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Nobody Wants Us
In 1940, a ship called the S.S. Quanza left the port of Lisbon carrying several hundred Jewish refugees to freedom. Most of them held life-saving visas issued by the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes. But events went terribly wrong, and the passengers became trapped on the ship when no country would accept them. Nobody Wants Us tells the gripping true story of how Eleanor Roosevelt stepped in to save the passengers on board. Other heroes of the Quanza were the lawyers Jacob and Sallie Morewitz and members of the National Council of Jewish Women. This is an episode in American history that everyone should know!
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Bulgarian Miracle
In 1943, during the darkest times of human history, a handful of people in tiny Bulgaria stood up against Hitler… and succeeded. This is a true story about the remarkable rescue of 49,172 people — the entire Jewish population of Bulgaria. Plamen Petkov‘s documentary film 49,172 tells the story.
Dear Fredy
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
6 PM LONDON • 7 PM PARIS • 8 PM JERUSALEM
(Please note: Daylight Savings Time in the United States)
“We Jews don’t have saints, but we do have tzaddikim, righteous people, people of tzedek, of justice. Perhaps the word could also be translated as ‘decency.’”
– Zuzana Růžičková, Holocaust survivor, speaking about Fredy Hirsch
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Hava Nagila — Anthem of Jewish Rejoicing
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
Join us for a celebration!
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Hava Nagila (The Movie) is a documentary romp through the history, mystery and meaning of the great Jewish standard. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Regina Spektor and more, the film follows the ubiquitous party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the kibbutzim of Palestine to the cul-de-sacs of America. High on fun and entertainment, Hava Nagila (The Movie) is also surprisingly profound, tapping into universal themes about the importance of joy, the power of music and the resilient spirit of a people.
“When you find a song that says ‘Let us rejoice,’ there’s no better song to leave an evening with. Hava Nagila tells us who we should be and what we, in a fundamental sense, aspire to be – peoples of love and joy and peace.” – Harry Belafonte
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Rescue at Entebbe
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
9 PM JERUSALEM
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“I flew to the Entebbe operation as an Israeli, and returned to Israel as a Jew.” – Rami Sherman
This year marks the 45th anniversary of history’s most daring and influential rescue: the 1976 Operation Thunderbolt, during which Israeli commandos liberated more than 100 hostages held by German and Palestinian terrorists in Entebbe, Uganda. Meet one of the mission’s leaders, Rami Sherman, who served as an officer in Israel’s top commando unit, and Boaz Dvir, an award-winning nonfiction storyteller who spent the past decade researching this operation, to hear a new take on an operation that continues to impact America’s counterterrorism strategy.
Lessons in Moral Courage — Irshad Manji in conversation with Abraham H. Foxman
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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Irshad Manji is the winner of Oprah Winfrey’s first annual Chutzpah Award for boldness. As founder of the Moral Courage Project, Irshad equips people to do the right thing in the face of fear. She discovered her mission through a deeply personal journey. In 2003, Irshad released The Trouble with Islam Today, an open letter to her fellow Muslims about why anti-Semitism and other prejudices must end in the name of Allah. In 2007, Irshad turned the book into an Emmy-nominated PBS film, Faith Without Fear. And in 2011, she published Allah, Liberty & Love, which shows how Islam can be reinterpreted for the 21st century. Along the way, Irshad became a professor of moral courage — first teaching at New York University and now lecturing with Oxford University’s Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights. Irshad’s latest book is Don’t Label Me. In our deeply polarized time, she says, standing for what’s right is not enough to make progress. We must also learn to engage the “Other.” Labeling is easy. But listening is a form of moral courage. (more…)
Captain Barros Basto, the Portuguese Dreyfus
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LISBON • 9 PM JERUSALEM
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Artur Carlos de Barros Basto was a captain in the Portuguese military who was discharged as a Jew despite having been raised as a Catholic. Descended from a family forcibly converted during The Inquisition, he rediscovered his Judaism and underwent a formal conversion. Then he built the largest synagogue in the Iberian peninsula in order to attract other “conversos” to reclaim the religion of their ancestors. A remarkable story! (more…)
Faye Schulman, Partisan and Photographer
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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This Mother’s Day program remembers the brave partisan Faye Schulman, whose photographs are the only visual record of the resistance action of the Polish partisans. The program is co-presented with the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) and will be moderated by Mitch Braff.
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Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me
11 AM LOS ANGELES • 2 PM NEW YORK
7 PM LONDON
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Felix Mendelssohn was a child prodigy pianist and composer who was famous from a young age. Born into an illustrious Berlin Jewish family (his grandfather was the theologian Moses Mendelssohn who began the assimilation of Jews into German society), Felix was baptised Lutheran, along with his siblings, at the age of seven, in part because at that time Jews in Germany did not have full civil rights. For the rest of his short life (he died at age 38), Mendelssohn strove to unite the two religions in his music, continuing what his grandfather had begun. He became one of Germany’s most beloved composers, and millions of brides have walked down the aisle to his Wedding March. One hundred years later the Nazis came to power, banned Mendelssohn’s music in Germany and re-classified his (mainly Lutheran) descendants as Jews, threatening their lives. One of these descendants, the filmmaker Sheila Hayman, decided to tell her family’s story on screen. Her wide-ranging and fascinating film is about the madness of labels and the unifying power of music.
Sousa Mendes Remembered
1 PM LOS ANGELES • 4 PM NEW YORK
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On this Memorial Day program we honor the memory of the Holocaust rescuer Aristides de Sousa Mendes with a panel featuring former Congressman Tony Coelho, who was instrumental in bringing justice for this hero in his home country of Portugal, and two granddaughters of Sousa Mendes: Sheila Abranches-Pierce and Angelina Mendes Muetzel. The program will be moderated by Robert Jacobvitz, a pioneer in the effort to have Sousa Mendes recognized for his action to save Jews and other refugees from the Holocaust. (more…)