Showing posts with label High Holy days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label High Holy days. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

STANDING WITH ISRAEL - Did Trump's Statement Set America Up to Receive a Genesis 12:3 Blessing? - KELLY MCDONALD JR. CHARISMA NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump (WhiteHouse.gov)

Did Trump's Statement Set America Up to Receive a Genesis 12:3 Blessing?
9/26/2017 KELLY MCDONALD JR. CHARISMA NEWS
Standing With Israel


Last week, President Trump released a powerful statement in support of Jewish people all over the world as we enter into the Fall Holy Day seasons explained in Leviticus 23. Here is a quote:
As Jewish families across America and the world come together to mark the beginning of the year 5778 in the Jewish calendar, we join them in this time of reflection on the past year and hope for the year to come.
The High Holy Days are also an opportunity for us all to remember the extraordinary perseverance of the Jewish people throughout the centuries. They have endured unthinkable persecution, and yet, through it all, they have filled civilization with hope, love, and freedom.
Today we thank God for the ancient faith of the Jewish people and the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel while wishing a blessed New Year to those preparing to commemorate the upcoming High Holy Days.
This statement was published on the White House website. While God's people prepare to celebrate His holy days, Trump's statement assures them that they have a strong ally. It sends a clear message to the enemies of Israel that they will also have to contend with the United States. 
Kelly McDonald Jr. is an ordained evangelist at Hungry Hearts Ministries in Jackson, Tennessee. He has written over 40 books and booklets on pursing Christ, Hebrew roots and end-times prophecy. He is currently president of the Bible Sabbath Association (BSA). You can follow him at kellymcdonaldjr.com.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

You Won't Believe What Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church Is Doing Now - CHRISTINE D. JOHNSON CHARISMA NEWS

Joel Osteen speaks with refugees at Lakewood Church.
Joel Osteen speaks with refugees at Lakewood Church. (Joel Osteen Ministries/Facebook)

You Won't Believe What Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church Is Doing Now

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Houston's massive Lakewood Church will host a significant portion of the Jewish community for their High Holy Days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Joel Osteen and his church, which meets in the former Compaq Center, volunteered to host the Congregation Beth Yeshurun after its Meyerland, Texas, facility sustained water damage from Hurricane Harvey.
Lakewood learned of the need when U.S. Rep. John Culberson asked the church to consider providing space for Beth Yeshurun during this important season.
"My immediate response was, 'Of course,'" says Jackelyn Viera Iloff, senior advisor at Lakewood Church/Joel Osteen Ministries. "It was a wonderful opportunity for us to do something for Beth Yeshurun. We have always been close friends with the Jewish community, and we have a wonderful relationship with Denis Braham [senior advisory board member of Beth Yeshurun]. We are honored they would consider us to replace their facilities for the special holiday coming up."
Lakewood is also making church volunteers available for the High Holy Days gatherings.
"Joel and Victoria want to ensure that our sanctuary is as comfortable and familiar as possible for the Beth Yeshurun congregation," Iloff says. "The Lakewood family—staff and volunteers alike—are very excited about this and are looking forward to the High Holy services. Everyone wants to help and be a part of it."
Iloff says Lakewood believes bringing another congregation onto its campus is "doable."
"Details were relatively easy to iron out because we have a team in place," she says.
After Hurricane Harvey passed through the area in late August, Lakewood "sheltered about 450 Houstonians at one time," Iloff says. "Now all of our shelter guests have moved on to other accommodations. As our guests transitioned, we worked with the city and county to help those needing long-term shelter and housing assistance."

Iloff expects future opportunities to open up for the church to interact with the Jewish community as a result of assisting Congregation Beth Yeshurun, led by Rabbi David Rosen.
"I cannot thank Joel Osteen enough for his sensitivity and his encouragement," said Rosen in a KHOU report. "It's a reaffirmation of the beautiful spirit of collegiality and interfaith conversation we have here in Houston."

Iloff noted that the Osteen family has "a great love for Israel and a heart for the Jewish people."
"We interact quite a bit with members of the Jewish community already," she says. "In fact, we are glad that they felt comfortable enough to approach us in the first place. They know that our hearts and our arms are always open to our Jewish brothers and sisters."
Congregation Beth Yeshurun practices Conservative Judaism and serves more than 2,000 families in the Houston area.
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Saturday, September 12, 2015

Jonathan Cahn: I Believe a Shaking Is Coming That Strikes the Financial Realm, Economic Realm and Even ...

The blowing of the Shofar

The blowing of the Shofar. The Bible refers to Rosh Hashana as Yom Teruah -- the day of sounding the shofar. It's a day of shofar blasts, a day of judgment, a day of coronating God as our King. (Flickr/Creative Commons)


Jonathan Cahn: I Believe a Shaking Is Coming That Strikes the Financial Realm, Economic Realm and Even ...


Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

For Israel and the Jewish people, the High Holy Days this year mark the end of a significant seven-year cycle and a rare fourth blood moon. Some believe that combination could have a huge impact on the world.
That's why many Christians and others believe that this September could be significant in Jewish, American and world history.
The Bible tells the Jewish people to sow the land and reap its produce for six consecutive years. Then, on the seventh year, they're commanded to let the land lie fallow.
"Shemitah means the sabbatical," Rabbi Tuly Weisz told CBN News. "There's a year of rest for the land of Israel and for people all over the world."
Israel keeps the shemitah every seven years. It ends on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Elul, which this year falls on Sunday, September 13.
Weisz says many non-Jews are also paying close attention this year.
"People from all over the world who've never heard of shemitah are all of a sudden looking and trying to explore what is the significance of shemitah because of all the global events that are happening that seem a bit unusual," he said.
Author Jonathan Cahn raised the idea of the shemitah's connection to the global economy in his book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, which warns of trouble ahead for America.
"I believe a great shaking is coming to America and the world but America. I believe a shaking is coming that strikes the financial realm, economic realm and even be a shaking that's greater than that," Cahn said on The 700 Club this week.
He and others believe there's a correlation between financial downturns in the United States and the end of the shemitah year.
"[In] 1980 you have recession and then the stock market collapses; you have '87 stock market collapses and the shemitah of that, and you have 'Black Monday' the worst point percentage crash in history," Cahn explained. "Shemitah of 1994, the bond market collapses, called the bond market massacre—greatest in history; 2001 you have the stock market collapsing, recession. You have the greatest point crash in world history and you have 9/11, which is the shaking. Shemitah also means shaking."
The end of the Hebrew month of Elul ushers in the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, beginning with Rosh Hashanah.
"The Bible refers to Rosh Hashanah as Yom Teruah—the day of sounding the shofar blasts. It's a day of shofar blasts, a day of judgment, a day of coronating God as our King," Weisz said.
And 10 days later comes Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
"Yom Kippur in the Bible is the day of judgment, the day of tshuvah, the day of atonement, the day of forgiveness," Weisz continued. "It's a day we spend in synagogue fasting, not eating or drinking for a 25-hour period, and a day that is spent in prayer and in repentance."
But God didn't leave His people without hope. Within a few days, the joyful Festival of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, begins.
This year, as a result of the lunar eclipse, there's a rare blood moon on the first night of Sukkot. It's the fourth blood moon on a Jewish holiday in two years.
"It happened only four times in the last 500 years," Weisz explained. "The last tetrad to occur on the Jewish festivals before this one was in 1967, the one before was 1948 and the one before was all the way in 1492. And those are major years in Jewish history and in the history of the world."
Those dates include the birth of the modern State of Israel, the reuniting of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain hundreds of years ago.
That's led many to say God is judging the world and the Jewish people, but Weisz sees it differently.
"It's our belief that the blood moons are a cause of celebration, where God is giving signs to the world and signs to the Jewish people that He is doing something great for us and for the world. So it's a sign of excitement, it's a sign! The blood moons are a sign of excitement and they're a sign of Messianic advancement," he said.
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Friday, September 11, 2015

What the Shemitah Means for Israel, the World

What the Shemitah Means for Israel, the World

CBN News image
JERUSALEM, Israel -- For Israel and the Jewish people, the High Holy Days this year mark the end of a significant seven-year cycle and a rare fourth blood moon. Some believe that combination could have a huge impact on the world.
That's why many Christians and others believe that this September could be significant in Jewish, American and world history.
The Bible tells the Jewish people to sow the land and reap its produce for six consecutive years. Then, on the seventh year, they're commanded to let the land lie fallow.
"Shemitah means the sabbatical," Rabbi Tuly Weisz told CBN News. "There's a year of rest for the land of Israel and for people all over the world."
Israel keeps the shemitah every seven years. It ends on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Elul, which this year falls on Sunday, September 13.
Weisz says many non-Jews are also paying close attention this year.
"People from all over the world who've never heard of shemitah are all of a sudden looking and trying to explore what is the significance of shemitah because of all the global events that are happening that seem a bit unusual," he said.
Author Jonathan Cahn raised the idea of the shemitah's connection to the global economy in his book, The Mystery of the Shemitah, which warns of trouble ahead for America.
"I believe a great shaking is coming to America and the world but America. I believe a shaking is coming that strikes the financial realm, economic realm and even be a shaking that's greater than that," Cahn said on The 700 Club this week.
He and others believe there's a correlation between financial downturns in the United States and the end of the shemitah year.
"[In] 1980 you have recession and then the stock market collapses; you have '87 stock market collapses and the shemitah of that, and you have 'Black Monday' the worst point percentage crash in history," Cahn explained. "Shemitah of 1994, the bond market collapses, called the bond market massacre -- greatest in history; 2001 you have the stock market collapsing, recession. You have the greatest point crash in world history and you have 9/11, which is the shaking. Shemitah also means shaking."
The end of the Hebrew month of Elul ushers in the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, beginning with Rosh Hashanah.
"The Bible refers to Rosh Hashanah as Yom Teruah -- the day of sounding the shofar blasts. It's a day of shofar blasts, a day of judgment, a day of coronating God as our King," Weisz said.
And 10 days later comes Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
"Yom Kippur in the Bible is the day of judgment, the day of tshuvah, the day of atonement, the day of forgiveness," Weisz continued. "It's a day we spend in synagogue fasting, not eating or drinking for a 25-hour period, and a day that is spent in prayer and in repentance."
But God didn't leave his people without hope. Within a few days, the joyful Festival of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, begins.
This year, as a result of the lunar eclipse, there's a rare blood moon on the first night of Sukkot. It's the fourth blood moon on a Jewish holiday in two years.
"It happened only four times in the last 500 years," Weisz explained. "The last tetrad to occur on the Jewish festivals before this one was in 1967, the one before was 1948 and the one before was all the way in 1492. And those are major years in Jewish history and in the history of the world."
Those dates include the birth of the modern State of Israel, the reuniting of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain hundreds of years ago.
That's led many to say God is judging the world and the Jewish people, but Weisz sees it differently.
"It's our belief that the blood moons are a cause of celebration, where God is giving signs to the world and signs to the Jewish people that He is doing something great for us and for the world. So it's a sign of excitement, it's a sign! The blood moons are a sign of excitement and they're a sign of Messianic advancement," he said.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Muslim Clerics Incite Against Jewish Holidays

Muslim Clerics Incite Against Jewish Holidays

Wednesday, September 02, 2015 |  Israel Today Staff
Israeli media is warning of increased Palestinian violence during the upcoming Jewish High Holy Days in September and October.
During Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the week-long Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), a great many Jews congregate publicly, especially at the Western Wall.
This year, some of those holidays coincide with Muslim holidays and Palestinian nationalist memorials. Yom Kippur and the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha falls on the same day, and the anniversary of the eruption of the Second Intifada is during Sukkot.
If the past is any indicator, the coinciding of Jewish and Muslim holidays spells trouble, particularly in and around Jerusalem.
Already, Muslim clerics are working their flocks up into a frenzy over what they term the impending Jewish “invasion” of the Temple Mount. From the Israeli perspective, this is nothing short of incitement. Jewish groups always go up to the Temple Mount over Sukkot as it is a biblically mandated practice.
But the head of the Koranic Academy of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Nashach Bakhirat, said in an Arabic broadcast in Israel: “The Jewish festivals are ominous for Muslims and for the Al-Aqsa Mosque because at that time Jewish religious extremists will perpetrate attacks against us.”
Sheikh Kamal Khatib, leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, accused the Jews of seeking to defile the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish holidays. Khatib further charged Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas of conspiring with Israel to “Judaize” the city of Jerusalem.
Ekrima Sa’id Sabri, former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and head of the Islamic Council, went even further, claiming that Jewish groups visiting the Temple Mount during Sukkot were “trying to implement their scheme to build a [Jewish] temple in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
As easily rebutted as these accusations might be, they are consistently effective in whipping up the Muslim masses against Israel’s Jews.
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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Happy New Year! Jews Will Blow the Shofar (Ram's Horn) in Synagogues for Rosh HaShana

Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)


Posted: 23 Sep 2014
Yemenite Jew blowing the shofar (circa 1935, all photographs are from the Library of Congress archives)


"Blow the Shofar at the New Moon...Because It Is a Decree for Israel, a Judgment Day for the God of Jacob"  - Psalms 81

Jews around the world prepare for Rosh Hashanna this week, the festive New Year holiday when the shofar -- ram's horn -- is blown in synagogues. 

The American Colony photographers recorded a dozen pictures of Jewish elders blowing the shofar in Jerusalem some 80 years ago.  The horn was also blown in Jerusalem to announce the commencement of the Sabbath.  During the month prior to Rosh Hashanna, the shofar was blown at daily morning prayers to encourage piety before the High Holidays.   
Ashkenazi Jew in Jerusalem blowing the shofar to announce the Sabbath






Yemenite Rabbi Avram, donning tfillin for his
daily prayers, blowing the shofar


Man blowing the shofar in Mandelkern, NY, 1901

Monday, September 16, 2013

Blessings on all our Israeli friends during these High Holidays! We Support You!

Blessings on all ye heads!

IDF women soldiers - may His angels protect you!



Praying daily for Israel







Blessing on ye heads 
as we celebrate together 
in spirit!

Steve & Laurie Martin
Founders
Love For His People

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Through the Eyes of a Messianic Jew - Sounding the Shofar

Through the Eyes of a Messianic Jew

Sounding the Shofar

By: Messianic Rabbi Eric Tokajer
Brit Ahm Messianic SynagogueMessianic Times Website Manager

Saturday, September, 1 2012

Sound the ShofarMost Jewish adults would probably admit to childhood memories of the High Holy Days (Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot) as a mixed bag of fun and torture. I was certainly no different. Year after year, I dressed in clothing my mother deemed appropriate to wear, but to me as a boy who wanted the freedom to roughhouse outdoors it felt more like a straitjacket. Scratchy starched shirts, clip-on ties that served no purpose I could see, too-tight shoes from last year, and for some reason the socks had to match—how mom could distinguish between dark blue and black was a mystery on par with Stonehenge.

The service was long and mostly in Hebrew which meant I didn’t understand what was going on at all. I knew we were supposed to be sorry for all the bad things we did that year and because we Jews were one people, we were all guilty of every sin even if we didn’t commit the sin ourselves. So that made it even worse—maybe it wasn’t just the tight collar that made me so uncomfortable.

Yet even with all of these “undesirable” features, Rosh Hashanah was my second favorite holiday of the Holy Days—following Sukkot, which won easily because . . . well camping and eating out was fun. The reason I loved Rosh Hashanah didn’t have anything to do with repentance from sin, it didn’t have anything to do with what I now know is wonderfully beautiful liturgy acknowledging God’s love and forgiveness of His people. It really had more to do with my love for . . . cowboys.

You see in every good cowboy movie, the heroes arrived with the blast of a bugle horn. Up until that horn sounded, the bad guys were winning: unfriendly Indians surrounded the wagon trains and were closing in; whatever army attacking the fort had breached the walls and who knows what they would do to the innocent men, women and children. Sitting in a dark movie theatre or in front of the television, I cowered in fear, waiting, hoping that help was on the way. When the bugle sounded and the accompanying horde of uniformed men riding on their trusty steeds came on the scene, I knew that help had arrived—the Cavalry was there to save the day!

imagesCA2HO97O_Joshua.jpgEvery year I endured all of the discomfort a little boy could handle, just to hear the sound of the Shofar (ram’s horn). I could picture the Israelites in trouble, surrounded by bad guys and just in the nick of time, the shofar’s unique, visceral resonance was heard by all. Enemies would shake in their sandals and run in terror.

Sometimes, I would close my eyes and listen to the blasts as they were counted off and imagined someone rushing in through the doors of the sanctuary to rescue me from the service; ripping off the tie and scratchy shirt, mussing my hair, and letting me escape barefoot to play outdoors.

Today, this grown man still has need of a “hero” who rescues and saves. That Savior is the Jewish Messiah Yeshua (Jesus); and 31 years ago He reached out and made me His. As a rabbi I treasure teaching about the beauty and wonderful symbolisms of Rosh Hashanah. But, that little boy is still there waiting in anticipation for the first blast of the shofar.

As a believer in Messiah Yeshua, I understand that when I hear the sound of the shofar, I don’t need to look to the hills for the sound of the cavalry I just need to look to a hill called Calvary.

-----------------------------------------------------

Rabbi Eric TokajerMessianic Rabbi Eric Tokajer and his wife, Pam

Rabbi Eric Tokajer was raised in a traditional Jewish home. While serving in the US Navy, he was challenged to study the Scriptures where he found Yeshua. He has been ordained as a rabbi in the IAMCS and is serving in Pensacola. He and Pam have been married for thirty years.


http://www.mjaa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=n_feature_articles_biblical_teachings


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

In the woods of Poland, to the sound of a shofar

In the woods of Poland, to the sound of a shofar

Eastern European Jews go out to the wilds to contemplate the relationship between man and nature

September 17, 2012
The Times of Israel
 
 

Monday, September 10, 2012

The High Holy Days in Jewish cinema

The High Holy Days in Jewish cinema
By JOEL ROSENBERG/JNS.ORG
08/18/2012, Jerusalem Post

In America’s 1st sound film, Rabinowitz is a cantor’s son whose father expects him to stand by his side to chant Kol Nidre.

A scene from "The Dybbuk."
Photo: Courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film

When cinema was still in its youth, Hollywood built a story around the High Holidays. Its tale was a measure of Jewry’s ties to tradition, but also a gentle sign of its loss.

In The Jazz Singer (1927), America’s first feature-length sound film, Jakie Rabinowitz is a cantor’s son whose father expects him to follow tradition and stand by his side in the synagogue to chant Kol Nidre, the prayer that opens the Yom Kippur service. But as the eve of the holiday approaches, the father is told that 12-year-old Jakie is singing in a saloon. The cantor angrily fetches him home and gives him a thrashing. Jakie vows to leave home for good. As the father chants Kol Nidre at shul, the son takes to the streets and embarks on a life singing jazz.



Years later, his career on the rise, his name now changed to Jack Robin (played here by the great Al Jolson, whose life had inspired the story), he visits his parents on his papa’s 60th birthday, announces he’ll soon be starring on Broadway, and hopes to make peace with his folks. Jack’s mama welcomes him back eagerly, but the father orders him to leave. Soon after, the cantor grows ill and hovers between life and death. Jack’s mother appears at the Broadway rehearsals and begs him to sing Kol Nidre in place of his father. But Yom Kippur is also the show’s opening night. The film constructs a virtual morality play around this dilemma.

The film would be incomplete without a Jolson version of Kol Nidre. Or at least it sounds like Kol Nidre—but in Jolson’s handling, the Aramaic-language lines are radically abridged and repeated, over and over, in a reverie of improvisation. In effect, Kol Nidre as jazz. The film here subtly portrays the passing of tradition into a creatively eroded form—symbolic of what New World Jews have done with the old.

In 1937, Jews in Poland did a film version of S. An-sky’s acclaimed Yiddish play, The Dybbuk. In the film, two Hasidic Jews, Sender and Nisn, are longtime friends who meet up only infrequently during holiday pilgrimages to the Rebbe of Miropolye. One such time, they pledge their yet-unborn children in marriage. Soon after, Nisn is drowned and Sender, preoccupied with money, forgets his promise to his friend.



Years later, an impoverished scholar named named Khonen makes his way to Brinitz, Sender’s town, where, as a Sabbath guest at Sender’s, he instantly falls in love with Sender’s daughter Leah, who loves him in return. The father, unaware that Khonon is the son of his long-departed friend, is determined to betroth Leah to the richest suitor he can find. Desperate to win Leah’s hand, Khonen immerses himself in kabbalistic magic so he can conjure up barrels of gold. Intensely ascetic, Khonen grows ever more unbalanced, and when Leah’s engagement to a rich man’s son is announced, he calls on Satan for help, then keels over and dies. When Leah is later about to be married, she becomes possessed by her dead lover’s spirit. Her father then takes her to Miropolye, where he petitions the Rebbe to exorcise the wayward soul.

The film, one of the last great cultural products of Polish Jewry, is a rich portrait of pre-modern Jewish life and custom. Unlike the play, it opens with an impassioned table sermon by the Rebbe on the youthful days of the fathers-to-be. The sermon deals with the Yom Kippur ministrations of the High Priest in ancient times—if an impure thought were to enter his mind in the Holy of Holies, “the entire world would be destroyed.” The Rebbe compares this to the precarious journey of some unfortunate souls, who pass through several lifetimes (these Jews believed in reincarnation) in striving toward their source, the Throne of Glory—only to be cast down, just as they reach celestial heights. As this point in the Rebbe’s sermon, Sender and Nisn inopportunely try to inform him of their pact.

Click for more JPost High Holy Day features

When, a generation later, Khonon fantasizes union with his beloved Leah, he refers to it as “the Holy of Holies.” In retrospect, the Rebbe’s sermon becomes a prophecy of Khonon’s disastrous fall. But The Dybbuk never ceases to exalt the lovers’ bond, though the Rebbe and his court try their best to undo it. The holiest moment of Yom Kippur, though fraught with catastrophe, remains a symbol for the resistance of these lovers to a world enslaved by money and class.

A third film, Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights (1999), is a nostalgic comedy about growing up Jewish in 1950s Baltimore.



It both opens and closes on Rosh Hashana, when the Kurtzman family customarily attend synagogue. Nate Kurtzman (Joe Mantegna) has his own New Year custom of exiting early from synagogue to stroll to the nearby Cadillac showroom, where the coming year’s models are on display. Each year, Nate trades in his Caddy for a spiffy new one, which he can afford—not from fading profits of the burlesque house he owns but because of his thriving illegal numbers racket. Nate is otherwise a solid citizen, a devoted husband and father, who has raised himself up from humble origins, and had often, in his youth, proven himself a scrappy street fighter against neighborhood anti-Semites.

Most of the film deals with the adventures of Nate’s sons, Van and Ben (Adrien Brody and Ben Foster) and and their relations with gentile girls—Van’s pursuit of a beautiful, Old-Money debutante named Dubbie, whom he met at a party; and Ben’s friendship with Sylvia, a black classmate.

Levinson’s framing the story inside the Jewish New Year and Nate’s Cadillac ritual is important. The Kurtzmans are nominally observant Jews—perhaps even Orthodox, but in a laid-back, assimilated way. Though Nate’s wife shows remnants of clannishness, the Kurtzmans are open to the winds of change. While both the New Year and the “new car year” are equally important to Nate, their overlap seems a portrait of the tradition’s loosening grip since the days of The Jazz Singer.

Even The Dybbuk, flawless as its command of pre-modern tradition had been, was the creation of Jewish moderns: playwright An-sky had been a secularist and socialist revolutionary, folklorist, and humanitarian activist. The film’s creators were immersed in avant-garde theater and Expressionist idioms, and director Mihał Waszyński was a gay man who had left behind his orthodox background and pretended he knew no Yiddish. But what unites these three films is not just their deep awareness (hidden in The Dybbuk) of the secular world, but also their willingness to invoke tradition as a yardstick. The High Holidays might be a site of fading cultural memory, but the theme still strikes a responsive chord among film goers, Jewish and gentile alike.

Joel Rosenberg teaches film and Judaic studies at Tufts University. His articles on the cinema of Jewish experience have appeared in various journals and collections, and he has recently completed a book, Crisis in Disguise: Some Cinema of Jewish Experience from the Era of Catastrophe (1914-47).


http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=281688