Friday, April 24, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Pre-War Life of Polish Jewry Portrayed
in YIVO Documentary Film at DIA May 2
By ALAN HITSKY
The Detroit Film Theater
at the Detroit Institute of
Arts will present two show-
ings of a monumental film
on May 2, giving an historic
review of Jewish life in Po-
land from the turn of the
century to the outbreak of
World War II.
"Image Before My Eyes"
is a documentary produced
by the YIVO Institute for
r 1. ..wish Research with a
int from the National
randowment for the
Humanities. The 90-minute
film gives a documentary
overview of the changing
life and culture of East
European Jewry, centering
on life in Poland through
the use of historic photo-
graphs, black-and-white
film footage, and recent in-
terviews with Polish Jews
who survived the
Holocaust.
The moving film presents
a monumental portrait of a
culture that developed in
Poland over a 900-year
period. As the film points
out, only 250,000 Polish
Jews out of a population of
3.5 million Polish Jews,
survived the Holocaust.
But the Holocaust is
not the film's focus. Even
in the 1930s, when -the
storm clouds loomed
ominously on the hori-
zon, "Image Before My
Eyes" accurately por-
trays those clouds by
showing how Polish
Jewry reacted to the
changing world, the in-
creasing anti-Semitism,
through their organiza-
tions, their cultural de-
velopment, their political
awareness.
The YIVO film shows the
shtetl life, the transition
and development of Jewish
life in the cities, the rise of
Hasidism among the Or-
thodox and the development
of secular, socialist and
other political movements
within Polish Jewry.
It traces the lower classes
of Jews, the beggars and day
laborers, and shows the few
wealthy. It stresses the de-
velopment of the political
movements in the 1920s
and 1930s, from the Zionists
to the anti-Zionists, from
the Labor Zionists to the
Bund, the Hebraists vs. the
* *
Yiddishists, and shows the
leaders in rare film clips
and family photographs.
The film's many inter-
views with Polish Jews are
delightful and educational.
The film is often
punctuated with childhood
songs in Yiddish or Polish
that illustrate the times.
The songs are translated
with English subtitles and
the interviews are trans-
lated as they occur, often by
relatives of the speaker.
"Image Before My
Eyes" recaptures a cul-
ture, vibrant, living,
Israel March Senior's Goal
changing society that
lived within an economic
and political pressure-
cooker as a separate
entity for nearly 1,000
years.
The political facts, the
historic reality of the on-
coming Holocaust are al-
ways present for the viewer,
but the film's focus is on
what was, not what is.
What is may not strike
home until the film ends be-
cause the reality is that as
this film ended, so did the
life that it so remarkably
portrays.
The Detroit Film Theater
will have two showings of
"Image Before My Eyes": 7
p.m. and 9:30 p.m. May 2 in
the Detroit Institute of Arts
Auditorium.
There is a nominal charge
for tickets, which may be
purchased at the door or in
advance through the DIA
ticket office, 832-2730.
By BEN GALLOB
Jewish working mothers
interviewed in a recent Bos-
ton study reported they
found support in their
Jewish values but very lit-
tle help from Jewish com-
munal agencies in dealing
with their special problems
as mothers and working
women, according to the
newsletter of the National
Jewish Family Cen-
ter (NJFC) of the American
Jewish Committee.
The report noted that
college-educated young
women "are no longer ask-
ing themselves whether to
bark on serious profes-
,,onal careers" and that for
them, the question now is
"whether they will also
have children," an issue of
critical importance to a
Jewish community imple-
menting a zero population
growth pattern.
The interview of 97 work-
ing Jewish mothers with
three or more children was
made by Linda Kuzmak for
the NJFC to learn how such
women "have met the chal-
lenge of career and mother-
hood."
Among the questions to
May 3.
"I have to get better now,"
he frets, "in time for the
march." Joffre, a retired
chemist, who is now con-
valescing, insists that his
step is firm, his eyes are
clear and his personality
unruffled by time.
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Study Shows Lack of Communal Aid
Available for Working Jewish Mothers
(Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.)
TORONTO (JTA) — Dr.
Joseph Joffre of Montreal is
106 years old and recently
underwent minor surgery
at Montreal's Jewish Gen-
eral Hospital. But age will
not stop him from par-
ticipating in the annual
"March to Jerusalem" on
Princeton's
The top photograph shows the shtetl of Kre-
menits, Poland in 1925. The bottom photograph shows
a kibutz outside Grodno. During the 1920s and 1930s
dozens of kibutzim were established in Poland to pre-
pare for a socialist life in pre-state Israel.
which the study sought
answers were: What
made these women take
on their dual respon-
sibilities? What problems
did they encounter and
how have they coped?
How have their com-
bined roles affected their
feelings about them-
selves and their relations
with their husbands and
children?
The study also sought in-
formation on whether the
working mothers were
strengthened by their
Jewish backgrounds,
whether they obtained sup-
port from Jewish institu-
tions, and what advice they
would offer other young
women contemplating
careers and motherhood.
The study found that
most of the women inter-
viewed confronted many ob-
stacles. These included dif-
ficulty in finding acceptable
child care, as well as inflex-
ible work schedules, mari-
tal and personal tensions
and "too little time for
themselves."
The working mothers
suggested a substantial
variety of services they felt
the Jewish community
such
might provide
mothers. One was reduced
fees for large families at
Jewish community centers,
day schools, synagogue
schools and summer camps.
In most cases, the newslet-
ter added, such reduced fees
are currently available only
to families with low in-
comes.
Good Jewish day care
programs "at affordable
prices" was suggested, as
were baby-sitter pools of
teenagers, old persons or
both. Another proposal
was for car pools to help
transport parents to
work and children to
school and after-school
activities.
Another proposal was for
"time-sharing and child-
care arrangements for staff
members — female and
male — of Jewish organiza-
tions, to enable them to be
home with small children
part of the day."
Elected President
PHILADELPHIA —
Rabbi Elliot Skiddell, of
Philadelphia, was elected
president of the Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbinical Associa-
tion at its recent convention.
11
MARK SCOTT RATNER
Son of
Dr. & Mrs. Lawrence Ratner
Temple Israel
March 28th
MICHAEL KRAFT
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March 28th
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March 21st
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Temple Israel
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