"If thou loan
money to my people,
thou shalt not lay
upon him interest."

LVODUS XXII 24

7

k

Deer Felix Salten:
The Man Behind Bambi

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Q: How did Meshulim Riklis make
In other passages, Jesus cas-
tigates the Pharisees, the adher- so much money?
A: Mr. Riklis, married to the
ents of the Oral Torah (Matthew
Austrian novelist and play- 3:7, Luke 18:9). At the time the multi-talented Pia Zadora ("pos- .
New Tes- sibly the worst acting ever cap-
wright Felix
tament tured on film," is the way critics
Salten
was com- have referred to her perfor-
(1869-1947)
pleted, the mances), was born in Turkey in
is the cre-
majority of 1923.
ator of that
He came to the United States
the Jewish
adorable lit-
people fol- during the 1940s and found work
tle deer who
lowed the with an investment house in
grew up to
religious Minneapolis. In 1954, with funds
become the
beliefs, secured from Minnesota in-
prince of the
practices vestors, Mr. Riklis managed to
forest.
and social merge a number of companies —
Salten
attitudes most of them dealing with man-
was born
of the ufacturing and distribution —
Siegmund
Pharisees. into enormous corporations. To-
Salzmann
In fact, the day, he is one of the nation's lead-
in Budapest.
religion of ing financiers.
He studied
Mr. Riklis has been a sup-
the Phar-
in Vienna,
then found Bambi, the little deer with the Jewish background. isees (as porter of the United Jewish Ap-
embodied peal and the Jewish Theological
work as a
drama critic; his collected essays by the Talmud) was the founda- Seminary.
on theater, Schauen
and Spielen, were pub-
lished in 1921.
Salten, a friend of
Theodor Herz', wrote
his own plays including
Der Gemeine, Das
Staekere Band and
Louise von Koburg ,
none of which met with
much success. He also
was the author of a
number of novellas and
a 1925 essay, Neue
Menschen auf alter
Erde, about his trip to
Palestine.
A puffy man with
bristled hair and a
thick moustache,
Salten completed his
most famous work,
Bambi, in 1923. In
1942, it became a Walt Pia and Meshulim at the Tel Aviv Museum, where a foyer is named In the financier's honor.
Disney film and has
been a favorite with
0: What is a sandek?
tion of modern Judaism.
children ever since.
A: A sandek is the person who
In recent years, some New holds an infant during his brit.
Salten left Austria in 1938 and
settled temporarily in Hollywood. Testament historians and schol- The word is often translated in
After the war, he moved to ars have explained these pas- English as "godfather." Tradi-
sages as referring only to the tionally, this honor is given to the
Switzerland.
Jews of the historical period in grandfather.
Q:Is the New Testament anti-Se-
which the
mitic?
Christian
A: The New Testament con- Scriptures
tains numerous passages that were writ-
are overtly hostile to Jews and
ten.
Judaism. For example:
Nonethe-
The Jews are responsible for
less,
for the
Jesus' execution (Matthew 27:15- past 2,000
26, Mark 15:6 15; Luke 23:13 25), years cer-
Jews are children of the Devil
tain church
(John 8:41 47), Jews reject God leaders, the-
(Acts 13:46), Jews are enemies of ologians and
God (Romans 11:25-28), Jews laymen all have used the anti-
killed Jesus (Thessalonians 2:14- Jewish segments of the New Tes- Send questions to "Tell Me Why"
16), Jews constitute the "syna- tament; to generate hostility c/o The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI
gogue of Satan" (Revelations 2:9 toward the Jewish people.
48034
and 3:9).

Q: Does Bambi have a Jewish con-
nection?
A: And how!

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