This rich documentary short captures the story of the first generation of Sephardic Jewish immigrants who settled in Seattle, found work at the Pike Place Market and established one of the largest Sephardic communities in America.
GI Jews: Jewish Americans in World War II tells the story of the 550,000 Jewish Americans who fought in World War II. In their own words, veterans both famous and unknown bring their war experiences to life.
Land of Promise is a fascinating, richly illustrated documentary that explores the Jewish experience in South Carolina from colonial days to modern times. It is a heartwarming story of religious tolerance, economic and political opportunity By 1800, Charleston was home to the largest and wealthiest Jewish community in North America. The settling of Jews in South Carolina mirrors the Jewish immigration to the United States with Sephardic Jews in the 17th century being followed by German Jews, then Eastern Jews and Russian Jews today
This film follows the trajectory of Jewish American life from the earliest arrivals in the mid-17th century through the impact of the Nazi regime in World War II, the creation of Israel, and the new challenges of 21st century assimilation. Explore the personal stories many faced as they migrated to America, whether for economic opportunity or to escape persecution.
Shai Cherry, professor of Jewish thought at Vanderbilt University, presents the unfolding of the religious aspects of the Jewish civilization from the Hebrew Bible to today, while keeping an eye on the historical background against which those changes within Judaims have occured.
Weaving together interviews, official photos and documents, home movies, and archival film, this 90-minute film explores the complex social and political factors that shaped America's response to the Holocaust. The story of Kurt Klein, who struggled with State Department red tape to free his parents from Europe, represents America's reaction to European Jews clamoring for rescue.
Chronicles the 350 year saga of immigrants who gradually wove themselves into the fabric of American life without abandoning their traditions.
Discover the problem of being a monotheist in a polytheistic state - with the Romans requiring the Jews to acknowledge their gods and the divinity of their emperor. This conflict escalated in the 1st century, leading first, to acts of terrorism; then, to the outbreak of the Jewish revolt of A.D. 66; next, to the destruction of Jerusalem; and finally, to the diaspora.
Begin your fascinating historical adventure by developing a solid framework for your exploration of Jesus’s Jewish influences. What was it like to be a Jew in the ancient world? What do we mean when we talk about Jewish temples? And how similar was ancient Judaism to other ancient religions.
Early in the 20th century black and Jewish Americans joined forces against bigotry and for civil rights but in the late 1960's each group turned inward and the coalition fell apart. This film examines the history of this collaboration and recent racial conflicts between Afro-Americans and Jews and attempts at understanding and reconciliation, with particular emphasis on events in New York City and Oakland, California.
Cleo fulfilled his dream: to leave the big city with his wife and fifteen children, to establish a family commune on a farm in Brazil. Exploring their family-roots leads the children to discover their surprising heritage, which undermines the existence of the communal paradise.
Diana Groó’s documentary tells the story of Regina Jonas (1902-1944) a strong woman, who made history by becoming the first properly ordained woman rabbi in the world.
For over a century, the largely rural region of the Mississippi delta has been home to a thriving Jewish community, rooted generations-deep in its rich soil. Jews became an integral part of delta life, forging a hybrid identity that was deeply Jewish and distinctively Southern. Their numbers have dwindled in recent years, but a small number of Jews have stayed on, determined to maintain a Jewish presence against all odds. Through the eyes of those who remain, Delta Jews traces the history of the community and its relationship to its white Christian and black neighbors.
A small group of South Americans are eager to affirm their Jewish faith. Their ancestors, Spanish Jews, were forced to convert during the Inquisition. Even after centuries of living in the New World as Catholics and intermarrying, their families still managed to secretly pass down some Jewish traditions from generation to generation. These practices have convinced them that they were originally Jews and fuel their desire to convert.The Longing, set in Ecuador, tells the story of a group of "conversos" attempting to regain their birthright.
Danielle, a Jew who grew up as a Muslim in Morocco, struggles for the right to bring up her son, Nasser. Nine years after she was forced to leave him and moved to live in Jerusalem, she returns to Morocco to fight for custody. She sets off to meet her son, now 14, and her Muslim family. To her surprise, the greatest difficulties come from Israeli society and the levels of bureaucracy which threaten this fragile relationship.
A new film from veteran filmmaker Manfred Kirchheimer is always a cause for celebration; with My Coffee, Kirchheimer uses a simple, humorous title as a screen to ask serious questions, from gender inequality to secularism to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, for a deeply thoughtful exploration of contemporary Jewish identity.
Yidl in the Middle looks at growing up "different" in America. In this evocative, entertaining film, filmmaker Marlene Booth probes her Iowa-Jewish roots. Through home movies, period photos, her high school reunion, and current interviews, she examines the complicated process of negotiating identity -- as an American, a Jew, and a woman. A compelling film, sure to provoke discussion.
Investigate the strange episode known as the Heliodorus Affair. This power struggle between Jerusalem’s elite families during the time of the Ptolemies and Seleucids became a key turning point in the history of Jews in Judea.
Ezra, Nehemiah, Jonah] What did it mean to be Jewish after the Babylonian Exile? Professor Koester examines biblical books that offer differing perspectives. On one end: Ezra and Nehemiah, which define Israel by the temple, Jewish law, and Jerusalem. On the other: Jonah, where Israel’s identity is defined by the way it relates to the other peoples around it.
Eliza Naumann (Flora Cross) has no reason to believe she is anything but ordinary. Her father Saul (Richard Gere), a beloved university professor, dotes on her talented elder brother Aaron (Max Minghella). Her scientist mother, Miriam (Juliette Binoche), seems consumed by her career. When a spelling bee threatens to reaffirm her mediocrity, Eliza amazes everyone: she wins. Her newfound gift garners an invitation not only to the national competition, but an entrée into the world of words and Jewish mysticism that have so long captivated her father's imagination. But Eliza's unexpected success hurls the Naumann family dynamic into a tailspin, long-held secrets emerge and she is forced to depend upon her own divination to hold the family together. BEE SEASON is based on the nationally best selling Myla Goldberg novel of the same name.
When her fiancé bows out on the eve of her wedding, Michal refuses to cancel the wedding arrangements. An Orthodox Jew, she insists that God will supply her a husband.
In this heartwarming and fascinating story that gives a first-time glimpse into a notoriously secret community, a loving orthodox Jewish father fights against tradition in order to keep custody of his only son after his wife passes away.
This emotionally powerful film explores the painful dilemma of whether to speak out or remain silent in the face of tyranny. It tells the story of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and his life in exile from 1936 to 1942. Zweig was one of the most famous writers of his time, but as a Jewish intellectual he struggled to find the right stance towards the events in Nazi Germany. Driven to emigrate to South America at the peak of his worldwide fame, Zweig fell into despair at the sight of Europe's downfall.
In 1930s Italy a bumbling Jewish waiter who's gifted with a colorful imagination and an irresistible sense of humor has won the heart of the woman he loves and has created a beautiful life for his young family. But that life is threatened by World War II.
Tevye is a poor Jewish milkman with five unmarried daughters to support in a village in Czarist Russia. With a sharp tongued wife at home and growing anti-Semitism in the village, Tevye talks to God about his troubles. His people's traditions keep him strong when his existence is as precariously balanced as a fiddler on the roof.
From Michael Radford, the Academy Award-nominated director of Il Postino, comes the critically-acclaimed screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's controversial classic, The Merchant of Venice. Antonio (Jermey Irons), a successful but cash-poor merchant, approaches Shylock (Al Pacino), a wealthy moneylender, for a loan to help his young friend Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes, Shakespeare in Love) woo the fair Portia (Lynn Collins, 13 Going on 30). Despite being longtime enemies, Shylock grants the request, but demands one pound of Antonio's flesh if the debt is not repaid on time. When Antonio defaults on the loan, Shylock seeks what is legally owed to him but soon learns that those to whom evil is done, do evil in return.
Yentl Mendel is the boyish daughter and only child of long widowed Rebbe Mendel. He teaches Talmud to local boys and secretly to Yentl since girls are not allowed to learn the law. When her father dies, Yentl is left all alone. She makes the momentous decision to leave the village and, disguised as a boy and calling herself Anshel, she seeks and gets admitted to a Yeshiva to study.
Two teenagers at the time of the Normandy invasion in 1944 are friends but they are divided by the same thing that unites them--their faith. Though both are devout Jews, there's a subtle difference. Danny is an Hasidic Jew, brought up to accept faith blindly by his father--an ultra-orthodox rabbi who rejects the 20th century for the special joys of centuries--old tradition. Reuven, on the other hand, has been brought up by his father who is a secular scholar, to question everything around him.
While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refuge is being sheltered by her adoptive parents.
This film is a smart, rueful, and dead-on portrait of life’s unending quest to fit in—and the girl who solves it by completely breaking out introduces a feisty outsider hero unlike any other seen on screen. Esther Blueburger’s quest begins when she escapes from her Bat Mitzvah party and is befriended by Sunni, the effortlessly cool girl who is everything Esther thinks she wants to be. With the help of Sunni, Esther goes away from her ordinary life and leaves behind her malfunctioning Jewish family to hang out with Sunni’s far breezier and super-hip single mom Mary and attend Sunni’s forbidden public school as a Swedish exchange student.
Michael Tilson Thomas explores the lives of his grandparents, Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, through a musical performance that features five performers and the New World Symphony orchestra, performed at the New World Center in Miami Beach. Founding members of the Yiddish Theater in America, the Thomashefskys owned theaters, published their own magazine, wrote columns in the popular Yiddish newspapers, sponsored and encouraged generations of young artists, brought countless Yiddish artists to America, tirelessly raised funds for progressive social causes, and, through it all, were adventurous trendsetters. This story presents a musical sound that few have heard, assimilating Eastern European klezmer and cantorial modes with American tones and rhythms.
Comic Jackie Mason performs his final stand-up show on Broadway.
Based on the memoirs of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jew, who was a brilliant pianist. He watched as his family was shipped off to Nazi labor camps. He managed to escape and lived for years in the ruins of Warsaw, hiding from the Nazis.
The story, told in flashback, of two young British sprinters competing for fame in the 1924 Olympics. Eric, a devout Scottish missionary runs because he knows it must please God. Harold, the son of a newly rich Jew runs to prove his place in Cambridge society. In a warmup 100 meter race, Eric defeats Harold, who hires a pro trainer to prepare him. Eric, whose qualifying heat is scheduled for a Sunday, refuses to run despite pressure from the Olympic committee. A compromise is reached when a nobleman allows Eric to compete in his 400 meter slot. Eric and Harold win their respective races and go on to achieve fame as missionary and businessman/athletic advocate, respectively.
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