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Rabbi Turned Filmmaker Makes Riveting Holocaust Movie: ‘Jewish History Is Very Powerful’
The sign “Arbeit macht frei” (“Work makes you free”) is pictured at the main gate of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Photo: Reuters/Pawel Ulatowski
A US-based Jewish educator has brought to life a movie about one of the more unknown but riveting stories from the Holocaust.
After years of educating Jewish youth around the world, Rabbi Shmuel Lynn never expected to find himself back in the art of filmmaking, he told the Algemeiner in a recent interview about his new movie, Bardejov.
Raised secular in Florida, Lynn was once focused intently on a career in Hollywood — with Jewish studies nowhere near the front of his mind. Indeed, after completing a degree in film from Duke University, he packed his bags and headed to Los Angeles to focus on writing scripts for movies. “I was always involved in the arts, music, and theater,” he said.
But after a spark of interest in Judaism, Lynn began a multi-year journey in which he studied in Jerusalem, before giving up film altogether. He began doing Jewish outreach work in 2004 on college campuses, mainly at the University of Pennsylvania.
Seeing the success he had teaching and influencing people on campus, Lynn helped to found Meor Manhattan, an organization geared toward Jewish outreach for young professional Jews in New York City. The organization is now called Olami.
During this time, Lynn wanted to launch international summits in places where Jews had thrived but ultimately suffered in the past, such as in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. “The idea is that if you know where you come from, you will cherish and appreciate the sacrifice that got you where you are… Generations ran away from the Cossacks, the Nazis, etc,. for you to have the beautiful life you have today. Jewish history is very powerful.”
It was on these trips that Lynn’s artistic background came into play. He said his team was brainstorming ideas to captivate the large number of Jews on the trip, and the concept of staging a play came up. Lynn jumped at the opportunity, putting together one-off plays in the streets of places such as Spain. “Street theater — it was a eureka moment,” Lynn said, describing the power of arts to educate people.
Back in the US, Lynn’s organization put together an interactive play experience called “New York Circa 1909” where attendees could put themselves in the shoes of Jewish immigrants who came to America at the turn of the 20th century.
Another place Olami brings young Jews is Poland. “Not just to see the [Nazi] concentration camps,” he explained, “but there is a celebration of Jewish life you can find there.”
One day, as the group was passing through Slovakia, Lynn remembered that a donor he had spoken to mentioned he must go to the town of Bardejov, which led the rabbi to arrange a visit.
Upon arriving, “the man who met us was so excited, he cried when he saw us. Not many people know the Slovakian story,” Lynn remarked, noting its early collaboration with the Nazis.
One particularly moving story from the town during the Holocaust was that 312 girls were set to be rounded up and sent to a “shoe factory,” which in reality was the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp.
Just hours before they were set to be deported, however, the true plan to send the girls to Auschwitz was discovered. The townspeople then gathered where Rafuel Lowy, the town’s rabbi, devised a plan to give Typhus vaccines to the girls, which allowed them to show positive for the disease, leading to a forced quarantine of the town.
In the end, the girls were saved, though a few years later Lowy was himself captured and sent to his death at Auschwitz.
Lynn was captivated by the episode, calling it “a Hollywood story for the ages.” From one miracle to the next, as he described, he was able to write a screenplay for the movie and have it directed, where it is now available on platforms such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
Lynn said there can be huge power in filmmaking to tell the Jewish story on a global stage.
“We need to put as many bricks of testimony as we can. We need to flood the airwaves with true stories of Jewish history,” he said, adding that is the only way, as “people whose minds need to be recalibrated aren’t reading books.”
Lynn said that while being a rabbi will remain his main work, he is excited to work to see other moving stories like those of Bardejov come to fruition on the big screen.
The post Rabbi Turned Filmmaker Makes Riveting Holocaust Movie: ‘Jewish History Is Very Powerful’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Security Warning to Israelis Vacationing Abroad Ahead of holidays
A passenger arrives to a terminal at Ben Gurion international airport before Israel bans international flights, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Ahead of the Jewish High Holidays, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) published the latest threat assessment to Israelis abroad from terrorist groups to the public on Sunday, in order to increase the Israeli public’s awareness of the existing terrorist threats around the world and encourage individuals to take preventive action accordingly.
The NSC specified that the warning is an up-to-date reflection of the main trends in the activities of terrorist groups around the world and their impact on the level of threat posed to Israelis abroad during these times, but the travel warnings and restrictions themselves are not new.
“As the Gaza war continues and in parallel with the increasing threat of terrorism, the National Security Headquarters stated it has recognized a trend of worsening and increasing violent antisemitic incidents and escalating steps by anti-Israel groups, to the point of physically harming Israelis and Jews abroad. This is in light of, among other things, the anti-Israel narrative and the negative media campaign by pro-Palestinian elements — a trend that may encourage and motivate extremist elements to carry out terrorist activities against Israelis or Jews abroad,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the National Security Bureau is reinforcing its recommendation to the Israeli public to act with responsibility during this time when traveling abroad, to check the status of the National Security Bureau’s travel warnings (before purchasing tickets to the destination,) and to act in accordance with the travel warning recommendations and the level of risk in the country they are visiting,” it listed, adding that, as illustrated in the past year, these warnings are well-founded and reflect a tangible and valid threat potential.
The statement also emphasized the risk of sharing content on social media networks indicating current or past service in the Israeli security forces, as these posts increase the risk of being marked by various parties as a target. “Therefore, the National Security Council recommends that you do not upload to social networks, in any way, content that indicates service in the security forces, operational activity, or similar content, as well as real-time locations.”
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Israel Intensifies Gaza City Bombing as Rubio Arrives
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the south, in the central Gaza Strip September 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Israeli forces destroyed at least 30 residential buildings in Gaza City and forced thousands of people from their homes, Palestinian officials said, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived on Sunday to discuss the future of the conflict.
Israel has said it plans to seize the city, where about a million Palestinians have been sheltering, as part of its declared aim of eliminating the terrorist group Hamas, and has intensified attacks on what it has called Hamas’ last bastion.
The group’s political leadership, which has engaged in on-and-off negotiations on a possible ceasefire and hostage release deal, was targeted by Israel in an airstrike in Doha on Tuesday in an attack that drew widespread condemnation.
Qatar will host an emergency Arab-Islamic summit on Monday to discuss the next moves. Rubio said Washington wanted to talk about how to free the 48 hostages – of whom 20 are believed to be still alive – still held by Hamas in Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip.
“What’s happened, has happened,” he said. “We’re gonna meet with them (the Israeli leadership). We’re gonna talk about what the future holds,” Rubio said before heading to Israel where he will stay until Tuesday.
ABRAHAM ACCORDS AT RISK
He was expected to visit the Western Wall Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and hold talks with him during the visit.
US officials described Tuesday’s strike on the territory of a close US ally as a unilateral escalation that did not serve American or Israeli interests. Rubio and US President Donald Trump both met Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Friday.
Netanyahu signed an agreement on Thursday to push ahead with a settlement expansion plan that would cut across West Bank land that the Palestinians seek for a state – a move the United Arab Emirates warned would undermine the US-brokered Abraham accords that normalized UAE relations with Israel.
Israel, which blocked all food from entering Gaza for 11 weeks earlier this year, has been allowing more aid into the enclave since late July to prevent further food shortages, though the United Nations says far more is needed.
It says it wants civilians to leave Gaza City before it sends more ground forces in. Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have left but hundreds of thousands remain in the area. Hamas has called on people not to leave.
Israeli army forces have been operating inside at least four eastern suburbs for weeks, turning most of at least three of them into wastelands. It is closing in on the center and the western areas of the territory, where most of the displaced people are taking shelter.
Many are reluctant to leave, saying there is not enough space or safety in the south, where Israel has told them to go to what it has designated as a humanitarian zone.
Some say they cannot afford to leave while others say they were hoping the Arab leaders meeting on Monday in Qatar would pressure Israel to scrap its planned offensive.
“The bombardment intensified everywhere and we took down the tents, more than twenty families, we do not know where to go,” said Musbah Al-Kafarna, displaced in Gaza City.
Israel said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City over the past week, targeting more than 500 sites, including Hamas reconnaissance and sniper sites, buildings containing tunnel openings and weapons depots.
Local officials, who do not distinguish between militant and civilian casualties, say at least 40 people were killed by Israeli fire across the enclave, a least 28 in Gaza City alone.
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Turkey Warns of Escalation as Israel Expands Strikes Beyond Gaza
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (not seen) at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, May 13, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Umit Bektas
i24 News – An Israeli strike targeting Hamas officials in Qatar has sparked unease among several Middle Eastern countries that host leaders of the group, with Turkey among the most alarmed.
Officials in Ankara are increasingly worried about how far Israel might go in pursuing those it holds responsible for the October 7 attacks.
Israel’s prime minister effectively acknowledged that the Qatar operation failed to eliminate the Hamas leadership, while stressing the broader point the strike was meant to make: “They enjoy no immunity,” the government said.
On X, Prime Minister Netanyahu went further, writing that “the elimination of Hamas leaders would put an end to the war.”
A senior Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Ankara’s reaction: “The attack in Qatar showed that the Israeli government is ready to do anything.”
Legally and diplomatically, Turkey occupies a delicate position. As a NATO member, any military operation or targeted killing on its soil could inflame tensions within the alliance and challenge mutual security commitments.
Analysts caution, however, that Israel could opt for covert measures, operations carried out without public acknowledgement, a prospect that has increased anxiety in governments across the region.
Israeli officials remain defiant. In an interview with Ynet, Minister Ze’ev Elkin said: “As long as we have not stopped them, we will pursue them everywhere in the world and settle our accounts with them.” The episode underscores growing fears that efforts to hunt Hamas figures beyond Gaza could widen regional friction and complicate diplomatic relationships.