Archive | 2024/09/16

“Jest w tym wirtuozeria”. Nie żyje Michał Sobelman. Miał 71 lat

Sep16

Michał Sobelman nie żyje (Fot. Artur Zawadzki/REPORTER)

“Jest w tym wirtuozeria”. Nie żyje Michał Sobelman. Miał 71 lat

Radosław Czyż

Michał Sobelman tłumaczył na polski m.in. sztuki Hanocha Levina, Savyon Liebrecht i Edny Mazyi oraz prozę Benjamina Tammuza i Judith Katzir.

Michał Sobelman urodził się w Sosnowcu, 26 marca 1953 roku. Jako nastolatek, po wydarzeniach Marca 1968 r., wyemigrował wraz z ojcem do Izraela. Do Polski, na tydzień, wrócił dopiero w 1983 r. Jak wspominał w rozmowie Krystyną Naszkowską w “Dużym Formacie” próbował wrócić do kraju już wcześniej, ale ani razu nie udało mu się zdobyć wizy.

“W latach 80. pojawiła się możliwość odwiedzenia Polski, ale można było pojechać wyłącznie na zorganizowaną wycieczkę. Z tej wycieczki można się było odłączyć już na lotnisku na Okęciu i dołączyć tuż przed powrotem, też na Okęciu. I ja z takiej możliwości skorzystałem w listopadzie 1983 roku. Byłem w Polsce tydzień.” – mówił.  

Michał Sobelman nie żyje. Tłumaczył sztuki Hanocha Levina

Kilkukrotnie wracał do Polski, ale przez wiele lat czuł się Izraelczykiem. Pracował w Uniwersytecie Hebrajskim w Jerozolimie. W 1987 r. jako pierwszy obywatel Izraela dostał stypendium UNESCO w Polsce. Od 1993 r. przez 30 lat był rzecznikiem prasowym ambasady Izraela w Warszawie.  

Ale słynął przede wszystkim jako tłumacz literatury hebrajskiej. Przekładał m.in. sztuki Hanocha Levina, Savyon Liebrecht i Edny Mazyi, oraz prozę Benjamina Tammuza, Batii Gur i Judith Katzir.  

O śmierci Sobelmana na Facebooku poinformował dziennikarz Jan Ordyński. Informację potwierdzili bliscy tłumacza. Pożegnał go też pisarz i kierownik literacki Teatru Żydowskiego, Remigiusz Grzela: 

“(…)  z dramatów Levina, jakie przełożył, ukochałem sobie ostatni, nie wystawiany w Polsce tekst, jaki mamy w planach w Teatrze Żydowskim, “Całuj ciotkę” (w tym przekładzie jest wirtuozeria Michała, jak i maestria już ciężko chorego Levina). Bardzo smutna wiadomość.” – napisał. 

Jan Ordyński powiadomił na FB, że umarł Michał Sobelman, wybitny tłumacz prozy i dramaturgii izraelskiej na język polski. Przekładał m.in. a może przede wszystkim Hanocha Levina ale też dzięki niemu doceniliśmy Savyon Liebrecht. Bardzo smutna wiadomość. Z dramatów Levina, jakie przełożył, ukochałem sobie ostatni, nie wystawiany w Polsce tekst, jaki mamy w planach w Teatrze Żydowskim, “Całuj ciotkę” (w tym przekładzie jest wirtuozeria Michała, jak i maestria już ciężko chorego Levina). Bardzo smutna wiadomość.

Radosław Czyż – Dziennikarz opisujący świat filmu i seriali w „Wyborczej TV” i dziale kultura „GW”, współprowadzący podcastu „Sobotni Seans”. Na łamach „Książek. Magazynu do czytania” pisze o komiksach.

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In New Zealand, Antisemitism in the Classroom—and Beyond

Sep16
In New Zealand, Antisemitism in the Classroom—and Beyond

Nomi Kaltmann

Since Oct. 7, the country’s small Jewish community has faced growing prejudice

A police officer stands guard during a pro-Palestinian rally in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Oct. 28, 2023 / Sanka Vidanagama/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In November 2023, just weeks after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, New Zealand’s Holocaust Centre in Wellington issued a report focusing on Jewish children age 9 to 18 that revealed that 50% of responding parents reported their children had faced antisemitism in their school since Oct. 7.

“Pre-Oct. 7, we received one or two complaints a year,” said Deborah Hart, the centre’s board chair, who commissioned the report. “After [Oct. 7], the steep rise in complaints we were getting was incredibly concerning and we wanted to know how big this problem was.”

In a follow-up report compiled in July 2024 by the same organization, that number shot even higher: A staggering 80% of respondents said their children had suffered antisemitic episodes in their schools.

These reports, which have more than 30 respondents each, have not been made public to protect the location and identity of children, who are often the only Jewish people in their local area, but the data can be backed up with New Zealand police statistics. New Zealand’s Holocaust Centre found that antisemitism was not limited to one place or demographic in the country. “We have police crime statistics, so we know that there was a 530% increase in the targeting of Jews between 2022-2023,” said Hart. “In New Zealand, Jews are just 0.2% of the population. Unfortunately, Jewish New Zealanders are 160 times more likely to be the victim of a hate crime than a Maori New Zealander, who are also targeted.”

When asked what these antisemitic incidents may look like, Hart was frank: “It looks like graffiti and abuse online. In schools it’s everything ranging from name-calling to physical abuse. And some of it is particularly nasty, like a child who went swimming and when he came back to put on his shirt, it was covered in swastikas. Or a report of a child locked in a room with kids outside screaming ‘Free Palestine,’ and when he came out, they tried to assault him with a broom handle.”

In response to this worrying increase in antisemitism, Hart would like to see an antisemitism envoy appointed in New Zealand, mirroring efforts in countries like Australia and the United States, and for the Holocaust to be part of New Zealand’s mandatory education curriculum. None of these have happened so far, but some initial funding has been provided by New Zealand’s government to support an education package put together by the Holocaust Centre to be sent out to teachers and schools across New Zealand to combat antisemitism. “We are developing the education package so it’s pedagogically sound and easy for teachers to use,” said Hart.

Since Oct. 7, Kadimah college in Auckland—New Zealand’s only Jewish school, which has classes from kindergarten to Year 8—has been on high alert from extremism from right- and left-wing groups.

“It’s a bit upsetting,” said Darya Bing, the chair of the school board of trustees. “When you speak to people about it, they are really shocked. Most New Zealanders are very kind and very lovely people who are not at all aware of the outcomes to the Jewish community. Your common reaction will be: ‘What? What do you mean have security guards outside your school?’”

This past year saw a boom in enrollment at Kadimah. The school, which also welcomes non-Jews and has a total of 150 students, usually has a mix of 50% Jewish and 50% non-Jewish students. Today the ratio is closer to 70% Jewish. It has a special status in New Zealand as an integrated school, one that is partly funded by the government and has a special character to teach Jewish studies and Hebrew alongside the regular New Zealand curriculum.

“The school is growing rapidly,” said Bing. While she partly attributed the increase in enrolments to families fleeing rising antisemitism in New Zealand’s schools, she also attributes it to a rise in many professional immigrants moving to New Zealand and their desire to fit into a community that aligns with their values. “In the initial decision to bring their kids to Kadimah, [some families might think], oh, OK, I’m going to New Zealand and might as well go to a Jewish school and mitigate [the chance of antisemitism] before it starts,” she said.

Students are not the only ones affected by rising antisemitism.

In Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South Island, members of the Jewish community have been shaken by an antisemitic attack against Canterbury Synagogue. The synagogue had its windows smashed, in an attack captured on CCTV. Shary Baker, the synagogue’s vice president, feels that she is misunderstood as a Jewish person in New Zealand. “There is little to no education in schools here about minorities such as Jews,” she said. “Most [New Zealanders] aren’t taught about the Holocaust. Many non-Jewish students’ first experience of what Jewishness is or what a Jew is will be in the context of this current war. There is an issue that we are a minority here, but we are not viewed like a minority.”

It’s a refrain common to many Jewish people working and living across the community.

When New Zealand’s Settlement Centre, a charity that offers free information and services to migrants, was set to reopen in July 2024 after a lengthy renovation, it was meant to be a festive occasion. However, the celebration, in the city of Hamilton, was abruptly canceled when Palestine Waikato, a pro-Palestinian group, threatened to protest the event. The controversy stemmed from the inclusion of an artwork by a New Zealand-Israeli artist. The artwork—which featured pomegranates and doves, but no explicit religious or political imagery—was part of a broader collection created by migrants to decorate the newly renovated center. However, Palestine Waikato charged that the artwork “does not represent culture or heritage, but symbolizes stolen Palestinian land, biodiversity, symbols, futures, and lives.”

Hamilton, with roughly half a million people, including 90 Jews, according to New Zealand’s 2018 census, became an unexpected flashpoint in a country that has a Jewish population of approximately 10,000 among a broader population of 5 million.

Education Director Kris Lacy teaches a school group at the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand /  Courtesy Holocaust Centre of New Zealand

“Most of us recognize this [incident at the Settlement Centre] as pure antisemitism,” said Juliet Moses, the president of New Zealand’s Jewish Council. Since Oct. 7, Moses, who works as a lawyer and volunteers in her community role, has found her days increasingly busy as she responds to a massive increase in antisemitic incidents in New Zealand that has made the country’s tiny Jewish community feel uneasy. “What we are experiencing is a large increase in antisemitism that manifests in various ways,” she said, “and people don’t care about it in the same way you would expect them to for other minorities.”

Historically, New Zealand’s relationship with Israel has been mixed. While the country maintains formal ties with Israel, and is part of the Five Eyes Agreement—an alliance between five countries that also includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada—New Zealand has traditionally behaved toward Israel in a way that is out of step with these other countries. This includes abstaining or voting in favor of resolutions against Israel at the United Nations. In 2016, New Zealand was even one of four sponsoring countries that supported United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which called Israel’s settlement activity a flagrant violation of international law with no legal validity.

In the aftermath of Oct. 7, the New Zealand government declared Hamas a terrorist organization, but as the war has continued, the government has become more critical of Israel. “After Oct. 7 they started off pretty strong that Israel has a right to defend itself, condemning Hamas,” said Moses, “but over time, as with most governments, they have begun to call for an immediate cease-fire, while increasing amounts of pressure on Israel and little pressure on Hamas.”

Paul Morris, a Jewish university professor at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka, has seen firsthand student protests against Israel and a heightened atmosphere of tension at the school. “I think New Zealand’s Jewish community both on campus and beyond are disturbed by heightened security and have experienced a kind of break with other communities,” he said. “In many ways the community has been very deeply shaken by the broad and partisan support for Palestine and the lack of sympathy” for Jewish victims.

When asked whether he would leave the country to settle somewhere else, Morris said that he felt “he was too old and settled” in New Zealand but retains ongoing concern for the viability of the country’s Jewish community. “The future of the community has been an issue for 30 years. It’s not growing,” he said, listing high aliyah rates relative to the population size, and migration from New Zealand to Australia, which has favorable immigration policies for New Zealanders, as reasons for the community’s relative decline.

There are glimmers of hope and support during the troubling time for New Zealand’s tiny Jewish community. Michelle Jacobson, an Australian who now lives in Wellington with her husband and children, recently experienced some support. Driving along a street in her neighborhood, she came across some antisemitic stickers at a bus stop. “I was with my husband, who is not Jewish, we pulled over and scraped one off,” she told me. “When we were driving back, we saw some ladies trying to get one off as well. It made me feel like we weren’t so alone.”

Nomi Kaltmann is Tablet magazine’s Australia correspondent. Follow her on Twitter @NomiKal.

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Hollywood Talent Agent Apologizes for ‘Kill Them All’ Text Message After Murder of Six Israeli Hostages

Sep16
Hollywood Talent Agent Apologizes for ‘Kill Them All’ Text Message After Murder of Six Israeli Hostages

Shiryn Ghermezian

A combination picture shows undated handout images of hostages Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, and whose bodies have been found underground in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip and returned to Israel, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Photo: Courtesy of Bring Them Home Now/Handout via REUTERS

An agent with the Hollywood talent agency WME apologized on Wednesday for an inflammatory comment he made in a group chat over the weekend after it was announced that the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six hostages who were kidnapped and executed by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.

Brandt Joel — who represents Jason Momoa, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Hart, among others – said during a Zoom meeting with agents in WME’s motion picture department this week that he regrets saying “screw the left kill all” while commenting on the murder of the six hostages in an unofficial WME, pro-Israel, and Jewish affinity WhatsApp group chat, a source told The Wrap. The insider added that Joel also said when he wrote the text, which he deleted minutes later, he was broken-hearted about the murdered hostages, but also emotional and irrational due in part to the fact that his son was in Israel last year.

Joel — whose clients also include Ted Danson, Matt LeBlanc, and Justin Timberlake – said he deleted the comment from the group chat when he realized he had gone too far, the insider noted. The talent agent additionally clarified that his “kill all” comment referred only to the Hamas terrorist organization and said he has spoken with WME leaders about his actions. Joel told his colleagues he will get counseling to help with his impulsive behavior, a source with knowledge of the matter told The Hollywood Reporter.

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