40 | MAY 13 • 2021
W
hat would happen
to the estimat-
ed 450,000 Jews
living across North Africa,
from Morocco to Jerusalem,
if Germans won
the battle for
North Africa
during World
War II?
This theater
of war is usually
depicted as a
contest between
Germany’s General Irwin
Rommel, the “Desert Fox,”
and British Commonwealth
forces: Australians, New
Zealanders, Indians, Scots,
Welsh and English. What
is often not discussed are
German efforts and plans to
overrun Palestine from the
west via Egypt, and from the
north through modern day
Turkey and Syria.
But what if Rommel wasn’t
all that crafty, not really sly
as a fox? What if much of his
early success was due to a
secret source of precise intelli-
gence about British forces? In
War of Shadows: Codebreakers,
spies, and the secret struggle
to drive the Nazis from the
Middle East, American-Israeli
author Gershom Gorenberg
provides the answers.
Gorenberg has written the
best book on the subject.
Based upon superb archival
research, including evidence
from recently opened secret
files, it is a well-written,
insightful investigation of
how the Allies won the war
in the Middle East because of
better intelligence. Moreover,
in doing so, they saved thou-
sands of Jewish lives and laid
groundwork for the future
Israeli Defense Forces.
Ironically, as critical as the
War of Shadows was for Jews
living in Palestine and North
Africa, they are not promi-
nent actors in the narrative.
Gorenberg does discuss a
few important roles for Jews
that had lasting effects. Some
Jews fought in British military
units. Others, such as future
leaders of Israel Yitzhak Rabin
and Moshe Dayan, gained
experience in the British-
supported Palmach, the
Haganah’s elite fighting force.
The result of the war was,
however, crucial for Jews.
SPIES, CODEBREAKERS
Very little of Gorenberg’s
narrative is about battlefield
action. Instead, he goes behind
the scenes, into the shadows,
where the war was fought
among code breakers, spies
and espionage. Gorenberg
demonstrates that much of
Rommel’s early success was
due to outstanding intelligence
from a “good source.” The
British finally discovered the
continued on page 42
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
Review: War of Shadows
ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS
2ND-GEN FUNNY WOMEN
Hacks’ is a 10-episode
dramedy series that pre-
mieres on HBO May 13.
Jean Smart (Designing
Women) plays Deborah
Vance, a legendary Las
Vegas comedian whose
career is tanking. She’s
reduced to promotional
appearances, like store
openings.
Vance hires Ava, a
25-year-old struggling com-
edy writer to freshen up
her act. In Hacks’ amusing
trailer, it’s made clear that
Vance has an imperious
personality and a fierce
tongue. So, Ava is in for
“quite a ride.”
Ava is played by new-
comer Hannah Einbinder,
26. She has quite a back-
story: her mother is original
SNL cast member Laraine
Newman, 69. Her father
is Chad Einbinder, 57, a lit-
tle-known actor.
Hannah is a real-life
stand-up comedian. In
March 2020, she did a set
on Stephen Colbert’s show
just before production
was shut down (view on
YouTube). She has an arty
stand-up style that is funny,
if not hilarious. In another
YouTube video, she referred
to herself as Jewish.
In 2003, Newman was
profiled by the Jewish
Journal. She grew up in a
secular Jewish household
in Beverly Hills. She told
the Journal that it wasn’t
until she enrolled her oldest
daughter in Temple Isaiah’s
preschool (Los Angeles)
that she joined a tem-
ple, learned Hebrew and
brought ritual home.
Newman has two daugh-
ters. The eldest is Spike
Einbinder, 30 (born Lena
Einbinder). Spike, too, is
an actress. Her current gig
is her best: she’s a regular
cast member in the com-
edy series Los Espookys
on HBO. The first season
streamed in 2019.
Oxygen, an original Netflix
film, began streaming May
12. Melanie Laurent, 38,
stars as a woman suffering
from severe memory loss
as she wakes up inside
of a cryogenic chamber.
Trapped inside and rapidly
losing oxygen, her memory
is the key to her survival.
The movie is billed as an
American-French pro-
duction, but it’s largely a
French-Jewish production.
Laurent is a well-known
French Jewish actress.
Her father, a voice actor, is
an Ashkenazi Jew whose
family originally was from
Poland (her paternal
grandfather died in the
Holocaust). Laurent’s moth-
er, a former ballerina, is of
Tunisian Sephardi descent.
Laurent is best known
for her co-starring role in
Inglorious Basterds (2010).
She played Shosanna
Dreyfus, a Parisian Jew who
seeks revenge on the Nazis.
Oxygen, which only
has three actors, co-stars
Mathieu Amalric, 55
(Amalric’s late mother
was Jewish). He had a
supporting role in Munich
and co-starred as bad guy
Dominic Greene in the
Bond flick Quantum of
Solace.
The film was directed
by Alexandre Aja, the
son of an Algeria-born
French Jewish father and a
non-Jewish mother. Aja, 42,
is a top horror/thriller film-
maker (High Tension, The
Hills Have Eyes).
Hannah Einbinder and
Jean Smart in Hacks
JAKE GILES NETTER/HBO MAX
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
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