11 TISHREI 5777 • OCTOBER 13, 2016 • VOLUME XXXVII, NUMBER 20 • PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID, SYRACUSE, NY
JHC film screening The Judaic Heritage Center, in partnership with the Sam Pomeranz Jewish Community Center of Syracuse and the Jewish Federation of Central New York, will host a free showing of “People and Places of the Syracuse Jewish Community,” a new video by Jay Lurie, on Sunday, October 30, from 2-4:30 pm, in the Hy and Anne Miller Auditorium at the JCC. The video is the culmination of a two-year project by Lurie. As in his
first video, he explores the stories of the Syracuse Jewish community. Through interviews, he presents stories of the people and families who helped Syracuse, and its Jewish community, “grow and prosper.” Included in the video is one of the last interviews with basketball star Dolph Schayes. There will be free refreshments after the showing and copies of the new video will be available for sale. The whole
community has been invited to attend the event. The current project of the Judaic Heritage Center is to establish a permanent Jewish exhibit at the Onondaga Historical Association Museum in downtown Syracuse. Working with OHA and the Jewish Federation, the JHC, under the project leadership of Michael Moss, is in the process of collecting pictures and stories of the Syracuse Jewish community – including
businesses, entertainers and athletes – to be put into an exhibit that will include interactive touch-screen computer displays. The goal of the exhibit is to show visitors the Jewish community’s contributions to the development of Syracuse and Central New York. The JHC is always looking for volunteers to work on its projects. For more information or to become involved, contact Howard Port at 449-1200.
JDC aiding Hurricane Matthew victims in Haiti (JNS.org) – The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee humanitarian group mobilized its partners to provide medical relief and supplies to victims affected by Hurricane Matthew, which devastated parts of Haiti on October 4. JDC will focus on the hardest hit areas in the south of the island where reports of torrential rains, flooding and strong winds accompanied damage to homes, farming
stock and land, and infrastructure such as bridges, the group said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti and the wider region, in the wake of Hurricane Matthew’s devastation,” said Alan H. Gill, JDC’s CEO. “All too familiar with the acute needs facing Haitians, JDC activated its network of international and local partners and is mobilizing relief efforts in an expression of humanitarian solidarity and Jewish values.”
The organization is working with local and NGO contacts and long-term partners “to assess needs and ensure the most vulnerable victims are cared for in an expedient manner,” it said in a statement. Hurricane Matthew also impacted Jamaica, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Florida and South Carolina authorities began evacuations that week as the hurricane was moving closer to the U.S. JDC also provided relief and rebuild-
ing assistance during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, as well as many other natural and manmade disasters in as many as 70 countries. The United Nations said the Hurricane Matthew is the worst humanitarian crisis to hit Haiti since the 2010 earthquake left more than 200,000 people dead and tens of thousands homeless in the country. The U.N. estimates there are 2.3 million people impacted by Hurricane Matthew.
SPOTLIGHT
Deborah Lipstadt provides free speech lessons to Rachel Weisz for “Denial” role
University, had criticized BY BEN SALES Irving’s falsification of HoloNEW YORK (JTA) – caust history in her 1993 book Before the most dramatic “Denying the Holocaust.” In episode of her professional 1996, Irving sued her for libel life became a movie, Deborah in British court, where the Lipstadt had some work to do. burden of proof lies with the No, she didn’t have to make defendant. The movie depicts some last-minute changes how Lipstadt won the case, exto the script or take a crash posing Irving as an intentional course in acting. Her job: To falsifier of Holocaust history. teach Oscar-winning actress Lipstadt acknowledged Rachel Weisz how to talk like D e b o r a h L i p s t a d t a Jewish woman from Queens. (Photo courtesy of to JTA that she had thought about the trial’s cinematic Weisz, who grew up in Emory University) potential. Still, when producLondon, portrays Lipstadt, ers first approached her about “Denial” in a Holocaust historian, in the forthcoming 2008, she laughed – the same reaction, she film “Denial,” which hits select theaters on September 30. The film tells the story of Lip- recalled, that she had when she found out stadt’s dramatic win in British court against Irving was suing her. “When you sign over a Holocaust denier, David Irving. It was a a book, you are essentially giving them high-profile case that made the Holocaust control over your story,” she said. “You’re front-page news in 2000, and unequivocally not going to be able to say, ‘No, that’s not refuted Holocaust denial at a time when the right, I don’t like that, don’t include this.’ So what I kept querying them about is, this tragedy was fading from living memory. But before Weisz donned a red wig and is a movie about truth. Do you understand delivered striking defenses of the Holo- you have to stick to the truth?” The finished product, Lipstadt says, caust and free speech, she had to learn to sound just like Lipstadt. “She would call hews closely to the truth. The story me and say, ‘Record for me how you say heightens her tension with her lawyers ‘I’ll call you.’ Record for me how you say and combines a string of meetings with Holocaust survivors into one encoun‘goodnight,’” Lipstadt recalled. Weisz’s attention to detail paid off. “She ter. But the courtroom scenes are taken verbatim from the record, and dramatic got my accent,” Lipstadt said. Lipstadt, a professor of modern Jewish scenes – from Irving ambushing Lipstadt history and Holocaust studies at Emory at a lecture to a tense Shabbat dinner with
British Jewish leaders – happened more or less as they play out on screen. Decades ago, Lipstadt said she playfully imagined Meryl Streep portraying her in a movie. But she was very happy with how Weisz captured her character and interactions – from her forthright confidence to the culture clash with her lawyers. The orange scarf Weisz wears in the film’s promotional poster is the same one Lipstadt wore on a recent Friday in New York. As a child of Holocaust refugees, Weisz had a personal connection to the movie. And because she is Jewish, Lipstadt said, it was easier for Weisz to slip into Hebrew when the script called for it. “She was unbelievable,” Lipstadt said of Weisz. “She’s a professional’s professional. I think she would have brought to this the same professional quality even if she hadn’t been the child of two refugees because she’s such a great actress.” The movie’s title, Lipstadt told JTA, refers both to Holocaust denial and to the self-denial she had to practice when she
refrained from testifying. Standing on the side of a set of a movie about your life, she said, didn’t feel that different. “Everybody has a job – big, little, it’s all important,” she said. “I didn’t have a job. It was my story. It’s similar in the trial. Everybody had a job. I didn’t have a job. It was learning how to be to the side, learning to let others speak for you in the trial and act for you.” The movie keeps the drama alive by focusing much of the plot on Lipstadt’s conflict with her lawyers. Throughout much of the film, Lipstadt attempts to coax her reserved British legal team to allow her and Holocaust survivors to take the stand. “There were moments that I wish had gotten more play in the movie,” she said. “The movie I would have made would have been three and a half hours, maybe four hours.” At times, filming felt almost too spot-on for Lipstadt. A central scene takes place at Auschwitz, where Lipstadt and one of her lawyers meet to gather evidence. The See “Role” on page 7
C A N D L E L I G H T I N G A N D P A R AS H A October 14...............6:05 pm.......................................................Parasha-Haazinu October 16...............6:01 pm............................................................... Erev Sukkot October 17...............after 7 pm....................................................................Sukkot October 21...............5:53 pm................. Parasha-Sukkot-Shabbat Chol Hamoed October 23...............5:50 pm............................................... Erev Shemini Atzeret October 24...............after 6:50 pm......................................... Erev Simchat Torah October 28...............5:43 pm....................................................... Parasha-Bereshit
INSIDE THIS ISSUE SCHS
“On the Map”
Congregational notes
The Syracuse Community Hebrew The JCC will sponsor a showing of Local synagogues announce School has kicked off its second “On the Map,” part of the Syracuse upcoming holiday celebrations, International Film Festival. year. talks and more. Story on page 3 Story on page 2 Stories on page 4
PLUS Small Business Profiles........ 5 Calendar Highlights............... 6 B’nai Mitzvah........................... 6 Obituaries................................. 7