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Jewish Journal

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January 9, 2017

JACKIE *Movie Review*

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In JACKIE, Natalie Portman’s Jackie Kennedy consciously controls history’s memory of JFK’s assassination and presidency through her calculated interview with a reporter played by Billy Crudup.  The movie also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig and John Hurt.

There’s a line in JACKIE that stuck with me.  It’s when Jackie says “for royalty you need tradition and for tradition you need time”.  It perfectly encapsulated the movie and Jackie Kennedy’s ultimate goals for her family.  In the midst of the horror of JFK’s assassination and Jackie Kennedy’s own combination of sadness and guilt, she wants her husband—and by extension herself—not to fade into oblivion.

The movie balances showing both sides of the formidable Jackie Kennedy, who is seemingly in control, with the inner turmoil she faces as she struggles to keep herself afloat.  The cinematography reflects that struggle through the use of a shaky, hand-held camera during specific scenes.  It also felt like Jackie was an outside observer of her own life; she was present physically but still apart.

The use of light also reflects Jackie’s inner turmoil.  When she greets the unnamed reporter at her home, she opens her door and sees bright light.  In fact, the light is so blown out that it offers a sense of heightened realism, as though Jackie’s looking into the light but cannot get there yet herself.  I also interpret it as an unforgiving light, representing how she feels about herself at the time.  These interpretations are reinforced during the movie multiple times.  For instance, during a flashback when someone tells Jackie that she has her whole life still ahead, she remarks that it’s a cruel comment.  As bright as her life might seem having been First Lady or looking back knowing about her subsequent marriage to Aristotle Onassis, at this point she is a young mother who has lost two children, she’s lost a husband, she has no home of her own and fears she will have to start selling off furniture just to feed her children.  Her desire to build a legacy for JFK is means for securing a future for herself as well, an inclination that is hard for her to even admit.

Jackie’s internal struggles are also literally reflected back to her during specific scenes with mirrors, which represent multiple facets of a person and personality in traditional film analysis. For more about these scenes and other themes in JACKIE, take a look below:

—>Looking for the direct link to the video?  Click here.

JACKIE *Movie Review* Read More »

The 2016 Israeli Entrepreneur, Life-changing Apps And More –This Week from the Startup Nation

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2016 Israeli Entrepreneur Profile – A 36 Year-Old Tel Aviv University Graduate

With the help of their data unit, GeekTime went over all the startups that raised money or were acquired over the past year in order to compile a profile of the 2016 entrepreneur.

“>Read more here. 

 

 


Women's High Tech Status Improves in 2016

Israeli high tech is still almost completely dominated by men. The proportion of women entrepreneurs, those founding and/or managing startups, is estimated at a mere 10%. Figures compiled by the Ethosia research company for women in 2016 show a minor improvement. The proportion of women programmers in the industry in Israel is currently 22%, but the trend is encouraging, with the figures showing a consistent increase in the proportion.

“>Read more here. 

 


Hands-Free Communication While Driving

The Bazz app is premised on the assumption that many people can’t overcome the temptation to drive and text despite knowing it’s dangerous. Once you’ve installed the app on your Android device, it activates automatically when you start driving and turns off when you stop. You can connect it by Bluetooth and choose the volume and reading speed.

The 2016 Israeli Entrepreneur, Life-changing Apps And More –This Week from the Startup Nation Read More »

Terror in Jerusalem and its wacky-talk aftermath

Leave a Comment / Israel, Israel, News, Rosner's Domain /

Terrorism hit Jerusalem yesterday, as it did hundreds of times in recent years. The attacker was a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, ” target=”_blank”>celebrated the great achievement of killing Israelis by driving a truck into them. The killer's sister praised his ” target=”_blank”>complicated. It is a case that the IDF handled poorly. It is a case that split the nation for no good reason. And now it is coming back to bite us – as it did yesterday, and still does today.

What is the supposed “Azaria effect?” It is the paralyzing impact the case against a soldier that shot an attacker supposedly has on other soldiers. Azaria, so the theory goes, killed the attacker and then was handcuffed, brought to trial, and convicted of manslaughter – and now his peers in uniform learned a lesson and are hesitant to shoot. That's why the soldiers were slow to respond yesterday. That's why they were late to shoot the truck terrorist.

Of course, there are not many similarities between the two cases – the attack in Hebron and the one in Jerusalem. Azaria killed the attacker long after the attacker was neutralized. He killed a man who was lying on the ground, wounded, defenseless. He killed a man that posed no danger to the people around him. In Jerusalem the attack was still ongoing when the terrorist was shot and killed. It was a clear-cut case of necessary response. One expects Israel's IDF officer-school cadets to know the difference. One assumes that Israel's IDF officer-school cadets had no doubt.

If some of them hesitated, it was not because of an imaginary “Azaria effect.” If they hesitated, it was because of other things. Shock, fear, confusion, to name a few. But all this is of little interest to the people that see a terror attack as an opportunity to pursue an agenda. They come from the right – as activists supportive of Azaria and of a no-questions-asked policy when a soldier kills and attacker, no matter how and when. They also come from the left – as proponents of a division of Jerusalem. Some of these political activists were using the attack to prove that Jerusalem will benefit from division. That getting rid of Arab villages and neighborhoods that were incorporated into the city after its reunification almost fifty years ago is the better policy for Israel.

Their argument this morning sounds like this: the attacker was from east Jerusalem. Had there been a wall separating his residence from the city, it might have been more difficult for him to drive his truck into the crowd in Armon Hanatziv, the neighborhood where the attack took place.

This argument is as honest as the one connecting the attack to the Azaria trial. It is an attempt to utilize a horrific attack to serve a political goal. Surely, there is a reasonable case to be made concerning the need to consider a change in Jerusalem's boundaries. It is mostly a case based on two arguments: The demographic future of the city – for those who want to ensure a Jewish Jerusalem. The political future of the city – for those who want to keep open the option of a Palestinian Jerusalem alongside the Israeli Jerusalem.

But a terror attack in Jerusalem does not support any of these arguments. As Minister Tzachi Hanegbi drily remarked this morning, ” target=”_blank”>Arara – an Arab village in Israel. Should Israel withdraw from Arara because an attacker was able to freely drive from his village to Tel Aviv? Should Israel evacuate every territory from which attackers reach Israeli targets?

The answer, of course, is no. Israel should not divide Jerusalem because of the attack yesterday – nor should it alter the IDF's ethical code because of it. If anything is in need of change, it is Israel's trigger-happy public debate. But unlike pointing a finger at municipal borders and ethical codes, that's a hard thing to do.

Terror in Jerusalem and its wacky-talk aftermath Read More »

When a beautiful life ends

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Israel /

Nico (Nick) Linesch, son of Debra and Steve Linesch, brother of Julia, and life-partner of Gene, was only 31 years old when he died suddenly in an accident last week.

In my nearly forty years serving as a congregational rabbi, few deaths have shaken me and my community as this one has.

I’ve known Nico since he was very small. He was the friend to many people of all ages, and he and his family are as beloved and admired as anyone in our community.

We rabbis face special challenges in helping people who suffer the enormity of the loss of a young person. This is why I am writing this blog – to offer some thoughts.

As I prepared to lead Nick’s memorial service, I struggled to choose the right prayers and poetry, the right words and music sufficient to comfort the nearly 600 broken-hearted young and old who convened at our synagogue to mourn Nico's death.

Every rabbi I know faces this terrible challenge. We begin by recognizing and accepting our inadequacy to do what the moment requires and that we will likely fail because there is no comfort in a time such as this. Yet, we hope that something we say will enter the hearts of the bereft and provide a measure of comfort.

I began Nico's memorial service by reciting from the prophet Jeremiah (48:17):

“Bemoan him, all you round about him
And all you that know his name;
Say: 'How is the strong staff broken,
The beautiful rod!”

I suggested that what we do now as we confront the world without Nick is our greatest challenge. Thankfully, there is a font of wisdom in Jewish tradition from which we may take sustenance. In addition to careful selection of Biblical text I offered this poem by Mary Oliver:

“…when death comes
Like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
…I look upon time as no more than an idea,
And I consider eternity as another possibility,
And I think of each life as a flower, as common
As a field daisy, and as singular,
And each name a comfortable music in the mouth
Tending as all music does, towards silence,
And each body a lion of courage, and something
    Precious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don’t want to wonderIf I have made of my life something particular,
   And real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
    Or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”
(From New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver, Beacon Press)

We sang Leonard Cohen’s Halleluja after Kaddish not only because it was Nico’s favorite song, but because the family wanted the mourners to leave the memorial service with the feeling of uplift as a tribute to Nico who lived his life so positively, joyfully and lovingly.

Nico's family asked me as well to read this poem by Laura Gilpin called “Life After Death.” We read this at Nico's bar mitzvah eighteen years ago:

“These things I know:
How the living go on living
And how the dead go on living with them
So that in a forest
Even a dead tree casts a shadow
And the leaves fall one by one
And the branches break in the wind
And the bark peels off slowly
And the trunk cracks
And the rain seeps in through the cracks
And the trunk falls to the ground
And the moss covers it
And in the spring the rabbits find it
And build their nest
Inside the dead tree
So that nothing is wasted in nature
Or in love.”

Zichrono livracha – May Nico’s memory inspire blessing.

When a beautiful life ends Read More »

2 soldiers killed in Jerusalem truck-ramming attack are US citizens

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Two of the four Israeli soldiers killed in the truck-ramming attack in eastern Jerusalem were American citizens.

The soldiers were buried Monday in separate cemeteries a day after the attack on the promenade in the Arnon Hatnatziv neighborhood.

Erez Orbach, 20, of Alon Shvut in the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem was an American citizen, Haaretz reported, citing a U.S. Embassy official. He holds U.S. citizenship through his mother, according to the newspaper, citing a family member. Orbach was the oldest of six brothers.

Shira Tzur, 20, of Haifa, had American-born parents, according to Haaretz, which cited a soldier in her unit.

The others killed were Yael Yekutiel of Givatayim and Shir Hajaj, 22, of Maale Adumim.

The soldiers were on an educational trip along with several other groups. They had just gotten off a bus in the promenade when the driver of the truck, a resident of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, drove into them, reversing back over the bodies after he had hit them.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited some of the injured soldiers on Monday morning. One reportedly remains in a life-threatening condition, breathing with the help of a respirator and facing more surgery.

2 soldiers killed in Jerusalem truck-ramming attack are US citizens Read More »

UN Security Council condemns deadly truck-ramming attack on Israeli soldiers

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The United Nations Security Council condemned the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

The statement tweeted late Sunday night by Sweden’s mission to the United Nations “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” in the eastern part of the city on Sunday and expressed condolences to the families of the victims and the government of Israel. Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month.

“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” the statement said, and that the council finds any acts of terrorism “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation.”

The statement “reaffirmed the need for all states to combat by all means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law, and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.”

The soldiers were killed and at least 15 were injured when the driver of a large truck, a resident of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, drove into a group of soldiers who had just exited a bus on the promenade in the Arnon Hatnatziv neighborhood, which marks the border between the eastern and western halves of Jerusalem.  The driver then reversed back over the bodies after he had hit them before being shot by a civilian tour guide and at least two soldiers.

The Security Council late last month passed a resolution by a vote of 14-0, with the Unites States abstaining, condemning Israeli settlements, calling them illegal and an obstacle to achieving peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world.

UN Security Council condemns deadly truck-ramming attack on Israeli soldiers Read More »

Jewish talent shines in unexpected categories at Golden Globes

Leave a Comment / Entertainment, Hollywood /

It was neither the best of times nor the worst of times for Jewish talent at the Golden Globe awards ceremony Jan. 8 at the Beverly Hilton.

The most prominent Jewish nominees, including such respected and decorated actors as Natalie Portman, Liev Schreiber, Winona Ryder and Jeffrey Tambor, did not make it to the winner’s spotlight.

It was left to a few artists, hardly mentioned in the advance Jewish tip sheets, to uphold the tribal honor, buttressed by one young director who might be classified as an “honorary” Jew.

Justin Hurwitz’s musical gifts contributed immeasurably to the success of “La La Land,” the record-setting, seven-time winner in the musical or comedy film category. Hurwitz was rewarded with trophies for the movie’s original score and for the original song “City of Stars.”

Hurwitz is 31, as is Damien Chazelle, the film’s director, and the two were roommates as undergraduates at Harvard. Chazelle, who won Golden Globes as director and screenwriter of “La La Land,” was raised by his two Catholic parents.

But, as Chazelle told the Journal’s Naomi Pfefferman last year, his parents were dissatisfied with their son’s education at a church Sunday school, so they enrolled him in the Hebrew school of a liberal synagogue.

Over the next four years, Chazelle recalled, “I had that period of my life where I was very, very into Hebrew and the Old Testament, and then I went with my class to Israel when we were in the sixth grade.

“I don’t think they even knew I wasn’t Jewish; I was, like, ‘passing.’ ”

 Veteran French star Isabelle Huppert won in the lead actress in a drama category for her role in the French film “Elle,” which also received a Golden Globe in the foreign-language film category.

Huppert, who plays the role of a successful businesswoman who plots an elaborate revenge on the home intruder who raped her, is the daughter of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. Her parents married while France was under Nazi occupation, with his father hiding his Jewish roots.

Another ethnically mixed performer, Tracee Ellis Ross, was a winner as lead  actress in a musical or comedy TV series, playing the biracial anesthesiologist in the sitcom “Black-ish.” She is the daughter of Motown singer Diana Ross and music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein.

Britain’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson won the supporting actor award for his role as the fictional leader of a vicious criminal gang in the drama-thriller “Nocturnal Animals.”

The evening’s big loser at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills was absent President-elect Donald Trump, who was the target of a number of jibes and denunciations, though without actually being mentioned by name.

Most outspoken was actress Meryl Streep, who received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

After denouncing the unnamed Trump for mocking a disabled New York Times reporter and after asking the audience to back the Committee to Support Journalists, Streep ended with a strong warning.

“Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence,” she said. “And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”

Trump responded immediately by telling The New York Times that such words would have no impact on attendance at his upcoming inauguration.

“We are going to have an unbelievable, perhaps record-setting turnout for the inauguration and there will be plenty of movie and entertainment stars,” Trump said. “All the dress shops are sold out in Washington. It’s hard to find a great dress for this inauguration.”

Jewish talent shines in unexpected categories at Golden Globes Read More »

WATCH: Find Your Song – Shalhevet High School (Ft. David Mazouz of Gotham)

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