH GRADE 9
difficulties involved in its ac-
ceptance, and to point out to
REGISTRATION:
the would-be proselyte that
the righteous of all nations
have a share in immorality.
a.m. - 1 2 noon
Of such a lofty and ideal re-
ligious toleration not even the
moralists of our present day
can boast.
The Jew is the emblem of
The Center of Humanistic Judaism
eternity. He whom neither
12 Mile, East of Middlebelt
slaughter nor torture of thou-
Services: Friday, 8:30 p.m.
sands of years could destroy,
he whom neither fire nor
26—Friday, September 7, 1973 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS sword nor inquisition aws able
Elect
JACK KELLEY
Council
CONGREGATION
B'NAI DAVID
HIGH HOLY DAYS
Sunday School
Bar Mitzva & Confirmation Programs
• Humanistic Ethics
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
io:oo
BIRMINGHAM TEMPLE
477-0177
film and stage personalities
were deferred from active
service in the armed forces
of the Greater Reich; they
continued to enjoy exclusive
status as being irreplaceable.
Feature motion pictures
such as Veit Harlan's "Judd
Suess," and the cunningly
edited semi-documentary
"The Eternal Jew," contribu-
ted more to the mass exter-
to wipe off from the face of
the earth, he who was
the first to produce the ora-
cles of God, he who has been
for so long the guardian of
prophecy, and who trans-
mitted it to the rest of the
world—such a nation cannot
be destroyed. The Jew is
everlasting as is eternity it-
self.
mination of Jews than did the
radio voices of Hitler, Goeb-
bels, Goering and Himmler
combined. People streamed
out of the movie houses as a
solid lynch mob to seek out
potential victims of their
hatred, a hatred forced upon
them by the screen.
At a documentary film fes-
tival in Mannheim, Germany
in 1960, a series of Nazi atro-
city pictures were shown to
us by our hosts. During
a subsequent international
press conference, I discussed
in detail the collective crimes
committed during the era of
Hitlerism. My German lis-
teners snapped back, point-
ing to the genocide of the
American Indians only too
well documented in our own
movies.
During my childhood days
in Germany, crime and gang-
sterism was identified with
Chicago because we took our
clue from the series of un-
derworld pictures than flood-
ing the market. People are
apt to believe what they se
3 - DAYS ONLY - 3
SEPT. 28 - 29 - 30
ABC ENTERTAINMENT and THE SHUBERT ORGANIZATION 7
present THE HERBERT WASSERMAN PRODUCTION
Oil Nationalization
an Economic Step
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Poli-
tical sources in Jerusalem be-
lieve that the oil nationaliza-
tion in Libya has an economic
motive and not a political
one. The sources believe that
the Libyan move has no con-
nection with the Middle East
crisis nor is it aimed to press
the U.S. to change its Middle
East policy. The energy cri-
sis in the U.S. is also be-
lieved to be a result of eco-
nomic rather than political
circumstances. The sources
said that the U.S. govern-
ment shares the same views.
The Israeli press had its
own ideas about the Libyan
move.
Davar (Histadrut) wrote
that Israel need not regret
the Libyan nationalization.
Yet, further developments
will be of utmost interest to
Israel, the paper said.
Haaretz (non=party) noted
that with a dash of caution
such a step-by-step nationali-
zation, coupled with promises
for compensation, Libya will
have achieved the goals of
Arab oil-producing national-
ists.
Hatzofeh (National Reli-
gious) expressed belief that
Libya will get away with na-
tionalizing oil production,
running oil installations as in
the past and blackmailing
the Western world.
Talmudic Rules
on Family Life
Every man is king in his
own home. — Abot de-R.
Nathan.
There was once a man who
made a will saying that his
son should inherit nothing
of his until he became a
fool. Two sages went to con-
sult Rabbi Joshua ben Karha
about this matter, and as
they approached his dwel-
ling, they were shocked to
see him crawling on his
hands and knees with a reed
in his mouth, playing with
his little son. They waited
in hiding till the game
ceased, and then drew near
and asked the Rabbi's opin-
ion about the will.
He laughed and sa i d,
`That father must have
meant for his son to marry
and have children. Behold,
once a man begets young
ones, he acts like a fool!"—
Midrash Techillim.
Power flows to the man
who knows how.—Elbert Hub-
bard.
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