Great Minds, Great Discussions

October 28th - 7:00 pm - watching Salla Shabati -

a movie and discussion about Jewish Humour.

What Happens When Ashkenazi and Sephardi Cultures Meet?

Panel led by Dr. Ralph Rothstein, Ruth Akselrod-Pinto

*Program begins at 7:00 - and will go to 9:00 approximately.

Sallah Shabati is a 1964 Israeli comedy film about the chaos of Israeli immigration and resettlement. This social satire placed the director Ephraim Kishon and producer Menahem Golan among the first Israeli filmmakers to achieve international success. It also introduced actor Chaim Topol (Fiddler on the Roof) to audiences worldwide.

The film's name, Sallah Shabati is a play on words; ostensibly a Yemenite Jewish name, it is also intended to evoke the Hebrew phrase "Sorry I came", equivalent to "excuse me for living" in English. This film was nominated for a 1964 Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film, a first for an Israeli production, but it lost the Oscar to the Italian film, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.

The film begins with Sallah Shabati, a Mizrahi Jewish immigrant, arriving with his family in Israel. Upon arrival he is brought to live in a ma'abara, or transit camp. He is given a broken down, one room shack in which to live in with his family and spends the rest of the movie attempting to make enough money to purchase adequate housing. His money-making schemes are often comical and frequently satirizes the political and social stereotypes in Israel of the time.

At first, Foreign Affairs Minister Golda Meir refused to let the film leave the country because of its unflattering portrayal in the film.

December 9 - 7:30 pm - Discussing The People of the Book - The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah

January 20 - 7:30 pm - Loss and Survival - Stories of the Holocaust

March 17 -  7:30 pm - Match Made in Heaven; American Jews, Christian Zionists and one Man's Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance