Mel Gibson's new movie about Jesus has been viewed by many and will bve viewed by many more. By all reports Mr. Gibson based his interpreation of events on extremely narrow anti-Semitic sources. Even Christian theologians are questioning this theatrical rendition. What we are seeing is the expansion of the Passion plays in that little German town broadcast to the entire world.
There has been much debate in the Jewish community about the film and whether it is really anti-Semitic. The story by its very nature without commentary makes the Jewish people at the very least bystanders of the exectuion of an "innocent" person. Some versions of the story, Mr. Gibson's included show the Jewish mob demanding the execution. The gospels were written as anti-Semitic tracts as one writer on then internet put it. Where does it leave us as information professionals? Dr. Goebbels developed a propaganda weapon called the big lie. People believe information if it is presented numerous times by seemingly authoritative sources. The Jewish community seems to react to this abominable film with a knee jerk reaction. Shouldn't we as Jewish information professionals make some kind of a statement or present solid bibliographic information about this issue? The public is unaware that at the time of the execution the Sanhedrin no longer was able to mete out capital punishment. They are also unaware that it is very likely that most of the population of Judea may not have even known of his existence. Someone pointed out to me the other day that if we examine the censored portions of the Talmud we do not find any prominent Rabbi express any opinion about this execution. Furthermore the Talmudic references to this individual identify him as a student of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perachia. This would place the person over a century prior to what Mr. Gibson is reporting. The list goes on. Perhaps we should have a committee to create a resource of Jewish and non-Jewish materials alike that give the public access to points of view that do not represent emotion or hyperbole. The Rabbis in the Talmud teach us that silence is equivalent to acquiescence. I don't know how to address this issue, let that be the result of meeting of our collective minds. Let us not wait until fundamentalist Christians create bibliographies and resources to substantiate their point of view. Eliezer M. Wise Library Director Tuttleman Library of Gratz College 7605 Old York Road Melrose Park, Pa. 19027 215-635-7300 extension 159 ========================================================================== HaSafran - The Electronic Forum of the Association of Jewish Libraries Submissions for HaSafran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listserver at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org/
