Spirituality
Exodus
Film explores ship's unlikely role in
the creation of a Jewish state.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
Ell
rank Lavine, barely in his 20s
and attending Army school
during World War II, was
invited to a Jewish dance at
the University of Illinois. During party
conversation, two young men he met
talked about hoping to go to Palestine;
Lavine spoke about his interest in boats.
The men kept in touch through
the war rime. When the two asked
Lavine to join a secret mission taking
boatloads of Holocaust victims to
what would become Israel, Lavine
didn't hesitate to say, "Yes."
Lavine's assigned ship, one of 10
American vessels put into service, was
the Exodus, but it wasn't as depicted in
Leon Uris' novel and the Paul Newman
film. In reality, the Exodus was turned
back by the British, who sent the pas-
sengers and crew to Germany.
While the Exodus voyagers did not
have the triumph of reaching and set-
tling into the Jewish homeland, their
hardships ultimately did bring tri-
umph. Their story raised public sym-
pathy worldwide and set the stage for
the establishment of Israel.
The true tale of the Exodus is told
in the documentary Exodus 1947.
Narrated by CBS newsman Morley
Safer, the film will be shown Saturday,
Oct. 9, at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, where Lavine will give personal
insights into the ship and its people
and where associate producer Dr.
Barry S. Lever will tell what went into
making the documentary.
"The filmmakers did a thorough job
of research," says Lavine, 75, a retired
librarian living in Massachusetts.
"They interviewed as many people as
they possibly could, and they asked the
right questions. Being part of the
Exodus was probably the most impor-
tant experience of my life."
Lavine was an able-bodied seaman
in charge of a watch with four others,
steering the ship, standing lookout
July 18, 1997, at the
opening of the
Baltimore World
Trade Center exhibit
commemorating the
50th anniversary of
the final voyage of the
SS President
Warfield/Exodus
1947. Shown are Dr.
Eliyahu Ben-Elissai;
Israeli ambassador to
the US.; D: Barry
S. Lever, commemo-
ration chair; and
Na'or Yerushalmi,
public affizirs chief
Embassy of Israel.
and checking the different compart-
ments. When he speaks, he dispels
impressions given by other depictions.
Although Lever did not start raising
funds for the film until after production
began, he found the financial backinc ,
that allowed it to be completed. Asked to
head up the Baltimore commemoration
of the 50th anniversary of the Exodus
voyage, Lever was put in touch with
filmmaker Elizabeth Rodgers, who pro-
vided a 12-minute clip that was shown
to a small group of investors. That pre-
view resulted in $300,000 for both the
movie and commemoration activities.
The Exodus had been a Baltimore
vessel, the President Warfield. Lever cel-
ebrated its last voyage by organizing
many projects, including the develop-
ment of a scale model of the ship for
the Jewish Museum of Maryland, a
commemorative postage stamp issued
by Israel, a historical marker on the
waterfront arcade of Baltimore's World
Trade Center, a Hebrew school cur-
riculum related to the subject, a
needlepoint tapestry unveiled at
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the
commission of an orchestral work.
Lever's niece, Shari Stein, a
Shaarey Zedek member, and Sharon
Frank Lavine
Berry are planning
the Oct. 9 program.
"The film provides
a bridge from the time
of the Holocaust to
the establishment of
the State of Israel," says Lever, a retired
Maryland dentist who was asked to
join the commemoration events by one
of his patients. "The film shows what
happened before, during and after the
ship was put into service."
The late Harry Weinsaft, who owned
a fine arts gallery in Bloomfield Hills
and still has family in Michigan, was
this state's close connection to the
Exodus. He recalled his experiences in a
1990 interview with the Jewish News-.
"We broke every law in the world to
bring Jews to Palestine," he said. "We
traveled like pirates on the sea. It was
the same kind of boat as the Bob-Lo
boat. We bought it off the scrap heap.
It was no Love Boat, I guarantee —
horrible conditions. About 4,500 peo-
ple were packed on a ship meant for
considerably fewer than that."
A fleet of 60 ramshackle ships trans-
ported more than 60,000 would-be
immigrants from European ports to pre-
state Israel between 1946 and 1948.
Dr. Barry S. Lever,
chairman of the 50th
anniversary com-
memoration of the
final voyage of the SS
President
Warfield/Exodus
1947, at the dedica-
tion of a commemo-
rative tablet at the
Baltimore World
Trade Center.
Lavine was wounded while trying to
get the Holocaust victims to their des-
tination and was sent back to the
United States. His passport was taken
away, and at 22, he had no resources
to try for its reinstatement. Many years
later, however, he was able to reinstate
his passport and now makes an annual
trip to Israel. He visits the family of
another late crewman, who married
one of the passengers on the ship.
"I hadn't spoken much about the
Exodus until the film was made, and I'm
glad I'm having the opportunity to put a
lot of things straight," Lavine says. I-1
Exodus 1947 will be shown at 8
p.m. Saturday, Oct. 9, at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield. The price of $7.50 will
include a dessert reception. For
reservations, call the synagogue,
(248) 357-5544.
a
Wsa,
10/1
1999
Detroit Jewish News
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