Page 50 - issue
P. 50
circumstances and is creating an incarcerate Meshulam for five years? and a white knitted kippa atop his
archive. It wants to keep the issue alive. I gaze around the theatre. It is filling toupee,3 making scathing remarks
She mentioned to Auerbach that “she about everybody. Above all, he makes
was scared,” because other activists in up, but there are still plenty of empty the mind-boggling claim that 4,500
the past have been threatened with vio- seats. Odd. Most of the people are children from Yemen, Iraq, and the
lence or were actually recipients of it. young and secular – and if I can tell by Balkan countries were systematically
their appearance – left-wingers. There kidnapped and either put up for adop-
◆◆◆ are a number of older people, mostly tion or sold to childless couples in the
Sefardim with a sprinkling of United States and Europe.
A few days later I got an email from Ashkenazim. Only a handful of the
the Jerusalem Cinematique. It’s one of young Yemenites present are religious. You also hear Meshulam through
those artsy theatres that screen avant- Chaval (too bad).2 One of the people is his tapes and interviews. He is
garde films from independent filmmak- Noam Saraf, an Ashkenazi in his early scathing towards everyone, including
ers. They were advertising a one-time thirties and very much a part of the Tel his fellow Yemenites, whom he calls
showing of a film about Uzi Meshulam Aviv night scene, who produced the “stupid” for being so docile and naïve.
followed by a panel discussion chaired film.
by the Amram organization. 2 In recent years, Satmar has been
The lights are dimmed and the film involved in helping the remaining
To refresh your memory, Uzi begins. It is very gripping. Yemenites immigrate to New York in
Meshulam was a Yemenite activist who, order to prevent the repeat of the
in 1994, tried to bring the issue of the You see a picture of Meshulam’s “Zionist contamination and seculariza-
missing Yemenite children to the public grandfather, an elderly Yemenite rabbi, tion” of the Yemenites. But instead of
consciousness. He barricaded himself who is angry about the missing chil- helping the children maintain their
and a few of his followers in a com- dren and makes a request before he Yemenite religious heritage, they are
pound in Yahud, a town not far from dies: Don’t let this issue fade away! turning them into Yiddish-speaking
Ben Gurion airport. Six of his followers Satmars.
were legally armed. Did they pose a You hear tapes of the police eaves- 3 Meshulam came into accidental con-
threat to anyone? Why did the police dropping on Uzi Meshulam. tact with chemicals while in the army
surround the compound and besiege which caused his loss of hair.
it? Why did the police kill an unarmed During the course of the film, you
follower in the compound and then hear Uzi Meshulam himself, an army
veteran who looks like he is in his thir-
ties, with a boyish clean-shaven face
46 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
archive. It wants to keep the issue alive. I gaze around the theatre. It is filling toupee,3 making scathing remarks
She mentioned to Auerbach that “she about everybody. Above all, he makes
was scared,” because other activists in up, but there are still plenty of empty the mind-boggling claim that 4,500
the past have been threatened with vio- seats. Odd. Most of the people are children from Yemen, Iraq, and the
lence or were actually recipients of it. young and secular – and if I can tell by Balkan countries were systematically
their appearance – left-wingers. There kidnapped and either put up for adop-
◆◆◆ are a number of older people, mostly tion or sold to childless couples in the
Sefardim with a sprinkling of United States and Europe.
A few days later I got an email from Ashkenazim. Only a handful of the
the Jerusalem Cinematique. It’s one of young Yemenites present are religious. You also hear Meshulam through
those artsy theatres that screen avant- Chaval (too bad).2 One of the people is his tapes and interviews. He is
garde films from independent filmmak- Noam Saraf, an Ashkenazi in his early scathing towards everyone, including
ers. They were advertising a one-time thirties and very much a part of the Tel his fellow Yemenites, whom he calls
showing of a film about Uzi Meshulam Aviv night scene, who produced the “stupid” for being so docile and naïve.
followed by a panel discussion chaired film.
by the Amram organization. 2 In recent years, Satmar has been
The lights are dimmed and the film involved in helping the remaining
To refresh your memory, Uzi begins. It is very gripping. Yemenites immigrate to New York in
Meshulam was a Yemenite activist who, order to prevent the repeat of the
in 1994, tried to bring the issue of the You see a picture of Meshulam’s “Zionist contamination and seculariza-
missing Yemenite children to the public grandfather, an elderly Yemenite rabbi, tion” of the Yemenites. But instead of
consciousness. He barricaded himself who is angry about the missing chil- helping the children maintain their
and a few of his followers in a com- dren and makes a request before he Yemenite religious heritage, they are
pound in Yahud, a town not far from dies: Don’t let this issue fade away! turning them into Yiddish-speaking
Ben Gurion airport. Six of his followers Satmars.
were legally armed. Did they pose a You hear tapes of the police eaves- 3 Meshulam came into accidental con-
threat to anyone? Why did the police dropping on Uzi Meshulam. tact with chemicals while in the army
surround the compound and besiege which caused his loss of hair.
it? Why did the police kill an unarmed During the course of the film, you
follower in the compound and then hear Uzi Meshulam himself, an army
veteran who looks like he is in his thir-
ties, with a boyish clean-shaven face
46 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
