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Can a Holocaust documentary have a happy ending? Should it?
(JTA) — Holocaust documentaries tend to sit along a scale from horrific to heartwarming. For every “Night Will Fall,” the rediscovered British film showing gruesome scenes from newly liberated Nazi concentration camps, there is a family-friendly film about a survivor, like “The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm.”
Some critics distrust Holocaust documentaries that have “happy” endings, or that focus on the second chance given to survivors, as if they betray the fate of the many more millions of Jews who died rather than survived. Raye Farr, the former director of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, once criticized Holocaust documentaries’ “increasing inclination to go for sentimentality.”
“How Saba Kept Singing,”a documentary airing on PBS on Tuesday in honor of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, is firmly on the side of uplift. It’s about Cantor David Wisnia, whose unlikely survival tale was told in a memorable New York Times article in 2019. The film’s redemptive message is clear from its first line — “I’m a lover of life,” says Wisnia — to one of its last: “You are really the proof that Hitler did not win,” he tells his grandson.
Wisnia was a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz by literally singing for his captors. Defying the perverse and inexplicable odds of the Final Solution, the former cantorial prodigy managed to live close to three years at the death camp and slave labor complex.
Perhaps as remarkable was his relationship with a fellow inmate, Helen “Tzippi” Spitzer, a similarly “privileged” prisoner who managed to stay in the Nazis’ good graces thanks to her skills as a graphic artist. Her assignments took her to places beyond the women’s barracks, where she met Wisnia, eight years her junior. Soon the two were arranging trysts in a loft where prisoners’ uniforms were stored. Fellow prisoners kept a helpful watch for guards.
Their death camp romance ended on the eve of liberation, when the Germans began emptying the camps and forced the prisoners on a series of death marches. Although David and Tzippi made plans to meet in Warsaw, life had other ideas. Wisnia eventually made it to America after the war, where he became a cantor at synagogues in Levittown, Pennsylvania, and Trenton, New Jersey. As for Tzippi, Wisnia wasn’t sure if she survived the war — and when he discovered the truth it set in motion the next remarkable chapter in their story.
The documentary recalls the horrors of the Holocaust — David speaks movingly about the murders of his parents and brothers in the Warsaw Ghetto, and having to stack bodies on a work detail at Auschwitz — but maintains a cautious distance. Writer and director Sara Taksler keeps the archive footage to a minimum, and when Wisnia relates his story of survival — with the help of Avi Wisnia, a singer-songwriter who accompanies his grandfather on a trip to Poland — it is usually over scenes of the camp as it looks today or black and white animation.
Still, “How Saba Kept Singing” is hardly saccharine. Grandfather and grandson are clear-eyed chroniclers of stories David told often (in 2015, he published a memoir, “One Voice, Two Lives: From Auschwitz Prisoner to 101st Airborne Trooper”). And David never takes his good luck for granted — the film is organized around his suspicion that there is a missing piece to his story of survival and that, as Avi says, “He could not have done it alone.”
About his time with Tzippi, David is both honest and discreet. “It was physical,” he admits. “She taught me everything. I knew nothing. I was a kid.”
Avi recounts the family’s shock when they first learned of their patriarch’s relationship with another prisoner at Auschwitz. “Even in the hell of a concentration camp you can still find some kind of a human connection,” says Avi.
Wisnia arrived in the United States in 1946 and lived with an aunt in the Bronx. He met his wife – the appropriately named Hope — and got work as an encyclopedia salesman and, for over 50 years, as a cantor. The couple would go on to have two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren.
As for Tzippi — it’s not giving away too much to say that she also survived the war and got married, to a bioengineering professor who eventually taught at New York University. Per the Times, the couple “devoted years of their lives to humanitarian causes.” She and David would meet again, in a reunion described in that 2019 New York Times story and heard in the documentary on audiotape. Suffice to say that David got an answer to the mystery that long nagged him: “How come I stayed in Auschwitz two and half years and never moved? How the hell can you explain it?”
The film is also saved from sentimentality by the knowledge that David is among the last living witnesses to the Holocaust, which he and Avi sadly acknowledge when discussing whether David would return to Auschwitz for the 75th anniversary of its liberation in 2020. Cantor Wisnia died June 15, 2021, at the age of 94; Tzippi died in 2018 at age 100.
Rabbi Isaac Nissenbaum, another victim of the Warsaw Ghetto, purportedly gave permission for the Nazis’ prey — and perhaps future filmmakers — to see their survival as a sanctification of life, not an occasion for guilt. “Today when the enemy demands the body, it is the Jew’s obligation to defend himself, to preserve his life,” he is reported to have said.
Avi Wisnia picks up this theme during a performance with his saba, Hebrew for grandfather.
“I honor the past, and we sing for the future,” he tells the audience. “The greatest act of defiance is to live.”
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The post Can a Holocaust documentary have a happy ending? Should it? appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Rabbinical texts reveal surprising links between Yiddish and Ladino
דער דײַטשישער וויסנשאַפֿטלעכער פֿאַרלאַג De Gruyter האָט לעצטנס אַרויסגעגעבן אַ באַנד פֿאָרשונגען וועגן רבנישע כּתבֿים אויף ייִדיש און לאַדינאָ, רעדאַקטירט דורך קאַטיאַ שמיד (מאַדריד), דוד בוניס (ירושלים) און חוה טורניאַנסקי (ירושלים). די עלעקטראָנישע ווערסיע פֿונעם בוך איז צוטריטלעך צו אַלעמען, פֿרײַ פֿון אָפּצאָל.
אויף ייִדיש זענען פֿאַראַן צוויי ווערטער, וואָס באַצייכענען דעם אונטערשייד צווישן הייליקע ספֿרים און וועלטלעכע ביכער. דער חילוק איז אָבער נישט אַלעמאָל קלאָר. אַ פֿילאָסאָפֿיש, מעדיציניש צי פֿילאָלאָגיש ווערק אויף לשון־קודש אָדער לשון־תּרגום איז גיכער אַ ספֿר, און אַ הלכה־חיבור אויף ייִדיש קאָן מען אָנרופֿן אַ „בוך‟, ווײַל ייִדיש ווערט, בדרך־כּלל, אַסאָציִיִרט מיט דער וועלטלעכער זײַט פֿון דער ייִדישער קולטור, און די סעמיטישע שפּראַכן – לשון־קודש און אַראַמיש – מיט פֿרומקייט.
אויף לאַדינאָ אָדער דזשודעזמאָ איז אַזאַ אונטערשייד נישטאָ, נאָר די ייִדישע אינערלעכע צוויי־שפּראַכיקייט איז בנימצא; די נאַטירלעכע ספֿרים־שפּראַך איז לשון־קודש. אַמאָל האָבן די ספֿרדים אין דער מיטל־עלטערלעכער מוסולמענישער שפּאַניע אָבער געשריבן גאָר ערנסטע רבנישע ספֿרים דווקא אויף אַראַביש.
אינעם נײַעם בוך איז אַרײַן אַבריאל בר־לבֿבֿס אַרטיקל וועגן דער אַשכּנזישער טאָפּל־שפּראַכיקער קולטור. דער פֿאָרשער ווײַזט, אַז די אַלטע ספֿרים אויף אַראַביש האָבן משפּיע געווען אויף הרבֿ משה פֿראַנקפֿורט; ווי באַלד די הייליקסטע ייִדישע טעקסטן, אַרײַנגערעכנט די גרמא און דעם זוהר, זענען אָנגעשריבן אויף אַן אומגאַנג־שפּראַך, אַראַמיש, קאָן מען ממילא שרײַבן ערנסטע ספֿרים אויף ייִדיש. אַזוי האָט אויך געטאָן זײַן טאַטע, הרבֿ שמעון פֿראַנקפֿורט.
אין אַן אַנדער אַרטיקל וועגן דער אַשכּנזישער און ספֿרדישער שפּראַך־פֿילאָסאָפֿיע פֿונעם 19טן יאָרהונדערט ווײַזט מיכאל זילבער, אַז הרבֿ עקיבֿא־יוסף שלעזינגער (1837 – 1922) האָט אויסגענוצט דעם זעלבן אַרגומענט לטובֿת ייִדיש ווי אַ נאַציאָנאַלע ייִדישע שפּראַך אין זײַן ספֿר „לבֿ העבֿרי‟ – לאַנג פֿאַר דער טשערנאָוויצער קאָנפֿערענץ.
אין דער עסטרײַך־אונגערישער אימפּעריע האָבן געוווינט סײַ אַשכּנזים, טיילווײַז דײַטשיש־ און אונגעריש־רעדנדיקע, סײַ לאַדינאָ־שפּראַכיקע ספֿרדים. אַ וויכטיקער צענטער פֿון זייער צונויפֿטרעפֿונג איז געווען ווין. די טראַדיציאָנאַליסטן אין ביידע עדות האָבן געהאַלטן, אַז ייִדן מוזן אָפּהיטן זייער גערעדט לשון; דאָס האָט אויך געשטימט מיטן גײַסט פֿונעם אונגערישן נאַציאָנאַליזם. אין זײַן ספֿר „מעשׂה אָבֿות‟ ברענגט הרבֿ שלעזינגער בײַשפּילן פֿון מיזרחדיקע ייִדן, וועלכע האָבן באַטראַכט זייער ייִדיש־שפּאַניש (לאַדינאָ) און ייִדיש־אַראַביש ווי טראַדיציאָנעלע הייליקע מאַמע־לשונות.
צו דער גאָר אינטערעסאַנטער אינפֿאָרמאַציע קען איך צוגעבן דעם בײַשפּיל פֿונעם מונקאַטשער רבין חיים־אלעזר שפּירא (1868 – 1937). אין זײַן רוף צו רעדן דווקא אויף ייִדיש האָט ער אויך באַטאָנט, אַז די ווינער ספֿרדים דאַרפֿן ווײַטער רעדן אויף זייער אייגן לשון. כ׳האָב געשריבן וועגן דעם אינעם פֿאָרווערטס.
משה טאַובע באַהאַנדלט די אינטערעסאַנטע קשיא: צי קען מען אָננעמען די אַלט־ייִדישע גבֿיות־עדותן אויף ייִדיש ווי אויטענטישע מוסטערן פֿון דער גערעדטער שפּראַך? למשל, הרבֿ בנימין פֿון סלאָניק, פּוילן, האָט אינעם יאָר 1605 ציטירט אָט אַזאַ גבֿית־עדות: „איך אונ׳ איין וועלשער יהודי זיין גיזעסין צו יאס אין דער וואלח״יי אונ איז גיוועזין בייא אונז איין יהודי פון לעלוב ושמו היה אייזיק גלעזער, ער האט גערביט חמאה וגבינה‟. אויפֿן הײַנטיקן ייִדיש מיינט עס: „איך און איינער אַ רומענישער ייִד האָבן געוווינט אין יאַס, רומעניע, און בײַ אונדז איז געווען אַ ייִד פֿון לעלעוו, וועלכער האָט געהייסט אײַזיק גלעזער; זײַן מלאָכה איז געווען פֿוטער און קעז.‟ צי האָט יענער ייִד טאַקע גערעדט ממש אַזוי, מיט גאַנצע לשון־קודשדיקע אויסדרוקן, אָדער האָט דער בית־דין זיי אַרײַנגעשריבן? זיכער האָט יענער עדות געזאָגט „אַ ייִד‟, נישט „איין יהודי‟.
אינעם בוך דערציילט קלאַודיאַ ראָזענצווײַג אַן אַנדער מעשׂה וועגן דעם זעלבן פּוילישן רבֿ, בנימין סלאָניק. זײַן פּאָפּולער ייִדיש הלכה־ספֿר פֿאַר פֿרויען, „סדר מצות לנשים‟, איז אַרויס אינעם יאָר 1577 אין קראָקע און דערנאָך אין עטלעכע אַנדערע שטעט. דער איטאַליענישער רבֿ יעקבֿ היילפּרון האָט עס איבערגעזעצט אויף ייִדיש־איטאַליעניש און אַרויסגעגעבן אין 1616 אין ווענעציע. היילפּרון איז געווען אַ מחבר פֿון ייִדישע ספֿרים, אַרײַנגערעכנט אַ געגראַמטע איבערזעצונג פֿון שלמה אבן גבֿירולס מיסטישער פּאָעמע „כתר מלכות‟. אבן גבֿירולס היימישע שמועס־שפּראַך איז געווען אַראַביש – נאָך אַ בײַשפּיל פֿון אַשכּנזיש־ספֿרדישע פֿאַרבינדונגען. אַגבֿ, אינעם ייִדישן דיאַלעקט פֿון איטאַליעניש איז אויך פֿאַראַן דאָס וואָרט „ספֿר‟.
בנימין הוניאַדיס פֿאָרשונג איז אויך געווידמעט דעם פֿריִער דערמאָנטן הרבֿ עקיבֿא שלעזינדער. ס׳רובֿ אַנדערע אַרטיקלען זענען געווידמעט דער רבנישער ליטעראַטור אויף לאַדינאָ. ייִדיש ווערט דאָרט עטלעכע מאָל דערמאָנט, אָבער נישט צו אָפֿט. צום בײַשפּיל, ד״ר אַנאַבעלאַ עספּעראַנצאַ פֿאַרגלײַכט די תּחינות און חסידישע ניגונים מיט די ספֿרדישע „קאָפּלאַס‟ אָדער „קאָמפּלאַס‟ – פֿרומע לאַדינאָ־לידער.
ווי עס זעט אויס, איז דאָס פֿיל־קולטורעלע עסטרײַך־אונגערן געווען די וויכטיקסטע קאָנטאַקט־זאָנע צווישן די אַשכּנזים און ספֿרדים. אויף דעם שפּראַכלעכן באַוווּסטזײַן פֿון ביידע ייִדישע גרופּעס האָבן משפּיע געווען די נאַציאָנאַלע באַוועגונגען פֿון אַנדערע באַלקאַנישע און מיזרח־אייראָפּעיִשע פֿעלקער. דאָס נײַע בוך איז אַ וויכטיקער, אינפֿאָרמאַטיווער שטאַפּל אין פֿאַרגלײַך־פֿאָרשונגען פֿון ביידע לשונות, ווי אויך אין דער אַלגעמיינער ייִדישער געשיכטע פֿון „היימישע‟ עסטרײַך־אונגערישע מקומות און צענטראַל־אייראָפּע בכלל.
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Why Poland’s president canceled his menorah lighting — and how the West helped make that happen
As we grapple with the horrific massacre of Jews celebrating Hanukkah in Bondi Beach, Australia, another assault on a Jewish holiday tradition is occurring halfway across the world. It’s not violent, thankfully, but it sure is ominous.
This Hanukkah, the night is darker over Warsaw.
For the past decade, each December, a menorah burned in Poland’s presidential palace. It was a gesture of tolerance and interfaith friendship as well as a token of recognition for the five million Jews killed in Poland during the Holocaust.
But this Hanukkah, the candles remained unlit as Karol Nawrocki, the country’s new president, fulfilled a key campaign promise: end the menorah lighting. “I take my attachment to Christian values seriously, so I celebrate holidays that are close to me as a person,” he said.
“I take my attachment to Christian values seriously, so I celebrate holidays that are close to me as a person,” Nawrocki said, when explaining why he wouldn’t continue the tradition, a move seen as pandering to the country’s far right.
It’s never a good sign when a European leader rides to power by turning his back on Judaism. Unfortunately, Nawrocki’s decision is only the latest in a series of disturbing events. Last month, his political ally delivered a speech at the gates of Auschwitz, proclaiming “Poland is for Poles, not Jews.” Meanwhile, this July, plaques blaming murdered Jews for their fate were erected at the site of an infamous 1941 massacre.
It’s an astonishing turnaround for a country that only a few years ago was extolled as a paragon of Holocaust remembrance, but it didn’t come from nowhere. Indeed, it’s what happens when the West ignores warning signs of antisemitism in an ally.
Nawrocki became president this summer after beating a pro-EU opponent in a tight election. His candidacy alone raised alarm bells. A historian by trade, Nawrocki had supported legislation whitewashing the fact that some Poles killed Jews in the Holocaust; he also denounced respected scholars who brought up Poland’s dark past as purveyors of “disgusting attacks” on the country’s reputation.
Then came Nawrocki’s decision to ally himself with Grzergorz Braun, an openly antisemitic member of the European Parliament who’d accused Jews of controlling Poland and conducting ritual sacrifices of Christians. In 2023, Braun physically extinguished a menorah in the Polish parliament, proclaiming the sacred Jewish ceremony a “Satanic cult.”
In order to triumph in the extraordinarily close presidential election (the final vote was decided by less than two percentage points) Nawrocki courted Braun, turning the antisemitic firebrand into a kingmaker. In order to prove his bona fides to Braun’s supporters, Nawrocki said he would end the annual presidential menorah lightings.
Last month, several prominent figures including Poland’s justice minister decried Braun’s diatribe at Auschwitz. Nawrocki, however, has remained notably silent.
Western silence enabled this
How could such disquieting developments occur, especially in an EU and NATO member? Part of the reason has to do with a crucial mistake made by Israel and international Jewish groups.
In January 2018, Poland’s parliament passed a law making it a crime to accuse Poles of complicity in the Holocaust. This salvo against Holocaust remembrance triggered condemnations from the US State Department, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Jewish organizations.
A few months later, Warsaw softened the law by making it a civil offense, reducing the penalty from imprisonment to a fine.
Netanyahu, eager to restore relations with Poland, touted the downgraded law as a victory; several Jewish groups joined him.
But the legislation itself, not the penalty, was the problem. Whether criminal or civil, Warsaw was still institutionalizing Holocaust revisionism, arming itself with a mechanism to persecute those who challenged its narrative.
The West essentially acquiesced to government-sponsored Holocaust distortion, as long as it didn’t carry prison time. Yehuda Bauer of Israel’s central Holocaust museum succinctly described this capitulation as a “betrayal.”
Is it any wonder Nawrocki felt emboldened to get in bed with an overt Holocaust denier, pledged to end menorah lightings, and had chosen to say nothing in response to Braun’s chilling anti-Jewish tirade two weeks ago? If we in the West stay silent, why shouldn’t he?
A menorah is merely a symbol, of course, but given the explosion of antisemitism across Europe, even a symbolic light would be welcome.
“To discontinue the tradition of lighting the Hanukkah candles by the President would meant to give in to the demands of antisemites and more broadly, to further undermine the respect for minorities in Polish society,” Rafal Pankowski, Warsaw-based political scientist and head of the “Never Again” anti-hate organization told me.
There are still a few nights left in Hanukkah – perhaps there’s still time for Western leaders to ask Nawrocki to dispel the darkness. We could sure use it.
The post Why Poland’s president canceled his menorah lighting — and how the West helped make that happen appeared first on The Forward.
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Saudi, French, US Officials Push Hezbollah Disarmament Plan
Lebanese army members stand on a military vehicle during a Lebanese army media tour, to review the army’s operations in the southern Litani sector, in Alma Al-Shaab, near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, Nov. 28, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Aziz Taher
French, Saudi Arabian, and American officials held talks with the head of the Lebanese army on Thursday in Paris aimed at finalizing a roadmap to enable a mechanism for the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist group, diplomats said.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, ending more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that severely weakened the Iran-backed terrorists.
Since then, the sides have traded accusations over violations with Israel questioning the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah. Israeli warplanes have increasingly targeted Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and even in the capital.
Speaking after the meeting, France’s foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the talks had agreed to document seriously with evidence the Lebanese army’s efforts to disarm Hezbollah as well as strengthening the existing ceasefire mechanism.
CEASEFIRE AT RISK
With growing fear the ceasefire could unravel, the Paris meeting aimed to create more robust conditions to identify, support, and verify the disarmament process and dissuade Israel from escalation, four European and Lebanese diplomats and officials told Reuters.
With legislative elections due in Lebanon in 2026, there are fears political paralysis and party politics will further fuel instability and make President Joseph Aoun less likely to press disarmament, the diplomats and officials said.
“The situation is extremely precarious, full of contradictions and it won’t take much to light the powder keg,” said one senior official speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Aoun doesn’t want to make the disarming process too public because he fears it will antagonize and provoke tensions with the Shi’ite community in the south of the country.”
With the Lebanese army lacking capacity to disarm Hezbollah, the idea would be to reinforce the existing ceasefire mechanism with French, US, and possibly other military experts along with UN peacekeeping forces, the diplomats and officials said.
The parties agreed to hold a conference in February to reinforce the Lebanese army, Confavreux said.
ISRAELI STRIKES
As officials convened for the talks, multiple Israeli strikes hit towns in southern Lebanon and areas of the Bekaa Valley on Thursday, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported.
The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets across several areas, including a military compound used for training, weapons storage, and artillery launches, saying the activity violated understandings between Israel and Lebanon and posed a threat to Israel. It also said it struck a Hezbollah militant in the area of Taybeh in southern Lebanon.
Commenting on the attacks, parliament speaker and Hezbollah-allied Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri said the strikes were an “Israeli message” to the Paris conference, NNA added.