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parents taught her Jewish history and
philosophy; around age 15, she became
curious about ritual and started fre-
quenting the Bucharest synagogue.
omanian actress Maia
"I fell in love with the sound of the
Morgenstern is Jewish, the
daughter of a Holocaust sur- Hebrew language," said Morgenstern,
who attended services on Yom Kippur.
vivor and a resident of
In her late teens, she auditioned for
Bucharest, where she fields the occasion-
the
Jewish State Theatre and began per-
al anti-Semitic remark. Which is why
forming
plays in Yiddish; the following
European reporters raised eyebrows
year, she entered the prestigious
when they learned the imposing actress
Bucharest Film and Theatre Academy
was playing the Virgin Mary in Mel
Gibson's controversial The Passion, about and landed her first film roles.
Early in her career, she said, "There
Jesus' final hours.
were
suggestions, 'Maybe you should
Critics have denounced the hyper-
change
your name, because
realistic drama as a modern version of
"Morgenstern"
is not very Romanian,
the medieval Passion play, blaming Jews
and maybe audiences will be
for the death of Christ. But
unable to pronounce it.'"
Morgenstern, 41, doesn't view
When she earned
the film as anti-Semitic.
Europe's coveted Felix
Yes, the villain is the Jewish
Prize for acting in 1993,
high priest Caiaphas, she said
anti-Semitic observers
from her Bucharest home;
scoffed,
"Of course, she
but he clearly represents the
won. She's Jewish."
regime, not the Jewish peo-
The actress developed a
ple. "Authorities throughout
technique for addressing
history have persecuted indi-
such remarks: "When I see
viduals with revolutionary
Maia
the irony is delicate, I give a
ideas," she said.
Morger nstern
delicate
and a very spiritual
Morgenstern feels The Passion
answer.
When it's not a ques-
opposes such oppression: "It's
tion anymore of irony and not delicate
about letting people speak openly about
at all, I give quickly a sharp answer."
what they think and believe," she said.
Morgenstern eventually became a star
"It denounces the madness of violence
of
Bucharest's National Theatre and
and cruelty, which if unchecked can
more
than 30 Eastern European films;
spread like a disease."
in
Maria
Meszaros' The Seventh Room,
The actress' family experienced such
she
played
Edith Stein, the Jew who
violence during World War II. Her
died
as
a
nun
in Auschwitz and was can-
grandfather disappeared after being
onized in 1998.
arrested in his native Transnistria; her
Between scenes shot just outside the
father survived Nazi and Stalinist
camp gates, Morgenstern — who shaved
labor camps.
her head for the role — perused Nazi
Morgenstern experienced her own
records and discovered her grandfather
share of anti-Semitism while growing up
had
died in the camp.
in Bucharest. When she was 9, a class-
"That
greatly affected my perform-
mate called her "Jidan," a slur for "Jew."
ance," she said. "It gave me a sort of
"But I was absolutely innocent, so I
motivation that I could somehow fight
came home and asked my mother,
violence through the weapon of my art."
Who is a `Jidan?"' she said.
Apparently it was Morgenstern's per-
After her mother complained to the
formance
as Stein that drew Gibson's
school, her teacher sat her in front of the
attention;
but
she was so busy rehearsing
class and explained she was no different
a
Gogol
play
that
she initially ignored
from other students. "But that hurt me
several voicemail messages from his cast-
more, because I realized she had to
ing director last year.
assure them I was a person like everyone
She assumed the filmmaker was scour-
else," she said.
ing
Eastern Europe for an actress to play
Even so, Morgenstern felt proudly
a
minor
role and didn't take the query
Jewish. At home, her mathematician
seriously. Even after the casting director

NAOMI PFEFFERMAN
Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles

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