Druze, Bedouin schools see Shoah plays
Yiddishpiel, Israel's Yiddish theater, presents two productions on European Jews' genocide in northern communities. 'It's an important subject which everyone should learn,' says head of cultural department in Daliyat al-Karmel
The theater will be the guest of the northern communities of Daliyat al-Karmel, Yarka, Kafr Majar, Tuba-Zangariyye and Kisra-Sumei and other places. Local residents will be also invited to see the productions in Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, Hatzor Haglilit and Rosh Pina.
The project is led by Bashir Hason, manager of Daliyat al-Karmel's cultural department. "The Holocaust issue is important and should be learned by everyone," he says.
"As the issue is part of the schools' curriculum, we thought it would be a good idea to bring it closer to the students through theater. Just like children here study Arab history, they should also learn about the history of the Jewish people, and the Holocaust is an integral part of the history of the 20th century."
'Gebirtig.' Musical on Jewish culture in Europe before Holocaust (Photo: Gerard Alon)
The northern communities' children will watch "Gebirtig – The Heart Longs for a Song", a musical play by Joshua Sobol. The show, starring Yaacov Bodo and the Yiddishpiel Theater's acting ensemble, takes the audience on an enchanted journey to an era before the Holocaust into the obscurity of the rich and colorful culture of Jewish Europe that was completely wiped out in World War ll.
The play, which was originally written in Yiddish, has been adjusted to children and is in Hebrew, but the songs are performed in Yiddish with simultaneous translation into Hebrew.
Bringing memory of Holocaust to every sector
Another production presented to the Druze and Bedouin students will be "She Was Not Here" by Blanka Metzner and Dan Wolman. Actress Anat Atzmon portrays a Holocaust survivor living in Israel and fighting the fears, traumas and memories.
According to Hason, preparation meetings for the children will be held before the show. He stresses, however, that "from previous shows presented here we know there is a lot of awareness to this issue among the children, and we got good responses.
Yiddishpiel said in a statement, "About three years ago, we invited heads of Arab and Druze villages to watch the play 'Gebirtig', and it was very moving. Following the event, we initiated a Yiddish-Druze meeting in Daliyat al-Karmel.
"Last September, the head of the Daliyat al-Karmel culture department, Bashir Hason, invited us to present the play at the village's ORT school and it was a successful trial.
"The Yiddishpiel Theater's vision is to bring the memory of the Holocaust to any sector and we are happy that this has been made possible following that successful trial."
Presenting theater productions on the Holocaust to a Druze and Bedouin audience is not a trivial thing, and Yiddishpiel acknowledges the importance of the project, especially in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangariyye, where a mosque was allegedly torched in a "price tag" activity in October.
Yiddishpiel officials stressed that "leaders of the education system in Tuba-Zangariyye are leading an educational move of coexistence among children and youth. Presenting the show at this village of all places is a dramatic expression of the effort to live in coexistence."
