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.

THE SABBATH KIT
18 min. EL-A 1982

The Jewish Sabbath reminds us that God created the universe. As he rested on the seventh day, so does man, His greatest creation. Indeed, the Torah commands us to put away work, school, and obligation to celebrate the Sabbath. The Sabbath Kit presents four short videos that expore the literal meaning of Sabbath- "rest". Each story will captivate younger children and raise thought-provoking questions in the process. The animated "Faces" contrasts the busy work week with the human nature of the Sabbath. Through song and animation, "Chaim's Hoedown" shows how the farmer takes one day off a week. "Manna" is a farcical look at how the children of Israel collected the coveted food. "Time Out" is a fast-paced animated short about a man adjusting to the Sabbath after a hectic week.

SADAT IN ISRAEL
1977 EL-A

In the fall of 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat announced that he was willing to address Israel's Parliment to discuss peace and the return of territories. Israeli Prime minister Menachem Begin officially extended an invitation, and on November 19, Sadat landed at Lod airport. After generations of hostility and four major wars, Egypt dramatically altered the politics of the Middle East by becoming the first Arab country to proclaim Israel's right to exist and to negotiate for peace. Sadat in Israel was presented as part of the CBS News coverage of the Egyptian President's historic visit to Jerusalem. The program reviews the day's events, including Sadat's tour of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish sites, excerpts from speeches by Sadat and Begin before Knesset, interviews with both leaders, and reactions by Arafat, Kissinger, and Mondale, among others.

SALLAH
105 min. 1964

The years after independence brought to Israel hundreds of thousands of immigrants- realizing the dream of a return from exile and posing the huge practical challenge of resettling diverse groups of people in a new, struggling nation. Sallah is a hilarious satire of the experiences of one new immigrant who finds less than the promised land. Sallah arrives with his large family from an unamed Middle Eastern country. Placed in a dilapidated transit camp for new immigrants, Sallah begins scheming to obtain permanent housing. But he is lazy, and his ideas lead him into a series of misadventures. The film presents a wickedly funny portrait of relations between Ashkenazim and Sephardim, new immigrants and the bureaucracy, kibbutzniks, native-born Israelis, and wealthy Americans. Topol stars as Sallah, described by Judith Crist as "warm of heart, shrewd of head, and rascally to the core."

SAYING KADDISH
60 min. JH-A 1991

A mother's death brings together her husband and daughters for the week-long mourning period. The older daughter, Talia, returns home for the funeral. The younger daughter Annie, was at her mother's bedside throughout her lingering illness. In the days following the funeral, conflict arises between the sisters over each one's relationship with the deceased and the way each chooses to express her loss. Reciting the kaddish, the Jewish memorial prayer said in the presence of ten Jews, becomes a point of contention. The father and Annie say it dutifully, Talia prefers private reflection. Their sparring eventually leads to a sharing both of grief and of the memories that make them a family.

SCHINDLER
82 min. JH-A

Oskar Schindler started World War II as a charming playboy and black-market dealer and emerged at its end the savior of over 1,000 Polish Jews. Bribing SS cronies, Schindler established a factory where Jews could be employed and thus escape deportation. Protection of his workers continued at the Plaszow labor camp. Schindler initially profited from his efforts- but is that why he did it? Schindler is a riveting documentary that offers testimony from those who knew the real man: his wife, the mistress of Amon Goeth, SS supervisor of the Plaszow camp, and many of "Schindler's Jews." However elusive his motives or flawed his character, to them Schindler was an angel in the midst of hell.

SCHINDLER'S LIST
197 min. JH-A 1993

Winner of Seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a dashing and resourceful German Catholic businessman who saved more than 1,000 polish Jews from almost certain annihilation. Liam Neeson plays Schindler, a complex man with a fondness for women, nightlife, and profit. In wartime Krakow, Schindler takes over a Jewish-owned factory that the Nazis have put out of business. He then collects Jews from the ghetto to work for him at no pay. But as Schindler witnesses the deportation and liquidation of the ghetto, the scheming profiteer evolves into a conscious and daring rescuer of his workers. Using his talents of persuasion, Schindler bribes and cajoles the Nazis into sparing his workers' lives, even as many face the horrors of Auschwitz. Teaching Guide to Schindler's List

SCHOOL TIES
110 min. JH-A 1992

School Ties takes place in the 1950s, when anti-Semitism was accepted as a part of the American fabric. Like the landmark movie, Gentleman's Agreement, School Ties explores the open hostility directed towards Jews by members of a privileged social set- in this case, the boys of an exclusive prep school. David Green is a football star at a rundown high school in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is also Jewish. After being recruited to play his senior year at St. Matthews Prepatory School in Massachussetts, David leads the team to glory. But when his religious affiliation is discovered, David learns firsthand about the deeply imbedded anti-Semitism among his peers. In a series of tense confrontations, the boys of St. Matthews search their souls for their true feelings toward their trusted friend.

THE SECRET IN BUBBE'S ATTIC
43 min. K3-El 1991

The Secret in Bubbie's Attic gives some all-American kids a taste of the old country. Upbeat, original holiday songs (there's even a rap music Chanukah tune) and klezmer music mix with jazzed-up versions of Yiddish folktales to give contemporary youngsters a sense of the rich tradition they inherit from their grandparents. While playing hide and seek at their Bubbie's (grandmother's) house, friends stumble across a mysterious attic door. There they find old Hebrew books, a shofar, a tallis bag, and a mysterious old trunk. When they open the trunk, out pops a sparkling Jewish genie who can't wait to tell them stories- and reveal an intriguing family secret.

SEE IT NOW: EGYPT-ISRAEL
1956 EL-A

By the mid-1950s, tensions between Israel and the bordering Arab nations, particularly Egypt began to escalate. Egypt suffered a bitter loss in the 1948 War of Independence and viewed the establishment of the State of Israel as an effort by the West to undermine Arab nationalism. Problems of Palestinian refugees in Gaza were intensifying. Eventually war with Egypt erupted in the fall of 1956. Edward R. Murrow host this portrait of Egypt and Israel, broadcast on one of early television's most significant public affairs series, See It Now. The program, filmed during three weeks in February 1956, includes scenes of everyday life in both countries and extended interviews with Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 1: THE LAND OF ISRAEL
40 min. P-A 1986

Itzhak Perlman, Bonnie Franklin, and Mary Tyler Moore join Arik and Benz and the rest of the Sesame Street gang as they explore the land of Israel. Some segments contain Hebrew presented in an easy-to-understand format.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 10: PASSOVER
37 min. P-A 1991

Presents the story of "Jerusalem Jones and the Lost Afikoman," as well as a skit on the invention of matzah with comedienne Anne Meara. Stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Alan King, and Mary Tyler Moore.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 11: KIDS SING ISRAEL
38 min. P-A 1991

Sarah Jessica Parker and porcupine Kippi ben Kippod host this musical trip through Israel. Includes many favorite Sesame Street songs in Hebrew and English. Also stars blues singer B.B. King and musician Paul Shaffer.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 2: TEL AVIV
40 min. P-A 1986

Arik and Benz explore Tel Aviv's coast and the Carmel Market. They search for ice cream and watch soccer players.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 3: KIBBUTZ
40 min. 1986

Arik and Benz along with Itzhak Perlman and Bonnie Franklin explore several kibbutzim across Israel. Included in this program is a discussion of kibbutz foods and lifestyles.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 4: THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
40 min. P-A 1986

Benz and Arik explore Israel's diverse population. Segments about Jewish children from around the world, Sephardic Jews and Druze highlight this tape.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 5: JERUSALEM
40 min. P-A 1986

The Rechov Sumsum gang explores the Knesset, the Israel Museum, and the Western Wall.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 6: CHANUKAH
30 min. P-A 1990

This program focuses on Chanukah: the main stories, symbols and traditions associated with this holiday. Shalom Sesame's new guest host, Jeremy Miller, learns about "oofganiot" and how fried foods symbolize the oil that burned in the Temple for eight days.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 7: SING AROUND THE SEASONS
35 min. P-A 1990

Travel through the year learning about holidays and singing with our Sesame Street pals. The oofnik gourmet shares a recipe for a slimy Rosh Hashanah treat- apples and sardine grease- but Jeremy explains that we dip apples in honey for a sweet new year.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 8: JOURNEY TO SECRET PLACES
35 min. P-A 1990

Travel to exotic places in Israel to discover beautiful beaches, enchanting underground caves of Bet Guvrim, and secret passageways behind the Western Wall. Sponsored by the letters tzadi and mem, the program includes a music video "Disco Tzefarde'im," the Disco Frogs.

SHALOM SESAME, SHOW 9: ALEPH-BET TELETHON
35 min. P-A 1991

When all the letters on Israel's Sesame Street disappear, Jerry Stiller and porcupine Kippi ben Kippod host a telethon to try to raise all 22 letters of the Herew aleph-bet. Includes appearances by Joan Rivers, Nell Carter, and Itzhak Perlman.

SHALOM SHABBAT
45 min. K3-A 1994

The spirit and song of the Sabbath are explored with hosts Chaim Topol, Hanny Nachmias, and a cast of talented children on this entertaining video. Wherever Jews settled, they preserved their ancient customs- very often by adapting their rituals to local styles. Shalom Shabbat takes us on a tour of Shabbat celebrations around the world, where families from Poland to Spain to New York observe the day in ways familiar and unique. When the restful Shabbat of Eliyahu the Fisherman (Topol) is disturbed, Ronie takes Eliyahu to his school where teacher and classmates sing beloved songs of Shabbat preparation. At Ronnie's grandmother's house, more traditional melodies evoke the joyful day.

SHIRIM K'TANIM 1: HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN
45 min. P-A 1990

With a wink here and a jig there genial Israeli TV star Uzi Chitman takes toddlers and young children on a musical tour of over 40 of Israel's best-loved children's songs. Accompanied by a handful of Israeli boys and girls, the singer/guitarist cavorts against a backdrop of colorful, simply sketched scenes depicted in each song. Line dances and clapping games liven the action and little ones will join in the pantomime of songs like "Lakova Sheli" (My Hat Has... ) or "Etsba' ot Li" ( I Have Fingers). They'll also laugh at hearing their own favorites like "Old McDonald" sung with a Hebrew twist when Chitman and his chaverim (pals) visit the farm of "Dod (Uncle) Moshe." Adults can help the kids keep up with this fast-paced collection by reading the transliterations that accompany most songs.

SHIRIM K'TANIM 2: MORE HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN
45 min. P-A 1991

SHIRIM K'TANIM 3: BIRTHDAY AND PARTY SONGS
45 min. P-A 1991

SHIRIM K'TANIM 4: HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN--AT THE ZOO
45 min. P-A 1991

SHIRIM K'TANIM 5: HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN--FESTIVALS AND SEASONS, PART I
45 min. P-A 1991

SHIRIM K'TANIM 6: FUNNY HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN
45 min. P-A 1991

SHIRIM K'TANIM 7: HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN--FESTIVALS AND SEASONS, PART 2
45 min. P-A 1992

SHIRIM K'TANIM 8: HEBREW SONGS FOR CHILDREN--I WANT TO BE A...
45 min. 1993

SHOAH
570 min. SH-A 985

In Shoa, director Claude Lanzmann piles detail upon detail to give the most comprehensive account of the Holocaust available on film. This riveting epic uses no historical footage of Nazi Germany or the death camps. Instead, Lanzmann tells the story of the Holocaust throught interviews with concentration camp survivors, Nazi SS, historians of the era, and regular people who saw the trains of the condemned pass by their homes or watched their cities become "Judenrien." Lanzmann's camera eloquently lingers over the miles of train tracks that made the extermination of the Jews possible while the voices of his interviewees recount the methodical psychological, bureaucratic, and physical horrors of the era. Equally powerful are the completely silent scenes of snow falling over the crematoria, the faces of those tortured by their memories, and of others who are apparently unmoved.

THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET
128 min. SH-A 1965

The film examines the moral compromises of occupied populations in World War II that hepled make possible the destruction of European Jewry. Self-interest, greed, petty animosities, indifference, and fear, as well as an ingrained tradition of anti-Semitism, made ordinary people accomplices in the Nazi agenda. In The Shop on Main Street, Tono Britko is a simple, out-of-luck carpenter ina Czech village during the occupation. His fortunes seemingly change when he is appointed Aryan Controller of a button shop owned by a Jewish widow. But Mrs. Lautmann, the frail shopowner, played by the great Yiddish actress Ida Kaminska, seems unable to understand her change of status or the irrational events of the time. The relationship that develops between the two culminates in an agonizing decision.

SID CAESAR: YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, VOLUME 1 AND 2
79 min. JH-A

Your Show of Shows made television history. In television's infancy, the comedy show was broadcast live every Saturday night. Its hilarious and original sketches- starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, and others- had much of America laughing. The show was written by a stellar group of writers, including Neil Simon, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, and Larry Gelbart. Although the humor is rarely explicitly "Jewish" viewers might recognize the underlying Jewish sensibility. The sketches featured in this tape are typical scenes and subjects, like "The Professor," comical family conflicts and everyday dilemmas, and parodies of high culture, Hollywood, and foreign films.

SIEGE
95 min. SH-A 1970

Israel's victory in the Six Day War brought a feeling of euphoria and superiority to its people. The resounding triumph also created a feeling that future political problems might be solved through military dominance. Siege takes place during this era of national confidence. Tamar is an Israeli woman whose husband has been killed in the Six Day War. Her husband's army buddies want her to keep his memory alive and mourn him as a respectable war widow should. But Tamar wants to move on with her life, raise her young son, and enjoy the fruits of the Israeli victory. When she meets a new man, one of her husband's friends secretly arranges to meet him, as if to decide whether he approves. The psychological games take their toll on Tamar, until she finds a way to break from her past.

SO MANY MIRACLES
58 min. JH-A 1987

Many of the Jews who survived the Holocaust owe their lives to "righteous gentiles" who imperiled their own lives by assisting Jewish friends and neighbors. The emotions of those years remain undimmed by the passage of time, as Jews recall the fateful decisions, personal courage, and twists of luck that helped them slip through the Nazis' killing machines. In So Many Miracles, survivors Israel and Frania Rubinek return to Poland to meet with Sofia, the woman who hid them. Aware of German atrocities, the couple had lived in a bunker in the town of Pinczow, fled, then returned to hide with Sofia, who sheltered them despite her husband's reluctance. They all stayed in the same house for over two years, narrowly avoiding detection at times. Their reunion, 40 years later, speaks of bonds forged at a time when they were forbidden.

A STRANGER AMONG US
109 min. JH-A

A Stranger Among Us explores the mysteries of Hasidic Judaism through the eyes of an outsider- a gentile police detective- who enters the reclusive society to investigate a murder. Melanie Griffith stars as Emily Eden, a tough New York City Police detective assigned to solve the murder of a Hasidic diamond merchant from Brooklyn. While working undercover as a member of the community, Detective Eden is coached by the rabbi's son in the ways of his people to help her maintain her cover. Soon, however, the attraction between these two opposites sends sparks flying. As the pressure to solve the case intensifies, so does their illicit relationship.

STREET SCENE
78 min. JH-A 1931

Based on Elmer Rice's Pulitzer prize winning play, Street Scene is a bold exploration of Jewish immigrant life in America early in this century. It examines the themes of assimilation, socialism, anti-Semitism, and identity. Abraham Kaplan lives with his family in a row house populated by a kaleidoscope of characters looking to break out of poverty. Kaplan's revolutionary, socialist views grate against some of his neighbors, who are mystified by the "gibberish" he reads in his Yiddish newspaper and occasionally advise him "to go back where you came from." Even his son, educated in America, wants little to do with his father's politics or heritage. The tension on the street, in the building, and within Kaplan's family build throughout the movie, playing themselves out in the best tradition of Rice's work.

SWEET LORRAINE
91 min. JH-A 1987

New York Sate's Catskill Mountains used to be known as the Jewish Alps. Dotting the mountains were family hotels like the Lorraine- resorts offering Jewish food, Jewish humor, and a smart, loveable Jewish mother running the place. Sweet Lorraine captures the end of an era. Now run-down, the Lorraine faces its last summer. Molly Garber, the owner's granddaughter, surprises her grandmother by showing up to work, and she falls in love again with the hotel of her childhood. >From the escapades of the staff to the jokes of the comedian to romance for granddaughter and grandmother, this funny and touching film explores whether we can hold onto the past- and go home again.

SWING KIDS
114 min. JH-A

Swing Kids, based on a historical movement, is about a group of young men in Nazi Germany who defied the Third Reich to listen and dance to forbidden "swing" music from America. These "Swing Kids" make a moral choice to pursue their personal freedom at the risk of being sent to work camps. Robert Sean Leonard (star of Dead Poets Society ) is Peter, the leader of a rebellious group of Swing Kids. Every week, Peter and his friends openly defy the Gestapo by dancing the jitterbug at parties in Hamburg. But as the pressure to join the Hitler Youth takes its toll on the Swing Kids, one by one, each is faced with a brutal choice- loyalty to their cause or loyalty to Germany's.

THE TALMUD AND THE SCHOLAR
58 min. JH-A 1989

A strong legal system helped Jews maintain a cohesive social structure for centuries. Ancient study houses worked with an oral tradition until the second century C.E., when the process of writing down the Talmud began. However, spoken discussion of the Talmud remains a vibrant aspect of Jewish study, as students follow many threads of commentary and argument. The text becomes a "script" to be actively "performed," rather than passively read. One of the greatest contemporary scholars of the Talmud is Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The Talmud and the Scholar examines Steinsaltz's thinking and teachings; it also discusses the Talmud's history and shows methods of studying its endless pathways. Besides being a tireless instructor comfortable with both advanced and beginning students, Steinsaltz is publishing a multi-volume edition of the Talmud in English, bringing the tradition to a new generation. The Talmud and the Scholar also shows the rabbi's personal side, following Steinsaltz to a wedding and the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.

TEREZIN DIARY
88 min. JH-A 1990

In March 1939 the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, and two years later they turned the fortress town of Terezin, near Prague, into a concentration camp. Here 14,000 Jews from Western and Eastern Europe were imprisoned, prior to being sent to Auschwitz. Through interviews with survivors who were children in the camp, Terezin Diary documents the terrible conditions of life in Theresienstadt, as the Germans called it, as well as the artistic, educational, and spiritual activities that sustained inmates who were spared deportation. Using Terezin as a "model camp" to demonstrate to the world that they were not mistreating the Jews, the Nazis permitted a degree of cultural life there that was impossible in death camps. Terezin Diary emphasizes the enormous role that art played in the lives of these Jews, many of whom continued their music, painting, writing, and theater in their later lives.

TEVYE THE DAIRYMAN
80 min. JH-A 1939

The character of Tevye the Dairyman originated a century ago in a series of stories by Shlomie Rabinovitz (1859-1916), the immensely popular Yiddish writer who went by the pen name Sholem Aleichem. Some of the Tevye stories were adapted for the stage and silent screen by Aleichem before his death. Much later they were seen in musical form in Fiddler on the Roof, the tremendously successful play and film. This Tevye, directed by and starring the great Yiddish actor Maurice Schwartz, is considered a classic of the Yiddish cinema. It focuses on the story of Chava, one of Tevye's daughters, who falls in love with a Ukranian peasant who reads Gorky. The film explores issues of assimilation and intermarriage, tradition and modernity, as well as anti-Semitism and the future of the Jewish existance. Made in New York on the eve of World War II, the film depicts a life that was already threatened.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE
99 min. JH-A 1942

To Be or Not to Be prompted many critics to attack director Ernst Lubitsch for what they deemed a callous insensitivity to the plight of the Jewish people in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Lubitsch pointed out that his black comedy included footage of the devestated city, reflecting his personal horror and repulsion. "What I have satirized in this picture are the Nazis and their ridiculous ideology," insisted Lubitsch. Jack Benny and Carole Lombard star as a husband and wife acting team who perform with a Warsaw company. After a dashing Polish pilot falls for Lombard, he then leaves for England where he meets a mysterious man who will soon return to Poland. Could he be a Nazi spy? In a wacky series of events, Benny, Lombard, and the company assume clever disguises to outwit the Germans and foil there plot.

TRANSPORT FROM PARADISE
94 min. JH-A 1963

In Terezin, nothing was what it seemed: a beautiful fortress town, Theresienstadt (as the Germans called it) was also a concentration camp where hunger, disease, and death were the daily rations. A ghetto where many of the inmates were prominent musicians, artists, and intellectuals, its cultural activites were preludes to deportation. A "model city" intended to show the Nazis' humane treatment of the Jews, it served as a way station to Auschwitz. Transport to Paradise captures the surreal atmosphere of Theresienstadt during a 24-hour period marked by preparations for an inspection tour by the Red Cross, the making of a propoganda film depecting a well-fed and happy populace, and the deportation that followed. An original, masterful work, Transport from Paradise depicts the charade of the city that the Nazis proclaimed was "given by the Fuehrer to the Jews."

TRIAL AT NUREMBERG
1958 JH-A

At the end of World War II in Nuremberg, Germany, twenty-one former officials in the Nazi regime were tried before the International Military Tribunal, composed of judges from the United States, England, France, and the Soviet Union. The defendants, ranging from SS policy makers to high-level hatchetmen, stood accused of crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes. From 1945 to 1946, testimony and evidence presented at this first of twelve Nuremberg Trials revealed the scope of Nazi atrocities. Trial at Nuremberg was broadcast in 1958 on the CBS documentary series, "The Twentieth Century," hosted by Walter Cronkite. The program is a review of key moments from the trial and includes captured German Army film footage depicting the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and the horrors of the concentration camps.

Back To: Holocaust videos