Teaneck—Gloria Z. Greenfield’s third film, Body and Soul: The State of the Jewish Nation, will be screened on Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at Teaneck Cinemas (503 Cedar Lane).
In only 65 minutes, the viewer comes to understand who the Jews are to the land of Israel and what the land of Israel is to the Jews, to Judaism, and to history. While the film is pedagogic, it is also easy to understand and entertaining. It is both profound and bracing.
Clearly, the Jews are the indigenous people of the Holy Land. Their history began more than three thousand years ago and all their sacred journeys, both religious and geographic, have been towards the Promised Land, the Holy Land, Jerusalem. No other destroyer or occupier ever came to stay in Jewish Israel. They massacred, occupied, dispersed the Jews—and then disappeared. Gone were the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arab Muslims, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, the Muslim Ottomans, and the British.
The film gives us an excellent, graphic lesson in what the British did in terms of their Palestine Mandate (they appeased both sides but then fatefully sided with the Arabs against the Jews); an important account of the Soviet relationship with the Arab League and the incredibly invidious propaganda campaign they embarked upon; and the legal basis for the creation of the Jewish state, for its right to keep land conquered in wars of self-defense, and the Arab League’s systematic de-nationalization of its Jewish citizens. (Thank you Eugene Kontorovich, Irwin Cotler, and Alan Dershowitz.)
An unexpected point of view is offered by historian Dr. Anita Shapira. She says: “I think that the state of Israel was established despite the Holocaust, and not because of the Holocaust; because the great reservoir of the Jewish people that (had) dreamed about the state of Israel, (who) were potentially the citizens of the future state—perished in the Holocaust. The Holocaust was important in the sense that it galvanized the American Jewish community around Zionism, around the idea of the Jewish state.”
This is because America did not open its doors to the Jews who were in flight from certain extermination.
Today, the assault upon Israel is not merely military. According to MK. Dr. Einat Wilf, there is “an intellectual assault on Zionism which is unprecedented” in terms of its “ferocity.”
I hope that the United Nations, and every single world government, are required to see this film. As important: I pray that every Middle East Studies program and the global media view it and then share it with their audiences. I challenge every church, every mosque, every Hindu temple, every Jewish Center and every synagogue to show it—and to then allow Greenfield to lead a civilized and fact-driven discussion.
Body and Soul’s sold out world premiere took place in Jerusalem on October 20th at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. The post-screening discussion featured a panel with Robert Wistrich, Yoram Hazony, and Eugene Kontorovich, moderated by Melanie Phillips. The following week, on October 27th, the North American premiere was held at Symphony Space in New York City. Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal was the Master of Ceremonies and Harvard Professor, Ruth Wisse, presented post-screening remarks.
The screening in Teaneck begins at 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 24th, with a 7:00pm wine-and-sushi Sponsor’s Reception with Director Gloria Greenfield.
A producer-led discussion will follow the film. General Admission: $12.50 until Feb.17, $15 after. To register, go to http://bodysoulteaneck.eventbrite.com or call at 201-424-1825.
By Phyllis Chesler/www. Arutz7
(reprinted with permission, edited for brevity)
