The Unorthodox: A feature film about the founding of the Shas Party
Film Screening and Discussion as Part of the Lecture Series The Imagined Orient (Part 6, OV with English subtitles, conversation in German)
The final lecture in the series The Imagined Orient is dedicated to a specific juncture in the history of Israel’s Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. The Unorthodox, Eliran Malka’s first feature film, was inspired by the founding of the Israeli Shas party. It tells the story of Yaakov Cohen, a simple man and the owner of a small printing company who fights for the rights of the ultra-orthodox Sephardic/Mizrahi community in Israel.
Past event
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy,
Klaus Mangold Auditorium
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
(Opposite the Museum)
It is 1983, and Yaakov Cohen is sick of being pushed around. He seems to have been born with the wrong last name. Cohen decides to create an ultra-orthodox Sephardic/Mizrahi candidate list for the Jerusalem City Council. Together with two friends, he concocts a political campaign that has no money and no influential connections, but is full of passion and a sense of justice. The film screening will be followed by a discussion with Omar Kamil (LMU Munich) and Daniel Wildmann (JMB).
Dr. Omar Kamil is currently a guest professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. His research focuses on Jewish ways of life in Arab-Muslim societies, the Mizrahim in Israel, Jewish-Muslim relations past and present, and antisemitism and colonialism in post-migrant societies. He is the author of Die Araber und der Holocaust. Eine Diskursgeschichte (Arabs and the Holocaust: A Discursive History, 2012) and Arabische Juden in Israel. Geschichte und Ideologie von Ben Gurion bis Ovadia Yosef (Arab Jews in Israel: Stories and Ideologies from Ben Gurion to Ovadia Yosef, 2008).
Dr. Daniel Wildmann is the Program Director of the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy.
Trailer of The Unorthodox, Director: Eliran Malka, OV with English subtitles, 1 h 32 min, Israel 2018
Lecture Series The Imagined Orient
- Lecture Series The Imagined Orient: Information on the event series
- Digital Content
- “Orient” – A Magic Word? On the German-Jewish History of a Term: Lecture with Kathrin Wittler, video recording from 9 Oct 2023, in German
- Approaching the “Orient” through pictures – the Life and Work of Jewish photographer Hermann Burchardt: Lecture with Stefan Litt, video recording from 8 Nov 2023, in German
- From Yeshiva to Cairo: How Gustav Weil became a Pioneer in the Study of the Qur’an: Lecture with Susannah Heschel, video recording from 13 Dec 2023
- A Time Machine Made of Glass – E.M. Lilien’s View of the Hebrew Orient in Moses (Design for a Glass Window): Lecture with Shelley Harten, video recording from 23 Jan 2024
- Events
- The Dream of a Jewish-Arab Orient: Writer M.Y. Ben-Gavriêl: Lecture with Sebastian Schirrmeister, 14 Feb 2024
- Current page: The Unorthodox, Israel 2018: A feature film about the founding of the Shas Party: Film screening and discussion with Omar Kamil and Daniel Wildmann, 6 Mar 2024
- See also
- The W. Michael Blumenthal Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin: A Platform and Laboratory for Diverse Perspectives
