Montreal comedians Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman are like fish out of water in Sweden. The zany performers, who specialize in Yiddish-inflected humor, landed in Stockholm last May with little or no knowledge about Sweden. They were laser-focused on learning about a small Scandinavian Jewish community that keeps a very low profile. Their explorations unfold […]
Harry Rasky describes Nobody Swings On Sunday as a “memory” movie. Rasky’s bitter-sweet documentary, to be screened at the ongoing Toronto Jewish Film Festival, is an assemblage of his boyhood memories of Toronto in the 1930s and 1940s. Released in 2003, it is based on his eponymous memoir, which was published in 1980. Rasky (1928-2007), […]
It’s the “last remnant” of old Toronto, according to former Toronto mayor John Sewell. Kensington Market, a throwback to the 1920s and 1930s, is a vibrant reminder of what parts of Canada’s largest city looked like about a century ago. Exuding color, character and charm, and located within a small area bounded by College, Spadina, […]
For Menajem Aguirre and his wife, Isska Dvash, immigration to Israel would be a dream come true. The young couple from Cali, Colombia, think of little else after having bought airplane tickets to Israel for themselves and their two young daughters, Jaia and Ruth. They are members of Beit Israel, a small community of Christians […]
German troops marched into the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on July 20, 1941, less than a month after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. In short order, its 30,000 Jewish residents, comprising about one-third of the population, were singled out for persecution and mass murder in line with Nazi Germany’s genocidal policy. Waleriy Shalyga’s spare and […]
Alex Osmolovsky’s documentary, The Community, profiles a Jewish community under siege. Ukraine has been at war since the Russian invasion in 2022, and Ukrainian Jews have been caught up in the violence. His movie will be presented at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which runs from June 5-15. He presents a rosy picture of a […]
Property restitution is an unresolved issue in Poland as far as Jews are concerned. While Poland has returned Jewish communal property expropriated by the Nazis during the Holocaust, the Polish government has yet to return Jewish private property to their rightful owners or descendants. Dana Modan’s movie, The Property, is inspired by this knotty problem, […]
The late Abraham Stiller was a heroic figure. A Jewish community leader in Helsinki before and during World War II, he single-handedly helped imperilled Austrian Jewish refugees find a refuge in Finland. Klaus Haro’s Finnish movie, Never Alone, documents his herculean efforts to assist them in their hour of need. It will be screened at […]
Nir Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip, was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. The intruders killed, injured and abducted one quarter of its population of 400 men, women and children. Dani Rosenberg, an Israeli filmmaker, visited Nir Oz about a month later with the intention of making a film about this […]
The unification of Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was one of the defining moments of the Six Day War period. Until 1967, Jerusalem was divided into western and eastern sectors. Israel controlled the western half. Jordan was in charge of the eastern portion. Israelis were not allowed into East Jerusalem and Arabs were not permitted to visit […]