on the Passion

But, as to the civil war among Jews, the Forward quotes Malcolm Hoenlein, an official at the Conference of Presidents of Major Amercan Jewish Organizations, as say- ing-in concert with prominent Jews who deplore
Jewish critics of the movie: “Frankly . . . we should have Christians out front speaking about it. . . . There is a legitimate debate that tickets were sold by virtue of the controversy and that the better part of wisdom would have been to deal with it quietly.”

That attitude is what impelled me to write about this bristling debate among Jews. I have talked about the movie with the outspoken rabbi Marvin Hier,founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Because of what I experienced covering anti-Semitism as a college journalist in Boston
long ago, I thoroughly agree with what Rabbi Hier told the Forward: “Our history has taught us we have paid a dear price by listening to the mentality of the shtetl Jews who said, sha shtil,” Yiddish for keep
quiet and don’t stir up the goyim.