Kippur, "even if I was on a movie set
wrestling with Burt Lancaster or mak-
ing love to Lana Turner," he said.
While filming In Harm's Way aboard
a U.S. cruiser, he led a Shabbat service
for the Jewish sailors. He also led ser-
vices when he visited his devout moth-
er, Bryna — for whom he named his
production company — at her nursing
home.
Nine years ago, Douglas wrote his
first book, The Ragman's Son, an auto-
biography. "I was interested in taking
inventory — where did I come from?"
he said. "Now I'm more interested in
where I am going."
Like the characters he portrayed in
The Juggler and Cast A Giant Shadow,
Douglas rediscovered his Judaism in
Israel. After attending a Jerusalem
dedication in 1994 for a playground
he donated, Douglas and his wife
accepted a Shabbat dinner invitation
from Rabbi David Aaron, founder and
director of Jerusalem's Isralight
Institute.
Rabbi Aaron previously had studied
with Douglas' editor and publicist of
10 years, Uriela Obst, shortly before
her recent conversion to Judaism.
"Kirk had a terrific time," recalled
Rabbi Aaron, 40, a Toronto native
0.6 who lives near the Western Wall with
his wife and their six children. "There
were lots of guests. We were singing
and talking Torah. Anne helped clear
the table. They were very heimish."
Douglas, who had declined a din-
ner invitation for that same Friday

•

•-•

evening from the late Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, later wrote, "That
night I felt I had come home."
As they toured the Old City over
the next few days, Douglas explained
to Rabbi Aaron how Judaism "lost"
him when he was 14.
"I told him that just as a rational
adult would not make a business deci-
sion based on what he knew when he
was 14, you should not have an
understanding of Torah and mitzvot
based on your childhood," Rabbi
Aaron said. We all need to take a sec-
ond look at God and come to a

more fascinated — even when back
pain forced hir to lay on the floor
during their meetings.
"I'm probably the oldest student of
Torah in the world," said the grandfa-
ther of three. "I want to know how
much I can know. I find it very excit-
ing, and I want to make up for lost
time. When you study the Torah, you
realize that God gives everybody a sec-
ond chance because the Torah is filled
with sinners. And I found that gratify-
ing for a sinner like me. People over-
came and became good. That's the
message."

mature understanding of
our relationship with Him."
Douglas accepted Rabbi
Aaron's invitation tb study
with him during subsequent
visits to the United States. "I
became very interested,"
Douglas said. "I felt, 'Why
didn't they teach Judaism's
beautiful and dramatic histo-
ry like that when I was a
child?'"
For the next 10 months,
Rabbi Aaron studied Torah with
Douglas five hours daily for a week,
every six weeks, at Douglas' home,
beginning with Genesis.
"The Garden of Eden is a spring-
board to understand issues of Jewish
identity God, the universe, good and
evil," Rabbi Aaron said. "After that,
[Kirk] was hooked. He saw the depths
and relevance and beauty. He would
say, 'Wow, this is the Torah?'"
With each session, Douglas grew

Prior to their third session, Douglas
invited his son, Joel, actor Richard
Dreyfuss and some producers to join
them. "I told them I'm learning the
Torah, the greatest script of all
scripts," he said.
When Douglas grew impatient with
the long intervals between sessions,
Rabbi Aaron arranged for him to also
study through Aish HaTorah, a
Jerusalem-based yeshiva with an out-
reach center in Los Angeles.
"There's a powerful movement
around the country to return to
Judaism," said Rabbi Nachum
Braverman, educational director of
Aish HaTorah's western region, who
studies with Douglas several days each
week. "Being affluent and successful
doesn't give insight into who [we] are,
how to make a marriage work and
raise children or give [us] purpose."
Word of Douglas' Torah study
spread quickly in Hollywood. "They're
kind of perplexed," he said. "But they

•

0

Opposite page:
Kirk Dou las: ".bn probably the oldest
student o Torah in the world."

r

This page:
Top: At the height of his movie career,
Kirk Douglas is surrounded by his moth-
er, Bryna (center in first row), and five
of his six sisters.

Above: Kirk Douglas pledges his love to
Jean Simmons in the 1958 classic
Spartacus.

always knew I was Jewish. When
[actor] Carroll O'Connor asked about
me nine months ago, Michael said,
`My father has become an old Jew.'
Carroll laughed and said, 'I knew your
father when he was a young Jew.'"
Douglas acknowledges that while
his sons aren't considered Jewish
according to Jewish law, he didn't
expose them to Judaism either.
never pushed my sons," Douglas
said. "I had that modern concept
when I was young that they should
decide for themselves."
Rabbi Aaron has studied briefly
with Michael, Joel and Eric Douglas,
and Joel plans to attend Isralight for
six weeks.
Since beginning his journey, Kirk
Douglas has added a second mezuzah
in his two-bedroom California home.
His youngest son, Eric, bought him a
full-sized, blue and white tallit and his
editor/publicist brought him candle-
sticks from Jerusalem. "Our mother's
last words on the Friday she died
were, 'Don't forget to light the can-
dles,'" said his sister Fritzi Becker, who
attends a Conservative synagogue.
She first saw her brother light
Shabbat candles during a visit last year.
"I opened the door and he was lighting
[candles] with a yarmulke on," she
recalled. "He said, 'Good Shabbos,' and
I burst into tears. It was a beautiful
moment. He looked like an angel."
- In November, Douglas will speak at
the Council of Jewish Federations'
1997 General Assembly in
Indianapolis. In their first collabora-
tion next year, he and son Michael
plan to star itrA Song For David, an
original screenplay about a father who
rediscovers his Judaism.
And for his 83rd birthday, Douglas
will celebrate, in Israel, his second bar
mitzvah. It is a tradition that not only
hails the completion of a full life at
age 70, but the beginning of a new
one.
"Sometimes I feel myself gasping
because I am not following Halachah
Uewish law]," Douglas writes. "And at
other times, I feel myself gasping
because I am racing down that path.
... Suddenly, I think, 'How the hell
did I get into this mess?' A part of me
is saying, 'Wait a minute, you are
becoming too Jewish. Stop!' And then
another part of me kicks in, saying,
`Don't be afraid, Keep going, keep
going.'" ❑

Rona S. Hirsch is a staff writer for our
sister publication the Baltimore Jewish
Times.

10/24
1997

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