The Jewish Community Library has over 1,000 videos which give expression to Jewish history, life and culture. Of particular interest to our users is the Jewish Heritage Video Collection which is listed and described below.

You are welcome to borrow these videos from the Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles. Contact the JCL by telephone at 323.761.8648 or Email to make arrangements to borrow a video from this collection. Borrowing period is one week. Please return videos on time. Overdue fines on videos: 1$/day/video.

HALF THE KINGDOM
59 min. JH-A 1990

One of the most vital aspects of contemporary Jewish life is the examination of the role of women within an historically patriarchal religion. At a time when female rabbis and cantors have become increasingly visible within Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Judaism, many Jewish women in all denominations seek greater inclusion in ritual and communal life. Half the Kingdom focuses on a group of Jewish women in North America and Israel who are committed to achieving a larger role in religious observance. The group includes a rabbi, a novelist, a professor of religion, a Jewish feminist scholar, a Hebrew School principal, a member of the Knesset, and a journalist. They explore the challenges of reconceiving rituals and ceremonies- such as saying kaddish and welcoming a new baby into the Jewish community. The film captures their struggle and the obstacles they face in attempting to reshape Judaism to include them.

HESTER STREET
89 min. JH-A 1974

Hester Street portrays the life of a Jewish community in transition, where immigrants must re-examine their identities as Jews in light of American opportunities and values. Jake, formerly Yankel, is a Jewish immigrant living in New Yorks's Lower East Side at the turn of the century. Since arriving from Russia, he has shaved off his beard,found a job in a sweatshop and learned English, and he is enjoying his reputation as a ladies man. Then a letter from home prompts Jake to send for his wife, Gitl, and son, Yossele. Their arrival reminds Jake of everything he discarded and triggers a confrontation between Old and New World values. Gitl, too, faced with a changed husband and a foreign world, must decide what she is willing to give up in order to become an American.

HILL 24 DOESN'T ANSWER
101 min. EL-A 1955

Hill 24 Doesn't Answer takes place during Israel's 1948 War of Independence. It focuses on the personal stories of soldiers- an Irishman, an American Jew, and a Sabra, who are assigned to defend a strategic hill outside of Jerusalem. Through their diverse stories, Israel's birth and struggle to survive is captured from a distinctly personal perspective. On the way to their last mission- the defense of Hill 24- the soldiers talk of their past battles and what influenced their Zionism. Through a series of flashbacks, the film reveals each soldier's story, until they converge at the hill. There, during a nightime battle, the significance of their mission becomes apparent as their allegiance and bravery undergo trial by fire.

HIS PEOPLE
91 min. JH-A 1925

Between 1880 and 1924 more than two million Jews from Eastern Europe arrived in America, many of them settling in poor, congested areas of big cities. "Scattered for centuries," reads the film's opening title, "these people have come from the four corners of Europe, each bringing a dream of prosperity and happiness." Newcomers often found these two dreams mutually exclusive; His People seeks to unify them in a peculiarly American manner. This superb 1925 silent film tells the tale of an immigrant family whose tradition and values are all but shattered by the encounter with the New World. The Cominsky family- the learned, religious father who struggles to survive in America; the big-hearted, forgiving mother; and the sons, one a lawyer clambering the social ladder, the other a prizefighter, unlettered but generous- embodies all the hopes, conflicts, misunderstandings and regrets of the era.

HOMAGE TO CHAGALL: THE COLORS OF LOVE
90 min. JH-A 1977

Throughout his life, painter Marc Chagall drew upon his Jewish roots for inspiration. Born in tsarist Russia in 1887, Chagall derived much of his artistic sensibility from his shtetl childhood. In his 98 years, he painted hundreds of scenes from the Bible in a distinctive fairy-tale style- dreamy and unpretentious, with sublime color. Narrated by James Mason, Homage to Chagall celebrates the artist's life and work. An extensive interview with the artist and his wife at their home in Southern France reveals his deep affection for the poetry of the Bible, and his faith in the Jewish people. Throughout the film, we see hundreds of examples of Chagall's work, from paintings to stained glass windows.

HOMICIDE
100 min. SH-A 1991

How far can assimilation go? Can one leave behind all sense of Jewish identity? Even the most assimilated Jews can encounter circumstances which force them to confront their Jewish self. When the encounter involves overt anti-Semitism, the response can vary from puzzled to explosive. In Homicide, police negotiator Robert Gold (Joe Montegna) confronts his long-buried Jewish identity as he searches for a criminal wanted by the FBI for the murder of an elderly Jewish shopkeeper. Assigned to the case because he's a Jew, Gold grapples with his unformed Jewish side while he learns about the murdered woman and her circle of acquaintances. His encounters with others underscore the tensions between his police work and his sense of Jewish identification. The pressure to "prove himself" leads Gold down paths of corruption, manipulation, and violence.

THE HOUSE ON CHELOUCHE STREET
111 min. SH-A 1973

Set in Tel Aviv during the turbulent period at the end of the British Mandate, House on Chelouche Street centers on a family that left a life of comfort in Alexandria to settle in Palestine. Klara, a beautiful young widow, cleans houses to earn a living and finds a job for her fifteen-year-old son, Sami, in a factory owned by her employer. Through Sami's eyes, we see the repression of the people under British rule, the prejudice of Ashkenazi Jews toward Sephardim, and a boy's struggles to make sense of the world around him and to make a better life for himself. His successes, losses, disappointments, and hopes are set against the simultaneous emergence of the State of Israel.

HOW ISRAEL WON THE WAR
35 min. JH-A

The Six-Day War, fought from June 5 to 10, 1967, established Israel as the greatest military power in the Middle East. The battle was waged simultaneously on three fronts, with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and Israel's victory was swift and impressive. In the aftermath of the war, Israel was nearly four times larger geographically and in possession of Judaism's holiest sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. How Israel Won the War, a CBS Special Report, is a detailed review of the military strategies that enabled the Israeli Defense Force to defeat the Arab armies in the Six-Day War. Reporter Mike Wallace and retired American Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall analyze the events of the war through visits to battle locations, documentary film footage, and interviews with Arab and Israeli military leaders.

IMAGE BEFORE MY EYES
90 min. JH-A 1980

Before World War II Poland was the largest and most important center of Jewish creativity, scholarship, and culture in the world. Jews had lived in Poland since the twelfth century, and in 1939 Poland's 3.5 million Jews comprised about one-tenth of the population. Image Before My Eyes depicts the full spectrum of Jewish life in Poland- from remote villages and small towns to major cities, from the traditionally pious to the ardently secular. It shows the great range of Jewish involvement in political and cutural movements such as bundism, Zionism, and anarchism, and in the creation and sustenance of educational and social institutions. Through interviews, photographs, and rare and remarkable film foootage, the film pieces together a warm and evocative portrait of Jewish life in Poland between the wars.

THE IMPORTED BRIDEGROOM
93 min. JH-A 1989

Asriel Stroon is an immigrant who's made good in America. At the turn of the century, he has a successful business, a large home, and a beautiful daughter, Flora. His affluence, however, had drained his spiritual life. By marrying off his precious Flora to an imported yeshiva bocher, he hopes to compensate (on some heavenly scorecard) for his own failings. But Flora has other plans. She wants to marry an "uptown doctor" and lead a sophisticated life. Flora tries to manipulate her father as well as Shaya, the bridegroom brought back from the Old Country. Nothing proceeds as any of the characters plan- and Asriel, Flora and Shaya are surpirsed by developments that seem out of their control. Based on a story by Abraham Cahan.

IN HER OWN TIME: BARBARA MYERHOFF'S FINAL FIELD WORK
60 min. JH-A 1985

When Barbara Myerhoff, whose life as an anthropologist has been dedicated to the studies of community, learns that she is dying of lung cancer, she decides to document her own search for solace in the spiritual community of Jewish religious observance. Myerhoff engages in a journey through the pathways of Judaism while studyng the life of an Orthodox community in Los Angeles. A secular academic accustomed to the life of individuality and independence, she nonetheless feels herself drawn to living in a way that is more intensely Jewish, more bound by rituals and traditions. Her quest for a place for her soul is the basis of In Her Own Time, as much about life as about dying.

INTERMARRIAGE: WHEN LOVE MEETS TRADITION
33 min. JH-A 1987

Produced in association with the Reform movement, this film explores the realities of a growing phenomenon in American Jewish life: Between 40 and 50 percent of Jews today marry non-Jews. The five couples in the film are participants in a program designed to provide a Jewish orientation for interfaith couples not closely affiliated with the Jewish community. Their real-life stories and struggles are profound. The couples are shown during group sessions as well as at home with their families; several parents also speak out. Among the issues they grapple with are raising children, celebrating holidays and family milestones, and finding community. Viewers will see intermarriage close-up in this focused look at a major dilemma facing the American Jewish community, with far-reaching implications for the future.

ISAAC IN AMERICA
60 min. JH-A 1986

In his interviews and public appearances, Isaac Bashevis Singer presented a humerous and ironic image of himself. While the best-known Yiddish author in the United States, he positioned himself as a renegade standing apart from the "sentimemtal" tradition of Yiddish literature. Instead, his writings dwelt on folklore, the supernatural, and the lives of refugees cast upon the shores of America. Isaac in America looks at Singer's life and art, from his early days in Warsaw to his acceptance of the Nobel Prize. Singer serves as the guide to his own life, showing us a boarded-up house in Brooklyn where he first lived in America and the former offices of The Forward, which published many of his stories in serial form. We also see excerpts from some of his speaking engagements, and his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

ISRAEL: A NATION IS BORN, PART 1
55 min. EL-A 1992

Abba Eban recalls the events leading to the establishment of the State of Israel, including conflicts with the British colonial government, President Truman's advocacy for Jewish statehood, and the United Nations partition plan.

ISRAEL: A NATION IS BORN, PART 2
55 min. EL-A 1992

Covers events surrounding the proclamation of Israeli statehood on May 14, 1948, including the subsequent invasion by Israel's Arab neighbors and the siege of Jerusalem. Also portrays the wave of aliyah which followed the War of Independence.

ISRAEL: A NATION IS BORN, PART 3
55 min. EL-A 1992

Portrays the political and economic isolation which Israel experienced in the aftermath of the British withdrawal from the Suez Canal, leading to the Sinai campaign of 1956. Also looks at events of the following decade, including the Eichmann trial and Ben-Gurion's controversial decision to establish diplomatic relations with West Germany.

ISRAEL: A NATION IS BORN, PART 4
55 min. EL-A 1992

Covers the period from 1967 to 1973. Concentrates on the Six Day War, featuring footage of the battles in the Sinai, Golan, and Jerusalem. It also explains how the war ushered a feeling of promise and security to the people of Israel.

ISRAEL: A NATION IS BORN, PART 5
55 min. EL-A 1992

One of Israel's most eloquent voices provides a personal eyewitness account of five decades of Israel's history, beginning with the years leading up to the War of Independence. This five-part series features Abba Eban's incisive narration and includes archival footage, newsreel clips, and interviews with Israeli leaders and key international figures. Eban, Israel's first United Nations representative and one of the only architects of its foreign policy, says, "The whole of Jewish history is an eternal celebration of resilience." Along with commentary on the young country's wars, Eban explains how the Israelis "caused the desert to bloom." Finally, he sounds an optimistic note about the prospects of peace.

THE ISRAELIS
36 min. JH-A 1973

Twenty-five years after statehood, Israel continued to encounter deep rooted dilemmas in times of peace as well as times of war. As a democracy, characterized by a wide diversity of social and political points of view, the nation faced unique internal challenges, including the absorption of culturally dissimilar waves of immigration and the incorporation of an increasing Arab minority. Inevitably, the constant threat of a fourth war overshadowed all aspects of Israeli life. The Israelis was broadcast two weeks after the start of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, as part of a series of CBS News Specials exploring the national character of different countries. Israeli journalist Amos Elon presents his personal perspective on the Israeli people. A rich selection of everyday scenes conveys the complexities of life in Israel.

THE JACK BENNY SHOW
51 min. JH-A 1958

The great comedian Jack Benny described his approach to humor this way: "I try to make my characters encompass everything that is wrong with everybody. On the air I have everybody's faults. All (viewers) know someone or have a relative who is a tightwad, show-off or something of that sort." Indeed, Benny created a wry character who was the archetypal ongeblozen tightwad, and audiences adored him for it. The Jack Benny Show utilized Benny's superb timing and eccentric mannerisms to create a weekly masterpiece of situational humor. Featuring outstanding personalities like his wife, Mary Livingstone, announcer Don Wilson, singer Dennis Day, and Eddie Anderson as his valet Rochester, Benny's working and home life was the butt of a running series of gags that played off the comedian's legendary stinginess, vanity, and lack of violin virtuosity.

THE JAZZ SINGER
89 min. JH-A 1927

The Jazz Singer was the first feature film to contain sound sequences. Its premiere spelled the end for silent movies. This break with the past for the glamour of the present is the theme of the film itself, in which the traditions of Old World Judaism run headlong into modern culture. Al Jolson plays Jakie Rabinowitz, a young man who adores jazz- "the sacred music" of a new America. But Jakie's intense desire to sing jazz conflicts with his father's wish that his son follow in his footsteps as a cantor. With audiences clamoring for his talent, Jakie must choose between honoring his parents and the American dream. Jolson's songs, including "Toot, Toot, Tootsie," and "Dirty Hands, Dirty Face" attest to his enormous talent and appeal.

THE JOURNEY
34 min. EL-A 1989

Russia, 1941. The U.S. sends advisors to help the Soviets fight the Nazis. American engineer Joe Levinson is among those sent. His work completed, he heads back to the U.S. via train to Velogda. By chance, young Nikolai Krohn shares the ride. Or is it chance? Hearing Levinson's Jewish name at the station, Nikolai's aunt begs the American to teach her nephew about Judaism. The boy's thirteenth birthday- the start of his Bar Mitzvah year- is the next day. For Levinson, whose last Jewish experience was his own Bar Mitzvah, the request is too great- until he hears Nikolai mechanically quote Marx on religion. Challenged, the engineer takes advantage of a train delay to spirit the boy away from their guards and teaches Nikolai to at least seek to learn about his heritage.

JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG
187 min. JH-A 1961

In the years following World War II, the victorious Allies set up a court in which to try Nazis leaders for war crimes. As the world watched in fascination, the Nuremberg trials brought to light issues of accountability and responsibility under the Nazi regime. Judgment at Nuremberg was Hollywood's first attempt to confront issues of guilt and innocence in the Holocaust. It premiered in Berlin to an invited international audience, and won the Oscar for Best Picture. Judgment at Nuremberg presents the trial of a group of German judges charged with "crimes committed in the name of the law." Starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland, and Maximillian Schell, the film addresses the complex issue of assigning culpability.

A JUMPIN' NIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
75 min.

By turns rollicking and plaintive, klezmer was the popular "soul" music of Eastern European Jews. More than a musical style, it encompassed the world of Yiddish culture with roots extending to itinerant traveling musicians of the Middle Ages. In recent years klezmer has enjoyed a strong revival as skilled young musicians rediscovered early recordings and addded their own sensibilities to the style. A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden highlights the best modern klezmer groups, such as the Klezmer Conservatory Band and Kapelye. The younger players seek out musicians from an earlier era, who provide them with technical insights and historical perspective. The film details klezmer's ability to embrace other influences, ranging from gypsy musical styles to new drumming techniques. At the same time, it shows the broadening interest in klezmer, through the Yiddish Folk Arts Institute and Garrison Keillor's A Prarie Home Companion.

KITTY: A RETURN TO AUSCHWITZ
82 min. SH-A 1979

Kitty Felix was the spirited, independent-minded second child of a well-educated Jewish family, growing up in Bielsko, Poland, in the 1930s. In 1943, at the age of seventeen, she was sent to Auschwitz along with her mother. Kitty: A Return to Auschwitz follows Kitty, now a radiographer in England, as she goes back with her grown son to the camp where she survived for two years. She revisits the barracks, the work areas, and the latrines, recalling what existence was like there. While this is clearly painful to her, she endures it to tell her story- which is the story of millions of others as well. She describes the support she and her mother gave each other and the things they did to survive. "You are here," she tells her son, "just to see that it is true, that it was true, and you can tell your children."

THE LAST MARRANOS
SH-A

In the late fifteenth century, the glory of Sephardic Jewry on the Iberian peninsula came to an end. In 1492, the Jews of Spain were expelled; in 1497 the Jews of Portugal forcibly converted. Now they were subject to the Inquisition's harsh punishment for heresy. Despite the danger, however, many of the converted- called marranos (or pigs) by Christians- continued to secretly practice Judaism. Five centuries later, The Last Marranos takes a fascinating look at the village of Belmonte, Portugal. Its rites and prayers are an amalgam of Christianity and bits of Judaism tenaciously preserved through the ages, a tradition that bears the scars of history- distorted by clandestine practice and couched in symbols of fear. Now, brought into the open and reacquainting itself with mainstream Judaism, the community faces a new challenge.

LATE SUMMER BLUES
101 min. SH-A 1987

The Time: June 1970, The place: Tel Aviv, where a group of teenagers are about to graduate. The War of Attrition continues at the Suez. The youths' impending draft looms over them- they cannot conceive of a future beyond it. "There is a feeling," says the narrator of Late Summer Blues, "that this is our last summer that we're together." The film, which won first prize at the 1987 Jerusalem Film Festival, is a poignant evocation of universal themes of friendship, idealism, and the confusion of growing up. But it is also about the particular struggle of Israeliyouth living under war's shadow to reconcile patriotism with their desire for personal fullfillment- and the deaths that haunt them just as they are ready to burst free.

LENNY
112 min. SH-A 1974

Critics are still devided over the nature of Lenny Bruce's talent, but it is clear that the controversial Jewish comedian had many funny and scathing insights into the nature of hypocrisy in American society. Dustin Hoffman was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Bruce in this ground breaking biography directed by Bob Fosse. The film captures the troubled comedian on stage and off, trying to make sense of a world full of pretense and sham. Bruce's vulgarity is well apparent, but so is his humor, which hits home with uncanny accuracy. While Bruce battles obsenity charges and his own drug addiction, Hoffman creates an astute balance of sympathy and repulsion for the character.

LIGHTS: A HANUKAH VIDEO
23 min. K3-A 1983

This humorous animated tale is symbolic of the central message of Hanukah- that Jews need to assert their Jewish identity when confronting the influences and claims of the world culture. The "lights" of the title do not refer literally to the Hanukah story, but to flickering Hebrew letters, which represent the Jewish tradition that the Greeks tried to destroy. The lights travel with the main Jewish characters as a constant reminder not to succumb to cultural assimilation. One young man, originally drawn to the Greek letter, joins the victorious revolt to save the one remaining light of the Temple menorah. Also available on 16mm film.

LODZ GHETTO
118 min. JH-A 1989

Ghettoization was the first step in the Nazis' destruction of the Jews of Europe. Crowded together and forced to labor and live in horrendous conditions, the denizens of the ghettos searched for any method to make meaning out of an existence that seemed doomed and "completely meaningless." Lodz Ghetto examines the nightmarish struggle for survival that was the daily lot of the people trapped in the longest lasting of the Jewish ghettos. Using historical and contemporary footage, diaries, monographs, and the voices of survivors, Lodz Ghetto shows how the inhabitants persevered in the face of the terrible forces arrayed against them. The film also examines the role of Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski, the leader of the ghetto, who enforced the German police even as they killed thousands of his people.

THE LONGEST HATRED
150 min. JH-A 1991

This documentary follows the 2,000-year history of anti-Jewish sentiment and its frequent expression in acts of hatred and violence. Its three segments cover the history of Christian anti-Semitism, its presence and prevalence in Europe today, and changing Muslim attitudes toward Jews. It offers the views of Christian as well as Jewish scholars who trace the origins of anti-Semitism to early Christianity, the validity of which was called into question by the very existence of Jews. Demonization of the Jews during the Middle Ages fed into pogroms and rampages of Crusaders on their way to "liberate" the Holy Land and found ultimate expression in the Final Solution of the Nazis. The film also shows anti-Semitism today, both in Eastern Europe and in Muslim countries, where opposition to the State of Israel has given rise to a new kind of virulent anti-Jewish sentiment.

LOVELY BUTTERFLY: CHANUKAH
24 min. P-A 1990

With puppets, games, animation, stories, and familiar holiday songs, Lovely Butterfly is a lovely way to teach children about Chanukah. Join the puppets, Butz (who doesn't know too much about Chanukah- yet) and Uza (who knows a little more- and flaunts it), along with their human friends, Effi (Effi Ben-Israel) and Ronni (Uzi Hitman) in songs and conversation about the traditions of the Festival of Lights. Then participate in a Chanukah party filmed at a real school in Tel Aviv. Prepared by Israel Educational Television and translated into English, this charming video will captivate young children who may just be learning about dreidels, latkes, and candle lighting.

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