Rabbi Gellman, Others Say Gibson Film OK

Despite frantic accusations that Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" could spark a wave of anti-Semitism, some top Jewish leaders say it is unlikely to fan hatred. Moreover, one top Jewish leader charges that those who claimed the film could create feelings of anti-Semitism were "off target."

"Most American Jews feel so comfortable in this country that they don't anticipate anti-Semitism" from the film, Howard I. Friedman, board chairman of the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and former national president of the American Jewish Committee, told the Los Angeles Times.

"Among Christians, I just don't see much evidence of anti-Semitism and I see a great deal of goodwill."

According to the Times, the American Jewish Committee has taken what the newspaper called "a deliberately low-key approach." Executive Director David A. Harris told the Times the film's portrayal of Jews was "pretty ugly" but that the committee did not believe it should do anything that might publicize the movie.

"It's a fine line we have to walk," Harris said. "The film is troubling and problematic, but we don't want to bring attention to it and ensure its box-office success."

But Harvey J. Fields, rabbi emeritus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and a longtime interfaith leader, disagreed. Charges of anti-Semitism, he told the Times, were "off target" and he added that he was "disappointed and frankly embarrassed" at the way some Jewish leaders had condemned the film before its opening.

Fields, who said he had not seen the movie, specifically criticized activists such as Abraham H. Foxman, the Anti-Defamation League's national director, and Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, who the Times said "have led the charge against the film. Fields said they had used the issue of anti-Semitism "to attract attention to themselves and their organizations."

"I think we have reached a point in this new millennium where we ought to be much more careful about screaming anti-Semitism in this world," Fields said.

Hier, who the Times recalled co-wrote an early op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times in June raising concerns about the film, admitted that while he may have boosted publicity for the movie. he does not regret his outspokenness.

"The overriding issue for Jews in history is that too often we kept silent and we paid a great price, and I feel we should not do that again," said Hier, who has seen the film twice.

The Times cited Jews in the entertainment business who have publicly defended the film, saying they did not see it as anti-Semitic. Among them is Maia Morgenstern, the actress who plays Mary in "Passion" and whose parents are Holocaust survivors, along with producers Joel Silver ("The Matrix") and Dean Devlin ("The Patriot").

Devlin said Gibson specifically asked him to view the movie because "he knows I accuse practically every film of being anti-Semitic." Devlin said he went in with a pen and paper to note down his objections but ended up with almost none.

"I don't think it's anti-Semitic," Devlin told the Times. "I thought it was a beautiful picture of love and forgiveness and wasn't about pointing any fingers at anyone. If someone sees this film as an indictment of Jews, they would have missed the whole point of the movie."

Another Jewish defender of the film, Rabbi Marc Gellman of Temple Beth Torah in Melville, N.Y., a member of the syndicated national column and TV show called "The God Squad," in which he works with a Catholic priest, also said he did not believe Jews were particularly demonized in the film.

The movie included Jews who objected to Jesus' treatment, he said, and who helped carry the cross. He called the film a work of "stunning beauty and daring violence that forces all of us to grow up and learn to accept people who tell their own stories."

Foxman, who sneaked into an early showing of the movie in Florida, told the Times that accusing Jews of deicide strikes a raw nerve among some because it has historically been used to justify persecution, pogroms and ultimately the Holocaust.

"Central to Western civilization's anti-Semitism of 2,000 years are those four words: 'The Jews killed Christ,'" Foxman said.

Some Jewish leaders, however, warned that their community's objections to the movie could be seen as inappropriate meddling in the presentation of Christianity's most sacred narrative.

"Thoughtful and committed Christians are entitled to give their version of the Gospel," said the Skirball's Friedman, who had not seen the movie. "I am not afraid of that at all."

And Fields told the Times that he fears that the controversy may have torpedoed a chance to use the film as a moment for Christians and Jews to learn more about each other's traditions.

He added that he is urging his Jewish colleagues to view the film with Christian counterparts and set up discussions over the Passion's painful associations for Jews and sacred meaning for Christians and the evolution of its presentation over the ages.

According to the Times, Jews and Christians alike say a belief in Jewish guilt for Jesus' death is not widespread among Americans.

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