May 9, 2008 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Reverence, Yes; Worship, No Mona Charen: Did Israel Drive Out the Arabs 60 Years Ago? JWisdom: Ultimate opportunities by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky May 8, 2008 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Israel at 3,500+ Jonathan Tobin: Still Fighting the Same War Steven Plaut: How ‘nakba’ proves the fiction of a Palestinian Nation JWisdom: Taking Israel for Granted? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher May 7, 2008 Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Israel is irrelevant to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Dion Nissenbaum: Latest Olmert scandal could derail efforts to force Israel's compromises JWisdom: My Inner Ventriloquist by Sara Yoheved Rigler May 6, 2008 Caroline B. Glick: Anti-Zionism at 60 The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: In honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, the former president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, whose members included the likes of Julia Child, is back with a smorgasbord featuring the taste and essence of the Jewish homeland JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Jewish Deer in Nazi Headlights May 5, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Busy work Jonathan Mark: Remarkable half-century old Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban puts current anti-Israel sentiment into perspective May 2, 2008 Rabbi Berel Wein: Rote religiosity Caroline B. Glick: Whitewashing Hamas JWisdom: Parent trap? May 1, 2008 David Zwiebel: Faith communities can learn from Orthodox Jews in stimulating private philanthropy for religious education George Friedman and Peter Zeihan of Stratfor: The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement JWisdom: It's time to wake up by Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis April 30, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: Pennsylvania's Democratic slugfest may leave some Jewish votes up for grabs The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Fresh herbs, sauteed veal and tiny creamer potatoes makes a light spring dinner JWisdom: How to Build a Mentch by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 29, 2008 Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama's Muslim Childhood Joel Brinkley: On human rights, the U.N. once again strikes out JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: When The Truth is Unbelievable April 28, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I'm often stuck in the doctor's waiting room for hours! Doesn't he owe me something for my wasted time? Steven Emerson: New U.S. government policy advises agencies to avoid using some of the very same words that make up terror groups' names JWisdom: Why You & I Never Die: A Jewish View of Immortality, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron April 25, 2008 Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg: Schadenfreude isn't kosher for Passover --- or at any other time Rabbi Berel Wein: The secret of how the data bank of memory is transferred from one generation to the next JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part III April 24, 2008 Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: The successful failure Fred Burton and Scott Stewart of Stratfor: Placing the terrorist threat to the food supply in perspective JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Part II April 23, 2008 Connie Ogle: An intricate game of a novel Jonathan Tobin: Making Sense of the 'J Street' Jive JWisdom: Stepping Up to A Higher Spiritual Life by Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen April 22, 2008 Jonathan Rosenblum: Why Israel's 'Leaven law' matters Caroline B. Glick: Obama the Savior April 18, 2008 Rabbi Harvey Belovski: Multimedia tool of antiquity Caroline B. Glick: Revealed Truths vs. revealed lies JWisdom: More than miracles by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 17, 2008 Rabbi Avi Shafran: Deconstructing Dayeinu Rabbi Elazar Meisels: Is innovation at the Seder a slap at tradition? JWisdom: Discovering Your Divine Mission, Part III by Rabbi David Aaron April 16, 2008 Jonathan Tobin: A Prayer for Sderot's Children Ethel G. Hofman: Sumptuous Seder JWisdom: The Divine is in the details by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 15, 2008 Rabbi Dovid Zauderer: Let Charlton Heston Go! Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Jimma, tyranny's enabler JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part IV by Dr. Lisa Aiken April 14, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: The Snitching Supervisor Jonathan Tobin: Forget the Fun and Games! JWisdom: Sincerity is Valued Most by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. April 11, 2008 Rabbi David Gutterman: A Mystery in the Middle East Caroline B. Glick: Why Ahmadinejad smiles JWisdom: Elevated illness by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 10, 2008 Stratfor Intelligence Briefing by George Friedman: A Mystery in the Middle East The Kosher Gourmet By Steve Petusevsky: The spring elegance of asparagus JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: The Power of Rational Lies April 9, 2008 Michael Feldberg: An all but forgotten Colonial doctor who put his Jewish values before his life Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel's "Everything's Relative" gets philosophical JWisdom: Four Rabbis in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 8, 2008 Caroline Glick: Covering for the enemy Elliot B. Gertel: 'House' goes Hasidic JWisdom: Relationships: Beyond Mars & Venus, Part III by Dr. Lisa Aiken April 7, 2008 The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I have a translating business. Recently someone asked me to translate some financial documents that are clearly forged. Should I agree? Jonathan Rosenblum : Israel is unwittingly helping to fuel the international campaign of delegitimization against it JWisdom: Matzah and leaven as a life philosophy by Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. April 4, 2008 Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The Mystery of Suffering Caroline B. Glick: Fear of democracy JWisdom: Dirty Jews by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky April 3, 2008 Rabbi Y. Y. Rubinstein: Parents --- and the children who would be them The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Tempted by restaurant dressings? Don't be. Here are recipes that can be made at home, healthier! JWisdom: The importance of retaining a 'slave mentality' by Rabbi Mordechai Becher April 2, 2008 Mitch Albom: Child abuse, disguised as faith Jonathan Tobin: Unreasonable Accommodations JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith with Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Eliminating Jewish Influence over Germans March 22, 2007 J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !) Oct. 29, 2003 Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Sept. 28, 2004 / 13 Tishrei, 5765 New film re-examines Hitler in a more humane light By Tom Hundley Bruno Ganz as Adolf Hitler and Heino Ferch as Albert Speer http://www.jewishworldreview.com | (KRT) BERLIN — Hitler plays with children. He's kind to animals. He charms the office secretaries. He even sheds a tear. Hitler kisses Eva Braun on the mouth — affectionately, not passionately — and we see a filament of his saliva. Certainly, the German people know Adolf Hitler well, but this is an aspect of the Fuhrer they never have seen before. For nearly half a century, German filmmakers have steered clear of portraying Hitler on the big screen. It was thought to be too soon, too painful and too easy to get it all wrong. But "Der Untergang" ("The Downfall"), a new German film about the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker, has broken that taboo and portrays Hitler with an intimate and humanizing realism. Before the film's opening last week, many commentators in Germany feared that humanizing Hitler would legitimize Hitler, soften his evil and make his crimes easier to forgive. Critics are giving "Der Untergang" mixed reviews, but there is a general consensus that Swiss-born actor Bruno Ganz's creepily convincing portrayal of the Nazi tyrant is a small masterpiece. In his humanity, Hitler comes across as all the more ghastly. "If you portray a character like Hitler, you have to portray him as he was," said Bernd Eichinger, the film's producer and screenwriter. "And he was a human being. He was not an alien. He was not another species. I think it's dangerous simply to show him as a maniac or a monster." Eichinger based his screenplay on the writings of Joachim Fest, a respected historian, and the memoirs of Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary during the final days. "We don't have to forget that this man had a charisma. He had the ability to suck millions of people into his ideas and to keep them convinced that he was the one who would lead them out of their misery," Eichinger said. Eichinger, whose credits as a producer include "The Mists of Avalon," "Resident Evil" and the newly released "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," said that for today's audiences, a feature film often was more "real" than a documentary. "In a documentary, you have people flicker around in black and white, and you see them mostly in official situations and you don't understand what was it that made everybody follow this man with this strange voice," he said. "What we did was to take it out of the faraway historical situation. With a feature, you bring these things alive now. Every time the movie is screened it's sort of here and now, and you have to include yourself. You are part of the events and you ... are forced to ask, `What would I have done?'" As the 60th anniversary of the war's end approaches, there are several other projects in the pipeline that will give Germans an up-close look at Hitler and his henchmen. "The Goebbels Experiment" profiles the Nazi propaganda minister, while "The Devil's Architect," a television production scheduled to air next spring, explores the relationship between Hitler and architect Albert Speer, later the regime's armaments minister. Wolfgang Wittermann, a historian at the Berlin Free University, said all of this was good in that it helped create an audience for serious research into Germany's Nazi past, but bad because movies tend to gloss over the complicity of the German people in the crimes of the Nazi regime at a time when many Germans are beginning to absolve themselves of the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. "It reduces the history of Fascism to the history of Hitler," he said. "People look at the movies and they think, `It wasn't me, it was Hitler. Hitler is dead now. All is fine.'" "Der Untergang" is not an easy film to watch. While the fighting approaches its fiery crescendo in Berlin's streets, the audience feels trapped with Hitler and his sycophants in the claustrophobic bunker below. Russian tanks close in, their cannons rip apart the city's civilian population and waiters in white gloves prepare a candle-lit dinner for the Fuhrer and Joseph Goebbels. Hitler careens schizophrenically between towering rages and self-pitying laments. "I planned such great things for the German people, but they didn't understand," he says as the end approaches. "The only thing I did well was to cleanse German living space of the Jewish poison." Eva Braun applies her lipstick, and the newlyweds close the bedroom door behind them. We hear a single gunshot. In what is perhaps the film's most chilling moment, Goebbels' wife, Magda, one of Hitler's most ardent flatterers, poisons her six small children and then calms her nerves with a game of solitaire. Veteran German actress Corinna Harfouch, who plays Magda, said she suffered a physical breakdown during the filming of that scene. The overall effect of the film on audiences is similar. "At the end, tears were running down my face when I realized again what a monster Hitler was," said Rev. Klaus Pacholik, 64, a retired priest who brought his 92-year-old mother to a screening last week in Berlin. "We survived the bombing in a cellar, and then I spent all my life in a divided city. For others, it was much worse," he said. "All of this because of Hitler." Jurgen Heidemann, 59, a retired civil servant who attended the same screening, said he was grateful he was born the year Hitler died. "The worst would have been if the Germans had won the war," he said. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. Comment by clicking here. © 2004, Chicago Tribune Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.