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UP FRONT

Animated Christian Video
Is Called Anti-Jewish

TOM TUGEND

Special to The Jewish News

A

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series of "Animated
Stories From The
New Testament" on
widely advertised videotapes
has drawn fire from two
Jewish defense organiza-
tions, which charge that the
videos abound in grotesque
and sinister Jewish stereo-
types reminiscent of Nazi
caricatures.
Both the Simon Wiesen-
thal Center and the Anti-
Defamation League have
protested that the skillfully
animated videos, aimed at
Christian children, carry the
potential of implanting anti-
Semitism into its young
viewers.
There are indications that
the Dallas-based Family
Entertainment Network,
which produced the series,
has been taken aback by the
strong criticism and is seek-
ing to meet some of the
stated objections.
The strongest objection
centers on the drawing of
Jews who rejected Jesus
with long and hooked noses,
whining voices and sinister

leers, who are portrayed as
cunning moneylenders,
bribe-givers and inhumane
doctors and rabbis. If anyone
should miss the point, such
Jews almost always wear a
prayer shawl, and a yarmul-
ke.
By contrast, the Jews who
accept Christianity have
fair, all-American features,
Gentile noses, soft voices

"The message
seems to be that
God grants nose
jobs to Jews who
become
Christians," noted
one television
critic.

and appear minus tallit and
yarmulke.
"The message seems to be
-that God grants nose jobs to
Jews who become Chris-
tians," observed television
critic Howard Rosenberg in
a critique of the videos in the
Los Angeles Times.
Leaders of the ADL and
the Wiesenthal Center,

although taking different
tacks in confronting the
video producers, use the
same analogy in describing
the animated portrayals as
reminiscent of the vicious
anti-Semitic caricatures
favored by Nazi leader
Julius Streicher in his
newspaper Der Stuermer.

The videos are sold in
shopping malls and have
been heavily promoted on
television and cable stations
across the country through
30-minute information
commercials, which include
endorsements from 14
Christian religious and lay
leaders.

In addition to the physical
distortions of the Jewish
characters, parts of the
videos are historically inac-
curate, show considerable
ignorance of biblical
Judaism, and go even
beyond the negative por-
trayals of Jews in the New
Testament, according to an
ADL analysis by its director
of interfaith affairs, Rabbi
Leon Klenicki.

ADL chose to work quietly
with executives at the Fami-

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ly Entertainment Network
in seeking changes. The
Wiesenthal Center took a
more direct public route by
alerting the Los Angeles
Times.
Both approaches seem to
have had some effect.
Screening of the infomercial
in its- present form has been
discontinued by television
stations in Los Angeles and
Minneapolis, and the pro-
ducers have agreed to
change two of the most

egregious segments in the
infomercial.
Stephen Griffin, chief
operating officer for the
Family Entertainment Net-
work, told the Times that he
was "shocked" by the Jew-
ish criticism and that no
slight was intended.
"In every story, like in any
Disney animation, there are
good guys and bad guys,"
Mr. Griffin said. "We didn;t
mean anything slanderous
to our Jewish friends." ❑

their property was con-
fiscated; and they were forc-
ed into con centration camps.
"Though there are Ger-
man records about the fate of
the Jews of North Africa, it
is very difficult to verify
their findings because of the
lack of objective documenta-
tion," Dr. Abrahmski-Bligh
said.
Dr. Abramski-Bligh
discovered one of the most
important documents on the
subject while she was recor-
ding a survivor's testimony.
She discovered the diary of a
woman from Cyrenaica,
Libya, who recorded her dai-
ly experiences in the forced
labor camp of Jado, one of
the worst in the country. The
diary tells of poor sanitary
conditions, of typhoid and
other epidemics, of daily
deaths and torture.
Those with further infor-
mation about Libyan and
Tunisian Jews during the

war are asked to contact Dr.
Irit Abramski-Blight at Yad
Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel.

ROUND UP

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•

Love That Pizza?
Thank The Jews
Judaism's greatest con-
tribution to Western
civilization may not be
monotheism, after all. Ac-
cording to a locally printed
box, used for pizzas sold
throughout the Detroit area,
pizza would never have ex-
isted had it not been for —
you guessed it — the Jewish
people.
"Pizza is a kind of flat-
bread. It was unknown in
Italy until the early Romans
brought back Jewish mat-
zos," says the box, printed by
the Michigan Box Company.
Sure enough, the Romans
had the wherewithal to add
sauce and cheese to the
tasteless unleavened
crackers. Just think: billions
of happy pizza eaters are
really munching on a
Streit's product!
The box's claim, says com-

pany owner Louis Fontana,
is based on research by his
late sister, Pearl Thiry. Mr.
Fontana decided to spread
the good word of pizza's roots
because he enjoys history,
and just wanted people to
have something interesting
to read.
"You see, I'm a student of
history," Mr. Fontana said.
"It's wonderful to recognize
where we come from."
Besides, Mr. Fontana has
great affection for the Jew-
ish people. His first job was
at a Jewish restaurant in
Eastern Market.

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"I was there so long that I
could almost speak
Yiddish," he said.

Libyan, Tunisian
Survivors Sought
Jerusalem — Yad Vashem,
the Holocaust memorial of
Israel, is seeking informa-
tion about Libyan and Tuni-
sian Jewish communities
during World War II.
Some 600 Libyan Jews
died in Italian slave labor
camps, while numerous
Tunisian Jews perished in
Nazi labor camps.
Dr. Irit Abramski-Bligh,
editor of memorial books
regarding the Jewish corn-
munity councils of the two
countries, said the situation
of Jews in North Africa was
similar in many ways to that
of European Jews. North
African Jews were forced to
set up Judenrat, Nazi-
installed "Jewish councils";

Group Collects
For Ethiopian Olim
The B'nai B'rith Michigan
Regional Council is conduc-
ting a campaign to collect
goods for new Ethiopian
immigrants in Israel.

Among the items needed
are new clothing, school
supplies, sporting equip-
ment in good condition, den-
tal hygiene items and over-
the-counter medicines and
vitamins.
The collection point will be
the B'nai B'rith Council of-
fice, 25835 Southfield Rd., at
Lincoln in Southfield. For
information, call the B'nai
B'rith office, 552-8177.

Compiled by The Jewish
News staff

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11