Jewish actors in ‘Passion’ sound off

ROME, March 8 (JTA) — Olek Mincer has not yet seen the finished version of “The Passion of the Christ.” But he has a take on the controversial Mel Gibson film that is somewhat different from that of other Jewish observers: It’s from the inside. “I gave up the role of a Russian boy, Fiedka, in an Italian version of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to play the Jew Nicodemus in Mel Gibson’s version of the Gospels,” said the lanky 46-year-old actor with a wry smile. Mincer, who grew up in Poland and now lives in Rome, was one of several Jews in the cast and crew of “The Passion,” which garnered record box-office receipts when it opened last month in the United States. It is now opening across Europe. Most notably, the Romanian Jewish actress Maia Morgenstern plays Mary, and the Rome-based Sephardi singer Evelina Meghnagi served as dialogue coach for the Aramaic used in the film. Meghnagi, who was born in Libya, recently described to the Rome Jewish monthly Shalom her growing uneasiness with the production as it progressed. She said she felt so strongly about it that she refused to allow the use of some of her music in the soundtrack. “As I instructed the actors how to speak in Aramaic,” she said, “I began to understand from the screenplay that not only would this be a blood-soaked and violent film, but also that I found myself facing a story in which the director, Mel Gibson, restored the responsibility for the crucifixion of Christ to us Jews.” Morgenstern, on the other hand, has told interviewers that she does not think the film is anti-Semitic. The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Morgenstern told The Associated Press that any political message the film offers is “about the responsibility and impact political and military leaders can have in manipulating the masses and interfering in people’s conscience, particularly at a moment of crisis as it was then.” Mincer, also the child of survivors, agrees with Morgenstern. Mincer said he doesn’t believe Gibson is anti-Semitic, and he hopes that the controversy around the film could ultimately have a positive effect. “I realize that this film has come out in a crucial moment for the relations between the world’s religions, political powers and economies,” Mincer told JTA. “Everyone seems to be taking rigid sides; the desire not to offend others is no longer a characteristic of our times,” he said. “From this point of view, I think the controversy around the film can be very useful, as it underscores problems that are still unresolved regarding the importance of the changes in the church vis-a-vis its roots and the Jewish people.” He said that he hoped the film would spark a “serious and profound” discussion of how the Gospels have been interpreted in the past as well as today, and on the impact of the Second Vatican Council on Catholic doctrine and belief. In 1965, with the Nostra Aetate declaration, the Second Vatican Council formally rejected the accusation that Jews were collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. Mincer said that particularly in Catholic countries such as Italy and Poland, he hoped that showing of the film would be accompanied by comments by priests who would explain the current teaching of the church. They should describe not only the council’s decision, he said, “but also Pope John Paul II’s visit to the Rome synagogue in 1986, his visit to Israel in 2000 and prayers at the Western Wall, the fact that diplomatic relations exist between the Holy See and Israel, and that the pope has asked forgiveness from the Jews for the wrongs they have suffered at the hands of Christians through the ages.” Mincer was born in what is now Lvov, Ukraine, and grew up in Warsaw. Almost all of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust. He got his acting start in Warsaw’s state-run Jewish Theater, where he performed in Yiddish. Married to the Italian Jewish scholar Laura Quercioli, he has lived in Rome for 20 years and has toured Italy with many performances rooted in East European Jewish traditions. He long was a member of the theater troupe led by Moni Ovadia, Italy’s leading Jewish performer. Last year, Mincer received a grant from the European Association for Jewish Culture for his play “A Shed, the Demon of Tishevets,” based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer. Mincer said that he had experienced some qualms while performing in “The Passion of the Christ,” but in the end — like Morgenstern — he concluded that “this was a film, a work of art; we are actors and we serve art; this is our profession.” Still, he admitted, he didn’t know how he would have behaved if the character he played would have had to have acted violently against Jesus. As it was, he said, the violent aspects of the movie in a way had strengthened his own sense of Jewish identity. they also provided him with new insights into Christianity. “The violence carried out on Jesus by the Roman soldiers made me think of the millions who were killed during the Shoah, during the Russian pogroms, in medieval bonfires,” he said. “Maybe because I myself am Jewish, it made me think of Jesus as a brother who suffers.” It was important to remember, he said, that “Jesus, his mother, father and all the apostles were Jews; the first Christian martyrs were Jews; the Romans did not distinguish between Christians and Jews who were not Christian.” He said that during the production of “The Passion,” he and the other Jewish cast and crew members became close. Meghnagi in particular, he said, also tried to influence the production by pointing out certain errors in how Judaism or Jewish practice was portrayed. “I have to tell you that during the long periods of waiting off the set, I would sing songs in Yiddish with one of the American actors,” Mincer said. “I felt a little clandestine in doing so, but at the same time not alone; it gave me a sense of belonging,” he said. “And watching the bravura and professionalism of Maia Morgenstern filled me with pride for Yiddishkeit.”