,

62 Friday, February 76, 1982

THE RTRUIT JEWISH,NEWS,

Film Center Is Latest Addition
to Israel's 'Cultural Kilometer'

.

By HELENA FLUSFEDER

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM — Under-
neath Jerusalem's Old City
walls, between the artists'
quarter of Yemin Moshe
and the Ben Hinom Valley,
new cultural projects have
transformed this part of the
City into what is nowadays
being called Jerusalem's
"cultural kilometer."
The imposing white
facade of a newly recon-
structed building, which
stands on the far side of the
valley, is a good example,
taking its place alongside
the Sultan's Pool amphi-
theater, Arts Lane (Hutsot
Hayotzer), and the guest
house and music center of
Mishkenot Hashaananim.
The new Jerusalem Film
Center is the brainchild of
Lia Van Leer, in collabora-
tion with the Jerusalem
Foundation, which spon-
sored and financed it. It
houses three related in-
stitutions, the Jerusalem
Cinematheque, the Israel
Film Archive and the Cen-
ter for Jewish Film.
The cinematheque
opened its first season
early last December with
the main theme of Women
in Film, including such
classics as "Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?",
"Now Voyager," "Sunset
Boulevard" and Israeli
writer Amos Oz's "My
Michael."
Mrs. Van Leer, its direc-
tor, told me that the
"cinematheque is the only
place to see films, for exam-
ple, of 20 years ago." She
created the new cinema
complex (or cinematheque)
because it was only popular
American films that were
largely being shown and
there was no way to make
world cinema accessible.
"Until now, film has not
been considered an art. Now
the cinematheque does for
film what a museum does

The new Jerusalem Film Center, located beneath
the walls of the Old City. The center houses a
"cinematheque," film archives and a library.

for art. It stores and shows
what has been done."
The first film club in Is-
rael was started in Haifa in
1955, by Lia and her hus-
band, Wim Van Leer. An-
other cinematheque opened
in Tel Aviv 10 years ago,
and until the present date
Jerusalem's cinematheque
was located in the jour-
nalists' center, Bet Agron.
The Jerusalem Film Arc-
hive will hold a collection of
over 3,500 film titles from
all over the world, including
TV documentaries and•Rus-
sian Polish and Yiddish
films from the 1920s and
1930s. The subjects of these
Jewish melodramas are
often similar, documenting
the struggle between as-
similation and tradition.
There are also German
propaganda films about the
Jews, and special programs
of films and lectures on the
Holocaust are planned.
The center's library has a
capacity for 3,000 books.
"We want to bring schools in
the morning, several times
a week, for lectures and dis-
cussions on the cinema," she
said.
These will be held in
the smaller of the two au-
ditoriums, which will
seat up to 60 people and
will also have facilities to

Gemini Performs at Temple

Twins Laszlo and Sandor Slomovits, who perform
as Gemini, rehearse for their forthcoming concert at
the Birmingham Temple for its Vivace Series.

Gemini, comprised of
twin • brothers Laszlo and
Sandor Slomovits, will per-
form in concert 3 p.m.
March 7 at the Birmingham
Temple.
Born in Budapest, Hun-
gary, the Solomovits
brothers lived in Israel prior
to moving to the U.S. In
their concerts, they sing

Hebrew, Yiddish, Hunga-
rian and English songs.
The brothers perform
many of their own composi 2
tions and play many in-
struments.
Refreshments will be
served, and the public is in-
vited at a charge. For ticket
information, call Evelyn
Kreger, 544-8350.

show Super 8 film, as well
as video. The large au-
ditorium has 320 seats
and two films will be
shown each night. All of
the programs for each
season will be built
"around a cerain subject,
film director or genre."
There are plans to hold a
film workshop, where
Super 8 film will be
taught, and a selection of
the films will be shown in
the auditoriums.

The museum of "pre-
cinema objects" is set up in a
large white room, with ex-
hibition cases of photo-
graphic equipment from the
late 1800's, including magic
lanterns and the first
cameras. A film storage
room has storing capacity of
up to 10,000 films, and an-
other room contains film-
editing facilities. These are
all part of the center for
Jewish film, whose main
purpose in the "acquisition,
documentation and
preservation of Jewish film.
This cinematic project
was largely brought into
being through financial aid
by a Russian, George Os-
trovsky. He was possibly in-
spired by his daughters'
love of the cinema, as well
as by the desire 'to do some-
thing for Israel.'
Mrs. Van Leer em-
phasized the importance of
the cinematheque as a
"meeting place for the
young," and the large
coffee-house, already deco-
rated with modern posters,
will help to make the com-
plex more than just a place
to see film. Ever since its
opening it has, in fact, be-
come the talk of the town in
Jerusalem.
Members of the
cinematheque will have
programs mailed to them
as well as reductions on
their tickets. (Member-
ship fees for students and
senior citizens are 75
shekels — about $5, and
those for the rest of the
public are 100 shekels —
about $7). Disabled
people will be able to
come in free of charge,
and there is a special
elevator for the handi-
capped.
With a unique and un-
forgettable view across the
valley and up towards the
walls of the Old City, a spec-
tacular and functional com-
plex has been created.

Kabala Expert Scholem Dies

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Gershom Scholem, one of
the foremost Jewish histo-
rians of this century whose
research into the Kabala
shed new light on the role of
mysticism in Jewish his-
tory, died Feb. 20 at age 84.
A lecturer at the Hebrew
University since 1925, Prof.
Scholem was born in Berlin
to an assimilated family but
became interested in
Judaism at an early age.
His absorption with the sub-
ject was fanned by his con-
tacts with such writers,
scholars and philosophers
as Martin Buber, Chaim
Nachman Bialik, S.Y.
Agnon and Zalman Shazar,
who was later to be a
president of Israel.
As a young scholar, Mr.
Scholem went to the origi-
nal source. His doctoral
thesis was on the "Sefer
Habahir" (The Book of Clar-
ity), one of the basic books of
the Kabala, which he trans-
lated into German. His first
research work was pub-
lished in Germany in 1923,
the year he settled in Pales-
tine.

Adolph Goldberg

V;.

ADOLPH GOLDBERG

Adolph Goldberg, a real
estate investor and a part-
ner in the Community
Theaters, died Feb. 19 at
age 70.
A native Detroiter, Mr.
Goldberg owned the theat-
ers with his twin brother,
Irving. Pioneers in the
movie business here, Mr.
Goldberg and his brother
were known as the Goldberg
Twins.
He was a member of Tem-
ple Beth El, Franklin Hills
Country Club, Downtown
Synagogue, Variety Club,
and was a past president of
the Standard City Club. Mr.
Goldberg was a first
lieutenant during World
War II in the U.S. Air Force.
In addition, Mr.
Goldberg was the former
chief barker of the
Variety Club, Tent No. 5,
and received the .1964
Knight of Charity Award
from Maryglade College.
He held membership in
the Hundred Club. He
was a founder of the
Downtown Synagogue.
Mr. Goldberg was
graduated from Ferris State
College and Highland Park
Community College.
Besides his brother, he
leaves two sisters, Mrs.
Hyman (Bernice) Kramer
and Mrs. Robert (Reva)
Jacob.

During his first two
years there he served as
head of the Judaica and
Hebrew departments of
the Hebrew University's
library, and afterwards
as a professor of Kabala.
In the course of nearly 60
years, he published hun-
dreds of books, articles and
research papers which
today form a comprehensive
archive on Kabalism. He
discovered many unknown
manuscripts and de-
ciphered the language of
Kabala.
One of his major scholarly
achievements was to prove
that the "Zohar," the most
famous of the Kabala books,
was written in the 13th
Century by Rabbi Moshe de
Leon, not by Rabbi Shimon
Bar Yohai as previously be-
lieved. In his later years,
Mr. Scholem devoted him-
self to research on the mes-
sianic movements in
Judaism.
(Mr. Schlolem's books have
been reviewed extensively
in The Detroit Jewish News
for the past 15 years. Many
of which have been re-
viewed by historian Allen
Warsen.
Mr. Scholem's latest
book, "Walter Benjamin
— The Story of Friend-
ship" (Jewish Publica-
tion Society) was re-
viewed in the Feb. 12
issue of The Jewish
News.)
Mr. Scholem was
emeritus professor of
Jewish mysticism at He-
brew University. He retired
in 1965. From 1956 to 1957,
he was visiting professor at

Brandeis Loses
Two Trustees

WALTHAM, Mass. —
Rubin Epstein of Brookline,
a trustee of Brandeis Uni-
versity since 1969, died Feb.
15. He was 74.
• Mr. Epstein was awarded
an Honorary Doctor of
Humane Letters degree by
Brandeis at its 29th com-
mencement in May 1980.
It also was reported that
Samuel L. Slosberg, a long-
time trustee of Brandeis
University and one of its
early supporters, died Feb.
11. He was 84.
Through Mr. Slosberg's
family foundation, he and
his wife, Helen, established
the Slosberg Music Center
at Brandeis University,
which was dedicated in
1957 in memory of his par-
ents.

JTS Sculpture
Winner Chosen

NEW YORK — Daniel
Kafri has been named the
winner of a sculpture
competition conducted by
the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America.
The invitational competi-
tion was conducted in 1980
among 20 Israeli sculptors.
The $10,000 prize in-
cludes the actual production
and placement of the
finished work in the garden
at the seminary's
Jerusalem campus.

GERSHOM SCHOLE1r-

Brown University in Provi-
dence, R.I. He received an
honorary degree from Yale
Universtiy in 1978.
Mr. Scholem was a
member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sci-
ences, the American
Academy of Jewish Re-
search and the Royal
Academy of the Nether-
lands.

Morton Bechek

Morton J. Bechek, a self-
employed accountant, died
Feb. 20 at age 73.
Born in Poland, Mr. Be-
chek lived 60 years in De-
troit. He was a member of
Temple Israel and past
president of its brotherhood.
He was the chief usher at
Temple Israel for many
years.
He was a member of Oak-
land Century Lodge of Bnai
Brith and its Israel tree
chairman. He was the fi-
nancial secretary of the
Crescent Shrine Club and a
member of Perfection Lodge
of the Masons.
Mr. Bechek leaves his
wife, Nina; a son, Henry; a
daughter, Arlene of San Di-
ego, Calif.; a brother, David
of Argentina; a sister, Mrs.
Betty Trager of Los
Angeles, Calif.; and three
grandchildren.

Jeanette Geer

Jeanette Geer, a member
of Jewish communal organ-
izations, died Feb. 20 at age
53.
Born in Toledo, Mrs. Geer
was a member of the Bnai
Moshe Sisterhood and sang
in the synagogue choir. She
was a member of Ivan S.
Bloch Chapter of Bnai Brith
Women and Metropolitan
Detroit Bridge Club. --
She leaves her husband,
William; three sons, Marc,
Dennis and Jack; her
mother, Mrs. Jacob (Ger-
trude) Leibovitch of Toledo;
three sisters, Mrs. Harry
(Claire) Schall of Toledo,
Mrs. Simon (Ann) Kaplan
and Mrs. Sydney (Barbara)
Geller.

Dr. Nielsen

Dr. Donald Robert
Nielsen, a medical doctor
and psychiatrist with offices
in Birmingham, died Feb.
21 at age 55.
Born in Detroit, Dr.
Nielsen leaves his wife,
Norma; a son, Eric; a
daughter, Karen; and his
mother, Mrs. Louis (Mabel)
Nielsen.