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COMMENTS:
check out this page:
POV documentary you should check out
by LCD on Mon Jun 11, 07 2:15pm
[+]
Voted : No
Sounds like someone worth knowing. Bet my late almost father-in-law knew him.
Voted : No
No, but thanks for the info.
Voted : No
As I can't read anything that long, its hard for me to comment. I haven't seen the film nor do I know anything about the rabbi. The article appears to suggest a bit of insularity in the Jewish community. I do think it is important for people to understand how the Holocaust has impacted Jews. Any community subjected to such horrors is going to have a hard time trusting anyone but themselves. This is even more true because while the Holocaust was by far the most vicious murderous attack on the Jews, it is hardly the only one. Jews been attacked, expelled from countries, murder, etc just for being Jews. Can you blame some Jewish people for just wanting to be left alone? However, it isn't an accurate reflection of how the vast majority of Jews have responded, lived their lives, and interacted with non-Jews. The film appears to focus on a narrow segment of the Jewish community.
Survivors of the Holocaust while obviously deeply scarred by it did not go out en masse and slaughter people in revenge. They did not draw inwards. Neither did the vast majority of Jews. Instead they stayed true to their values and many achieved great things for the world at large. This is probably best and most famously expressed by:
Viktor Frankl - famous psychologist and author of "Man's search for Meaning". This book which sold 9 million copies was named by the Library of Congress as one of the ten most influential books of the 20th century.
As he wrote in the concentration camp:
"A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth--that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way--an honorable way--in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life, I was able to understand the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.""
Shortly after writing this, he witnessed several prisoners being beaten viciously by the Nazi guards.
"There is nothing in the world, I venture to say, that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one's life."
"As such, I also bear witness to the unexpected extent to which man is capable of defying and braving even the worst conditions conceivable,"
Others include:
Liviu Librescu - scientist and professor, died during the Virginia Tech Massacre while holding off the gunman to protect his students
Elie Wiesel
Primo Levi
Branko Lustig - 2 time Oscar winner
Imre Kertész - Nobel prize winning author
Among those who died who refused to look at the whole world as the enemy most famously includes Anne Frank.
Sorry for posting a long comment but I felt it necessary to provide a different perspective. Also, I'm a big fan of Viktor Frankl and his writings.
the link was provided because I saw this recently, and the POV filmmaker was inspired to find his roots and make that film by the teachings of Schlomo Carlebach.
It's an interesting viewing. If you see in it your PBS schedule, make sure to tivo it. It's worth watching and it will open your eyes.
It's inspiring to see someone's influence live on long after his death, in the actions of those who he influenced.
by LCD on Mon Jun 11, 07 7:06pm
[+]
Anne Frank still maintained her faith in humanity as well:
"Who knows -- it might even be our religion from which the world and all peoples learn good, and for that reason and that reason alone do we now suffer. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or representatives of any other country for that matter. We will always remain Jews."
FFLSD, you should check out that program, it might give you an interesting perspective.
by LCD on Mon Jun 11, 07 7:12pm
[+]
Voted : No
Sounds like an interesting guy.
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