WE AR E GE FAMOUS FOR OUR BIRTHDAY PARTIES TOO! SEEN AT MARVIN'S HUMAN PORTRAIT page 91 I tion makes Anne an easier figure to identify with, explains Lindy Bruton, an English teacher at Birmingham Groves High School. She calls the film "excellent for personalizing the experience, es- pecially for young people." Bru- ton, who teaches a course on the Holocaust, taped the documen- tary when it aired on a cable tele- vision station this summer and used it in her class during the fall semester as part of a chapter on the "hidden children." Bruton's approach to the story of Anne Frank emphasizes "res- cuers," people like Miep Gies who put their own lives on the line to protect those whom Hitler would have murdered. "I have a great many students who are not Jewish and they're not learning about this because it's the story of their people,' " Bruton says. Rather, it's a a story with universal lessons, especially when viewed through the lens of the by- standers — those aware of the atrocities and injustices but who took no action. In Bruton's class, "we relate more to Miep. I hope that my stu- dents, when they finish this class, see they can be something other than a victim." Sid Bolkosky, a professor of his- tory at the University of Michigan - Dearborn who teaches about the Holocaust, found Miep's "down-to- earth integrity" a poignant aspect of the film. Overall, he says, the interviews with survivors and wit- nesses to Anne Frank's story pro- vided the most compelling drama in the documentary. "Oral histories make things come alive for me," says Bolkosky, who for the past 15 years has been interviewing De- troit-area Holocaust survivors for the U-M archives (now avail- able on the World Wide Web). As opposed to other films that in- clude survivor testimony, the in- terviews in Blair's work were "very honest and genuine, they had specific content ... These in- terviews were not there because they were pithy 30-second sound - bites," he adds. "There wasn't al- ways a punch line." The lessons of Anne Frank's experience are clear. But is her diary emblematic of the Holo- caust? Bolkosky thinks not. "The diary describes this one very spe- cific, very confined experience," he says. "It does not talk about what's going on in the streets of Holland or the other 25,000 Jews there in hiding." Nor does it touch on the history of the Holo- caust, Anne's experience in the camps or on the trains to West- erbork and Auschwitz, he adds. "I'm not sure any (one story) can be emblematic." Silow, president of CHAIM (Children of Holocaust Survivors Association in Michigan), views the story from a different angle. "It makes you aware of the other 6 million Jews who were also Anne Franks," he says. "It drives home the message that every Holocaust survivor was/is an Anne Frank. Every survivor went through their own person- al horror." More than that, for Silow, whose mother is a survivor of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, seeing footage of those camps "made my mother's experience, to me, much more alive. "Every time an important film or documentary (about the Holo- caust) is made, it's to be valued, cherished," says Slow, who also runs a monthly Yiddish film se- ries at Sinai. "It only adds to fur- ther education and awareness. MIA GORDON, Daddy's Pet; MINDI FEINN, Arcade Pro; ERICA DOVITZ, Calls This "The Fun Place"; HOWARD WEINBERGER, Stock Broker and Pin Ball Expert; SHAYNA ROMAN, 3, "My Favorite Place"; HAROLD DEAN, Attorney; LOUIS DWORKIN, Neuro Psychologist; REBBITZEN ALINE YOLKUT, Congregation B'Nai David; PAUL BENSMAN, The Original "Crazy Benzy"; RANDY RODNICK, Attorney; BRUCE GOROSH, Attorney MARVIN SEZ: "BIRTHDAY PARTIES AT MARVIN'S ARE MORE FUN!" GIFT CERTIFICATES SALES, RENTAL, SERVICE VIDEOS & PINBALLS WE HAVE BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR PHOTO BOOTHS fOR 4 FREE Qua THIS AD IP I Coupon Per Person LN Expires 3/28/96 a2,Wi23,, t li 4 N.3 31005 ORCHARD LAKE RD. BEHIND F&M SOUTH OF 14 • 626-5020 MON.-SAT. 10 TO 11, SUN. 12 TO 9 J Cafe Oliverio NEW YORK STYLE ITALIAN CUISINE (FORMERLY IN ROYAL OAK) WHITEFISH SPECIALS MONDAY THRU THURSDAY WHITEFISH ARREGANTE Chava Alberstein: Israel's First Lady of Song Topped with light Italian breadcrumbs of olive herb and baked. WHITEFISH MILANESE Topped wtih a Milanese salad of fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic. BOTH WHITEFISH DISHES ACCOMPANIED WITH SOUP OR SALAD, SIDE OF PASTA AND BREAD BASKET. GARY GRAFF SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS I he way Chava Alberstein sees it, making music was her destiny. "I think it's something that you are born with," she says. "It's just a gift, I believe." Alberstein, 48, has been returning that gift for the past 30 years. Based in Tel Aviv, Alberstein has recorded nearly 50 albums and become one of Israel's best-loved folk singers. Her models were most- ly Americans: Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Lead- belly, Josh White. But when Alberstein started looking for Hebrew mater- ial, she reached back even further for Yiddish stan- dards which she in turn modernized for her younger fans in Israel. "I used to sing Yiddish songs in the way of American folk singers," explains Alberstein, who has a daughter, 24, and a son, 19, who is in the Israeli army. 'This was something very new; people used to sing Yiddish in a much older, more tradition- al way — like cantors and opera singers. I think I found a personal way to sing those songs ... just to make them more human, more intimate. That was my approach YOUR HOSTS: ARTIE OLIVERIO & TOM TIMMONS yourself a little more," she says — and she's gradually cultivat- ed an international audience for her music. Still, Alberstein likes to keep her performances in small venues of no more than 1,500, and she seems to enjoy traveling as much as performing. "Every time when I go to a country, I meet new people — South American artists, Greek artists," Al- berstein says. "It's never routine. When it starts to feel routine, I take a break for awhile and come back again." ❑ 'a Chava Alberstein's most recent hit "Had Gadya" was a favorite of the late Yitzhak Rabin's. to Hebrew songs, also." Three decades on, Alberstein's outlook is still the same. She be- gan writing her own songs 10 years ago — "You have to explore $ 9 9 5 x 9 9 5 Sponsored by the Jewish Federation's Michigan/Israel Connec- tion, Chava Alberstein performs at 7:30 p.m. ,Thursday, March 28, at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, Fourth Street between Wash- ington and Lafayette, Royal Oak. Tickets are $15 in ad- vance/$18 at the door. Call (810) 642-4260, Ext. 130. (810) 476-1750 25938 MIDDLEBELT AT 1 1 MILE REG. 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