This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Eichmann trial, which mesmerized the Jewish world. The trial was held in Jerusalem at Beit Ha’am because courtrooms at the time were not large enough to hold all those – especially Holocaust survivors or family members of victims – who came to testify and bear witness against the notorious Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
The iconic opening address by Polish-born attorney-general Gideon Hausner, who was the chief prosecutor, is considered to be one of the great speeches of the 20th century.
“In rising to present the case against the accused, I am not alone. I am accompanied and surrounded by six million prosecutors, who unfortunately cannot stand and point their finger of accusation against the man in the dock, declaring, ‘I accuse.’ Their ashes are either at Auschwitz and Treblinka or in graves scattered all over Europe. Their blood cries out. Their voices are silent and unheard. It is in their name that I present this terrible, awful indictment…”
In commemorating the Holocaust, the slogan “Never Again” rings hollow, as violent antisemitism continues to spread around the globe. Complacency is not an option, especially as efforts by governments to curb antisemitism by imposing severe penalties on perpetrators are not sufficiently effective.
Israelis also need to be reminded of what can happen when antisemitism is rife. On March 20, Beit Ha’am will once again echo with the tales of travesties heard at the Eichmann trial, at the opening night of Motti Lerner’s play The Eichmann Trial, directed by Ilan Ronen, with Gil Frank as Gideon Hausner. The text is based on transcripts from the actual trial.
Annual Martin Buber Memorial Lecture
Another of Jerusalem’s noted residents was internationally acclaimed philosopher Martin Buber, who, prior to settling in the city’s Talbiyeh neighborhood, delivered public lectures in Frankfurt, Germany, and was head of a facility that trained Jewish teachers. When the Nazi secret police forbade him from continuing with his lectures, thereby silencing his voice of reason, he left Germany in 1938 and made his home in what was then Mandatory Palestine.
He had been one of the advocates for the establishment of a university in Jerusalem, and following his arrival in the city, it did not take long for the Hebrew University to offer him a professorship in social philosophy. He later founded a teachers training college for adult education. Buber was the first president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, which was founded in 1959 and formally chartered by law in 1961.
The academy’s annual Martin Buber lecture is scheduled for March 9 at 5 p.m. The guest lecturer will be Prof. Marcin Wodzinski, professor of Jewish studies at the University of Wroclaw, whose topic will be “Understanding Hasidism: Theology, Tales, Charisma.” A prize-winning expert on Jewish history and other Jewish studies, Wodzinski’s main academic interests are 19th-century Polish Jews, the Haskala (Enlightenment), Hasidism, and Hebrew epigraphy. He has worked on various projects with Israeli universities and for 14 years served as a historical consultant to Warsaw’s POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
The Martin Buber Memorial Lecture will take place at the Academy House, 43 Jabotinsky Street, Jerusalem.
Incidentally, March 28 is the anniversary of the passing of Buber’s multi-talented Jerusalem-born great-granddaughter Tirzah Agassi, who lost a valiant battle with cancer in 2008 and died in the US. A journalist, author, scriptwriter, psychotherapist, and peace activist, she lived in several countries and studied at three universities in Israel and the US. She worked at The Jerusalem Post for 10 years as a journalist and music critic.
Towers in Jerusalem
It is miraculous that the results of Iranian missile hits in Jerusalem were not as severe as those in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh. All in all, the number of fatalities and wounded was far less than expected, given the damage to property. But every loss of life is a tragedy for bereaved families.
On more than one occasion, there have been warnings in this column of what could happen if a rocket strikes a tall tower apartment building or if there is an earthquake. In the years that Teddy Kollek was mayor, with rare exceptions, apartment complexes were three or four stories high. Even the tallest exceptions were seldom higher than 12 floors.
But now, despite the objections of residents, a 45-story residential complex is going up in Beit Hakerem unless an appeal to the Jerusalem District Court finds an understanding and sympathetic ear. Former Jerusalem mayor and current Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat lives in a freestanding house in Beit Hakerem. It is not known how he feels about the tower. Every mayor introduces certain changes to his city, but none of the predecessors of Mayor Moshe Lion changed the whole character of Jerusalem.
Home Front Command error
On Sunday night, within less than two minutes of a radio announcement that people all over the country could leave their safe rooms, loud explosions were heard in Jerusalem, and people on the highway leading to and from the city were wounded. Home Front Command is to be commended for the alerts it posts on smartphones urging the public to take shelter before missile attacks from Iran, but the system needs to be improved.
Passing of Leah Stoller
Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, has lost a cherished figure in English-language amateur theater. Leah Stoller, a cofounder of JEST (Jerusalem English Speaking Theater), served for many years as its volunteer director. She died last Saturday, at age 96.
Born in New York’s Bronx to parents who fled the pogroms of Europe, Leah, a voracious reader, was a Hunter College graduate in English Literature. Her husband, Larry, whom she married in 1953, graduated from the City College of New York with a degree in business administration. He ran a successful business decorating clubs on military bases. She taught fifth- and sixth-grade classes in New York public schools.
They lived with their two sons, Josh and Jeremy, in a large, beautiful house in Queens.
A few years after the Six Day War in 1967, the Stollers, who were ardent Zionists with a strong sense of adventure, decided to check out Israel to see if they could live so far from family and home. They came on vacation in 1972 and lived in two kibbutzim. A year later, they returned to live in Israel permanently.
They spent seven years on the kibbutz before moving to Jerusalem in 1980. Larry had a number of roles on the kibbutz, and Leah taught English. Each year, as part of her teaching, she staged a well-known Broadway musical, with her pupils assigned the various roles. These productions were always popular. When the family moved to an urban environment and began to volunteer in various organizations, most of them with fellow volunteers from English-speaking backgrounds, Leah cofounded JEST. Over the years, until 2014, she directed over 50 productions and later led play readings. JEST paved the way for other English-language theater groups in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country.
Leah Stoller provided an outlet for dramatic talents, pleasure for thousands of English-speaking theatergoers, and a social outlet for immigrants from English-speaking countries.
She is survived by her husband, Larry; sons, Josh and Jeremy; grandchildren; many friends; and three generations of actors and actresses.