Some of Toldot Yisrael's material may be useful in providing contemporary references to Jay Goldmintz's class on Ezra and Nechemiah. Of the 1,000 + interviews we have recorded in the project so far, I believe only one goes back far enough to remember the Balfour Declaration. Haim Savitzky was born in 1907 in Baranovitz, White Russia, and immigrated to Palestine in 1938 on the ship Draga as part of Betar's illegal immigration, joining the pre-State Lehi soon after. His entire family was killed in the Shoah. Savitzky was an accomplished artist and painted for 100 years, up until his death in 2014. Savitzky remembers going to the Beit Knesset in Russia in November 1917 as a ten year old boy to celebrate the Balfour Declaration, noting the words from tefillah: "!×•×ª×—×–× ×” ×¢×™× ×™× ×• בשובך לציון" The interview had a poetic twist to it - the cameraman was Yonatan Zaid, the great- grandson of Alexander Zaid, founder of השומר‎. Zaid was one of Savitzky's heroes.
You can see the relevant clip here (in Hebrew): [
youtu.be]
Other films or interview excerpts that may be appropriate for this class, especially related to contemporary motivations for aliyah include:
By Air, Land, and Sea: Aliyah under the British Mandate - The dramatic story of immigrants from Europe and Iraq who made their way (illegally) to the Land of Israel in the 1930s and 40s - by Air, Land, and Sea - [
youtu.be]
Bracha Avigad and the Cane - Bracha Avigad fears the worst when she sees a cane next to the door at her grandfather's house- [
youtu.be].
We have produced a 10 minute film on the November 29th UN vote as well, available here:
The Story of a Vote - A vote that lasted a mere three minutes on November 29, 1947 changed the course of Jewish History and brought 20 centuries of Jewish homelessness to an end - [
www.youtube.com]
We have many more short films and interview clips available on our YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/toldotyisrael). I am happy to make recommendations if there are specific topics that people are interested in.
Aryeh
__________________________
Aryeh Halivni (Eric Weisberg)
Toldot Yisrael
Mobile: 052-530-6020
Email:
halivni@toldotyisrael.org
www.toldotyisrael.org
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2017 06:41PM by mlb.
