Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 February 1994 — Page 10

Israel gone mad Jewish Theater

By JUDY CARR I think I am going mad. I am sure that Israel has gone mad. Where is the country we loved, the youth we adored, the ideals that we lamented as forgotten but still existing? The Israeli media are filled with horrors. Can these things be happening in our Israel? Israel was never the perfect place we pretended it was. But not like this! A teenage girl in Haifa is persuaded against her will into having sex with some 20 of her schoolmates and terrorized into silence. In the Knesset, on International AIDS Day, an exhibition is held on protected sex. A religious Knesset member was the sole voice of morality. He got up before the members and said that protected sex was like pouring oil on the fire. Oh well, boys and girls are only human. Worse still is the breakdown in the social structure. A radio reporter on Kol Yisrael told of a woman who begged a lift from Haifa to his home in Jerusalem because he runs a radio program to help people. She came to beg for food for herself and her children. He gave her some sandwiches but wanted the time for his family. On hearing this I phoned the Haifa municipal welfare department. An impersonal, bored voice said, "Why didn't we help her? Looks like she did not ask for help. We'll help you if you want. Just come in." I suppose I should be thanking heaven I am not in the happy situation of needing help from the Haifa social worker. But I feel alarmed at something worse — my mental state. I feel infected by this hell around me. When I first came to the country there was a quiet happiness. People had little money but they lived serene.

tranquil lives. Neighbors were warm and friendly. Is this only my looking back with nostalgia? Perhaps. But I remember how under the influence of this happiness I solved many of my own problems and got on with useful activities. The blare of the horrors thatsurmund us affect me like a cancer, an unbearable, nagging pain that will not go away. No wonder we have handed our country over to Arafat. We have made such a job of running things that he could not do it worse. Judy, what are you saying? Are you among the arch-foes of your own country? No, I am just lonely, despairing. Arafat may well murder the lot of us. There are ultra-religious Jews who believe the Holocaust happened because the Jews deserted the Word of God. Then we are just about due for another Holocaust. Am I sane? That is what Israelis are whispering to each other. A threat of another Holocaust, this time in the Jewish homeland. Life is still serene in most parts of the country. Kids go to school, mothers shop and cook, transport runs. So, what is wrong? A lot is wrong. Horror and destruction are simmering beneath the surface of this quiet life. It only needs a rift in the crust and all hell will break loose. Will it come from Arafat or from ourselves? The descent into chaos is just as likely to come from the Jews as from the troops of Arafat. We are doing it ourselves. Can there be words more bitter? Judy Carr may be reached at FOB 6431, Tel Aviv, mx 61 063 Israel

Jobean query

By ELY E. PILCHIK Pray Whisper, O Candid Creator Of the infinite eternal sector Be there amidst all Your Creation, Found flora of wondrous animation, A genus more malicious, A species more meretricious, Than home sapiens, the ambitous? Yet You crowned it with spirit and mind. Even with compassion of a kind. You ignited therein Your spark of sagacity. So why, O Candid Creator, its killer capacity? So vividly versed in Paul Celan's veracity? Dr. Ely Pilchik may be reached at 5 Cherrywood Circle, West Orange, N/ 07052 February 9,1994 Page National 6

Theater does Russian novel proud

By IRENE BACKALENICK For Jewish audiences, there is a special affinity to Russian dramas and Russian novels. And why not, considering that our forebears (we

Ashkenazi Jews) spent centuries under the Czars! We can surely relate to the passions and anguishes of Dostoevsky's characters. Those long, cold Russian winters are imprinted in our collective memories. And the Russian culture, for better or worse, permeates our homes, our very souls. No wonder it is a special treat for us to see Dostoevsky's monumental works adapted for the stage! And to have them offered by the Jean Cocteau Repertory, a unique little off-Broadway repertory company! The actors, having been together for years, take on several classics each season. Over the years they have created a seamless ensemble. Last season the Cocteau adapted "The Idiot" — and now "The Brothers Karamazov!" Both brilliant adaptations are the work of associate artistic director David Fishelson. Though initially slow getting off the ground (one first-act speech on religion goes on interminably), the drama gains power steadily through the evening. This three-act, 3 1/2 hour drama catches us up in its momentum. At the same time, Fishelman (who also directs the show) is faithful to Dostoevsky's characterizations and theme (the need for faith in a dark world). Both elements are explored in depth. This is the tale of the definitive dysfunctional family—of a scoundrel father and his several sons. The mothers, poor souls, have long since been used up and thrown away like so much trash. The sons, alienated from each other for 20 years, meet at the father's home and find their

THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV—Mark Waterman (R) plays Ivan, Craig Smith (C) plays Dmitry and John Lenartz plays Alyosha in "The Brothers Karamazov," a new dramatization of Dostoyevsky's novel written and directed by David Fishelson, presented by Jean Cocteau Repertory, 330 Bowery, through March 25. Box office (212) 677-0060.

way to reconciliation through a series of melodramatic events that read like today's headlines. Fishelman makes use of the entire theater, as actors race up the aisles, frequently entering and exiting from the rear, hurling the audience into the midst of the action. Performances from the ever-depend-able Cocteau cast are superb. Craig Smith plays Dmitry, the eldest brother, as rash, wild, impulsive, but of good heart, with every gesture, every stance, on target. Mark Waterman creates a believable contrast as Ivan, the aloof, snobbish second brother. And John Lenartz, as the saintly Alexey,

has a voice that plays like a flute, carrying the weighty woes of the world in its undulating notes. But the entire cast deserves praise — particularly Elise Stone and Angela Vitale as the brothers' loves, Harris Berlinsky as the rascally father and Christopher Black as the conniving servant. Centuries of Russian suffering, as broad as the Steppes and deep as the Siberian snow, become the company's gift to the Cocteau audiences — and especially Jewish audiences. Irene Backalenick may be reached at 373 Greens Farms Rd., Westport, CT 06880

Jewish noses? Who says so?!

LONDON — A study of facial characteristics in New York made the pages of The Jewish Chronicle here when it showed that of 2,886 Jewish men and 1,284 Jewish women surveyed , less than

one out of five had the traditional big classic arched and pointed Jewish nose. The nose count showed 57 percent were flat, 14 percent concave and 6.4 percent flared.