- Press Releases
Following the Holocaust, a tragedy of epic proportions, how can one retain faith not only in a higher being, but also in the goodness of all humankind? That open-ended question is at the heart of the thoughtful and poignant documentary Hiding and Seeking: Faith and Tolerance after the Holocaust, which will be screened at Congregation Shomrei Torah on Sat., Jan. 19, 7:00 pm.
Directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky, the film focuses on Mr. Daum and his family, who, almost 60 years after World War II, visit Poland and meet with the righteous Gentiles who hid the father and uncles of Mr. Daum’s wife, Rifka. While Mr. Daum finds reasons for hope in his encounters with these Polish Catholics, his two sons, both Orthodox Jews who immigrated to Israel and want little to do with Christians, retain a deep distrust of non-Jews. While acknowledging that there may be non-Jews who would help Jews during another genocide, they hold firmly to the belief that given another chance to annihilate the Jews, “they’d probably do it again.”
As New York Times film critic Dave Kehr noted in his review of Hiding and Seeking, the film “offers no answers and is all the more moving for it.”
This film is sponsored by Congregation Shomrei Torah and Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ (JFCS) Holocaust Center and co-sponsored by the Social Action Committee of Congregation Beth Ami and the Center for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide and the Jewish Studies Program and School of Social Sciences at Sonoma State University.
There is no charge for this event, although donations are welcome. Following the movie, Morgan Blum, Director of Education at the JFCS Holocaust Center, and two college students who visited Poland as part of a JFCS Holocaust Center-sponsored Legacy Study Tour will discuss their experiences during the presentation The Holocaust: Then and Now. Light refreshments will also be served.
Congregation Shomrei Torah is located at 2600 Bennett Valley Rd., Santa Rosa. For more information about the event, call 707-303-1510 or email [email protected].