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Two Holocaust survivors, reunited after 80 years apart, tell their tale in a new short documentary
(New York Jewish Week) — In March 2022, Jack Waksal thought he recognized Sam Ron, the keynote speaker at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s annual South Florida dinner in Boca Raton. But he couldn’t quite place him — after all, at 97, Waksal had met thousands of people during his lifetime.
But when Ron said the word “Pionki,” all the memories came rushing back. Ron, formerly known as Shmuel Rakowsk, and Waksal had been best friends as teenagers when they worked side by side making gunpowder at the Pionki labor camp in Poland for nearly a year during the Holocaust.
Waksal was blown away by the coincidence of meeting Ron again at a gala nearly 79 years after they first became friends half a world away. After Ron’s speech, Waksal made his way over to his table. In a new documentary about their rekindled friendship, “Jack and Sam,” Waksal recalls the first words he spoke to Ron in nearly 80 years: “I said, ‘You’re my brother!’”
“It is such a beautiful love story,” director Jordan Matthew Horowitz said after a screening Sunday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York’s Holocaust museum. “It’s a beautiful story of friendship that’s endured so much over such a long period of time.”
The screening was part of the filmmakers’ push to get the film in front of documentary branch members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as they begin voting on the shortlist of Oscar-nominated short documentaries. (“Jack and Sam” clocks in at 20 minutes.) Around 40 voters, film industry leaders and other documentary filmmakers attended Sunday’s screening, with more expected at a second screening Tuesday at the United Talent Agency offices in Los Angeles.
“Jack and Sam” premiered at Provincetown International Film Festival in June and has since been shown at six film festivals across the globe including at DocNYC last month. Jewish actresses Sarah Silverman and Julianna Margulies signed on as executive producers for the film in October.
“My wish for the film is that everybody sees it, especially right now. I think from sixth grade to 12th grade, this film should be mandatory viewing,” said Margulies in a talkback after Sunday’s screening. The actress, who starred in the television series “E.R.,” has been outspoken about the rise in antisemitism and Jewish representation in Hollywood in recent years.
Margulies, who is on the board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, said she is personal friends with Waksal’s granddaughter and believes that the story in the film is crucial given the antisemitism experienced on and after Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. (She was also fresh off an apology after making disparaging comments about Black Americans who have not supported Jews after Oct. 7.)
“Right now, it is such a heightened moment. Especially in terms of education and misinformation, it is our absolute responsibility as adults and human beings to make sure that we do everything we can to get these films seen,” she said. “The timing of this is extraordinary. We have to push as hard as we can to show the evidence of what people refuse to believe.”
“Having testimony and recordings of history like this is so important,” said Jack Kliger, the CEO of the museum. Horowitz “has added a lot to the body of the work that will live on for many years and I appreciate that.”
Horowitz said that, as Holocaust survivors number fewer and fewer, the two men’s story was important before Oct. 7. But in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel and the international outburst of antisemitism in the nearly two months since, it has become even more relevant. “I had no idea how the world can change so rapidly,” he said.
The film begins with Waksal and Ron narrating the story of their childhoods in Poland over traditional documentary footage of pre-Holocaust European life in cities and ghettos. Both were born in 1924, Waksal in Jedlinsk and Ron in a town near Krakow. They remember Kristallnacht, the Nazi-led pogrom of 1938, and both lived in ghettos before being moved to labor camps.
Horowitz enlisted animator Lukas Schrank to recreate Waksal and Ron’s depictions of being transported via cattle cars to labor camps and the details of their lives there, including their harrowing memories of taking their first showers in weeks but not knowing if water or gas would come out of the faucet.
The film also animates Waksal’s story of escaping the labor camp after hearing that some residents would be moved to Auschwitz. He and a group of 15 others escaped together and lived in a nearby forest for more than six months before the war ended. Only six of the group of 15 survived the whole winter.
The movie doesn’t cover why Ron didn’t join them; Horowitz cited interviews with Ron, who explained that both staying and leaving carried risks and he found it an impossible choice to make. He instead was moved to Sachsenhausen, another concentration camp, and then was sent on a death march, during which he didn’t eat for more than a week. He was on the march when the American army liberated the group in the spring of 1945.
After the war, Waksal moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he lived until 1992 and became a successful owner of a scrapyard. Ron joined B’richa, an underground organization that helped Jewish orphans escape to Palestine. He briefly moved to Israel, and in 1956 settled in Canton, Ohio, about 200 miles from his wartime companion.
When they retired, both men moved to South Florida, never knowing they had lived and continued to live close to one another. That is, until the U.S. Holocaust Museum dinner in March 2022. After the dinner, Waksal and Ron became close again, visiting each other frequently, updating each other on the last eight decades of their lives and sharing their story at local high schools.
“It’s like a miracle,” Ron says in the film of his renewed relationship with Waksal.
Horowitz said he began working on the film a year and a half ago, just a few weeks after Ron and Waksal reunited.
“I actually never thought I would ever make a Holocaust-themed movie,” he said. “I just didn’t feel like there’s anything I could add to the conversation that hasn’t been said many times before. But then when I heard about their story, I was so moved by it.”
Horowitz conducted extensive interviews with both men over the course of 2022. They also both spoke at a screening of the documentary at Florida Atlantic University in August, which Horowitz said was “one of the highlights of my personal and professional career.”
Ron died on Oct. 11 at age 99. Waksal, meanwhile, is 99 and recently attended the March for Israel in Washington, D.C. with his daughter and granddaughter.
“We’re just trying to get as many eyes on this as possible,” Horowitz said. “That’s what Jack wants more than anything. He is so concerned with the state of the world and he feels like he has such valid points to make about it that he’s getting it in front of as many people as possible.”
“As he says, this is why I survived, to tell this story,” Margulies said.
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The post Two Holocaust survivors, reunited after 80 years apart, tell their tale in a new short documentary appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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‘Pulp Fiction’ Visionary Lawrence Bender to Executive Produce New Israeli Series Based on Oct. 7 Terror Attack
A poster for “Red Alert.” Photo: Keshet
Legendary “Pulp Fiction” producer Lawrence Bender will be a co-executive producer on a new Israeli television series based on true events that took place during the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel last year.
The action-drama series titled “Red Alert” will premiere on Israel’s leading television channel Keshet 12, it was announced on Tuesday. The title for the series refers to the emergency Red Alert siren in Israel that indicates an imminent rocket fire. The show was developed in collaboration with Oct. 7 survivors and families of victims.
“This multicharacter drama blends incredible human stories of bravery, resilience, and defiance — many of which made news headlines around the world in the aftermath of this shocking terror attack — with intense military action,” according to a synopsis provided by Keshet International, which is the global distributor for the series. The show will begin filming in Israel in the spring in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
“‘Red Alert’ will embark on an intense and emotional journey that explores the indomitable human spirit,” said Bender, whose credits include “Kill Bill,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “Inglourious Basterds.” “This international action drama will showcase the unwavering resolve of real people who confront unimaginable challenges to create a compelling viewing experience,” he added.
Bender’s films have been nominated for 36 Academy Awards and have won nine. His company, Bender Brown Productions, will co-produce “Red Alert” with Israel’s Green Productions. The series will also receive funding from multiple partners, including the Jewish National Fund USA – Israel Entertainment Fund (IEF). “Red Alert” is created, written, and will be directed by Lior Chefetz; co-created by Ruth Efroni; and co-written by Kineret Peled and Idan Hubel.
“Red Alert” is one of the first scripted dramas about the Oct. 7 massacre, noted Keren Shahar, CEO of Keshet International. She said the new series “will provide a unique perspective, distinct from news or documentaries, to create a powerful testament to the extraordinary capacity for hope and resilience that resides within us all.”
“The heroic stories and true events depicted will weave an action-driven tapestry that captures the incredible power of kindness, sacrifice, and altruism in a way that connects on a deeply emotional level,” she explained. Co-executive producer Jordana Reuben Yechiel added that “Red Alert” will highlight the “extraordinary people” who “when faced with life and death choices, rose up to be heroes.”
“For a while, there seemed to be no reasonable dramatic approach to retell such a profound event,” said Karni Ziv, head of drama and comedy for Keshet 12. “We needed time and perspective to find the right project and the right creative partners to help us tell this story in the right way. In ‘Red Alert,’ the human drama transcends the war, which sometimes serves as background and sometimes as the story itself, to deliver a message of hope and solidarity.”
Casting for “Red Alert” is currently in progress. The five-part series is scheduled to premiere on Keshet 12 in October 2025 to coincide with the second anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel.
The post ‘Pulp Fiction’ Visionary Lawrence Bender to Executive Produce New Israeli Series Based on Oct. 7 Terror Attack first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish, Pro-Israel Organizations React to Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire
Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, amid ongoing cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as pictured from Marjayoun, near the border with Israel, Sept. 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Karamallah Daher
Jewish and pro-Israel groups across the political spectrum came out in favor of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and France that was announced on Tuesday, but they also expressed some degree of skepticism that it will be properly enforced on the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.
The deal, which took effect on Wednesday morning, ended nearly 14 months of war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which wields significant influence across Lebanon. During the conflict — which began last October, when Hezbollah began launching rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza — about 70,000 Israelis were internally displaced from their homes.
In the past two months, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has had a string of successive battlefield victories against Hezbollah, including killing its leader and the entire top echelon of the organization. Israel has also killed at least 1,730 Hezbollah terrorists since last year, according to open-source intelligence.
Describing the deal, US President Joe Biden said in a speech, “Over the next 60 days, the Lebanese Army and the State Security Forces will deploy and take control of their own territory once again. Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt.”
Israel will also gradually withdraw from Lebanese territory during that period.
Crucially, Biden noted, “If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense consistent with international law.”
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said it welcomed the ceasefire deal but was only cautiously optimistic, writing it “hopes its enforcement can lead to enduring security for both the Israeli and Lebanese people.”
AJC pointed out that “much of this deal is based on the original tenets of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which has failed to be enforced since its adoption in 2006.” The resolution ended the last Israel-Hezbollah conflict and called for the terrorist group’s disarmament.
“To protect this [new] peace, enforcement from the Lebanese army, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and US Central Command will be paramount,” AJC added. “While AJC welcomes the new enforcement mechanisms in this agreement, we will continue to advocate for a reassessment of UNIFIL’s mandate and operations.”
“Our hearts are with the Israeli people who have been forced to flee from their homes in the north of the country and who will disproportionately face the risk of this agreement,” the group concluded.
The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) also released a statement, writing that it “appreciate[s] the efforts of the Biden administration to work closely together with our ally Israel to forge a ceasefire in Lebanon.”
“With strong support from the United States, including from Democrats and Republicans in Congress who have ensured Israel’s qualitative military edge, Israel was able to significantly degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities,” AIPAC added. “Continuing US-Israel cooperation is essential both to maintain the ceasefire and prevent Iranian aggression in the region.”
It concluded with a call “on the international community to remedy its failures following the 2006 war and ensure Hezbollah can’t rearm or operate south of the Litani River,” signaling some skepticism, similar to AJC, that the deal will actually be enforced on Hezbollah.
J Street, which is AIPAC’s most prominent counterpart and recently called for a partial US arms embargo on Israel, made similar points in its statement, saying that while it welcome sthe deal, the group also “urges that all parties to the agreement ensure that the terms of the ceasefire are fully enforced so that civilians in both Israel and Lebanon can return safely to their homes as soon as possible.”
Specifically, J Street wrote, “The Lebanese government and army, as well as the international community, have important work to do to ensure that this agreement is actually enforced and that Hezbollah is not allowed to return to the south of the country and once again pose a threat to the people of Israel.”
J Street connected this ceasefire deal to pursuing one in Gaza, where Israel is fighting Hamas. It wrote that while this deal was an important step, “the work of US diplomacy will not be complete until a ceasefire and hostage deal is reached for Gaza as well.”
It said that it hoped the announcement “can be a catalyst for progress toward returning the hostages, ending the fighting in the south and surging much-needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza.”
The post Jewish, Pro-Israel Organizations React to Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Floyd Mayweather Tells Wounded Israeli Soldiers at NYC Gala: ‘I’m Behind You 100 Percent’
Floyd Mayweather at the Belev Echad annual gala in New York City on Nov. 25, 2024. Photo: YouTube screenshot
Undefeated boxing champion Floyd Mayweather was the guest of honor on Monday night at an annual fundraising gala in New York City for wounded soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces.
Mayweather accepted the “Gloves of Healing” award at the gala for Belev Echad, an international initiative that helps wounded IDF veterans. During his acceptance speech on stage, the retired boxer talked about his unwavering support for the Jewish state since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“When I stood behind Israel, I wasn’t looking for an award — I felt I did what was right,” he explained. “And when you choose your side, you stay on that side. And this is the side that I chose … and I will continue to stand behind this side right here.”
Mayweather — who retired from professional boxing in 2017 with an undefeated record of 50 wins and no losses – has visited Israel several times since the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack that took place across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. During his most recent trip to the country in October of this year, he visited wounded IDF soldiers, including some at the Belev Echad rehabilitation center in Kiryat Ono.
“I take my hat off to the soldiers,” Mayweather said on Monday night. “Those warriors in Israel — I’m behind you guys, 100 percent. Since the war has started, I’ve been to Israel four, five times. And I will be back … It’s all about peace. I’m all about peace, love and happiness.”
“And I truly want the soldiers to continue to hold your heads up high, continue to smile, and continue to love another one,” he added. “Because life is short and all we have is our loved ones. And that’s why love and your family is priceless … Let’s continue to fight and stand behind one another.”
The Belev Echad gala on Monday night raised $4.7 million for wounded IDF soldiers and it included a $100,000 donation from Mayweather, according to Ynet.
The legendary former boxer was one of the first outside of Israel to send supplies to the Jewish state after the Oct. 7 massacre last year. He used his private jet to deliver medical equipment, food, bulletproof vests for IDF soldiers, and other supplies needed in Israel.
During his recent visit to Israel last month, Mayweather also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he described as “an unbelievable gentleman” on Monday night. In early October, Mayweather pledged $100,000 to United Hatzalah of Israel to help the emergency medical service organization purchase 100 bulletproof vests to keep its volunteers safe.
The post Floyd Mayweather Tells Wounded Israeli Soldiers at NYC Gala: ‘I’m Behind You 100 Percent’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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