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August 30, 2018

Ron Perlman Plays Spy-Turned-Assassin in ‘Asher’

Ron Perlman, best known for the “Hellboy” movies, “Sons of Anarchy,” “Beauty and the Beast” and recently, the Crackle series “StartUp,” will play the title role of an Israeli Mossad agent turned hitman in the action drama “Asher.” Perlman also produced the film in addition to playing an aging assassin at a crossroads as he nears the end of his career.

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones (“The Jackal,” “Rob Roy”) and written by Jay Zaretsky in his feature debut, “Asher” co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Facinelli, Famke Janssen and Jacqueline Bisset. The cast also features Perlman’s daughter Blake in a supporting role. She previously appeared her dad’s film “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army” and his series “Hand of God.”

Despite the Israeli names of many of the characters, the movie wasn’t shot in Israel but in locations in and around Syracuse, N.Y. It’s set for release Dec. 7.

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Restored ‘Schindler’s List’ to Get December Rerelease

Twenty-five years since its release, “Schindler’s List” will be rereleased in select theaters on Dec. 7, with picture and sound digital re-mastering supervised by director Steven Spielberg.

The film, starring Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved the lives of more than 1,000 Jews by employing them in his factories during the Holocaust, was first released on Dec. 15, 1993. It won seven Academy Awards, including best picture and best director, and earned $321 million at the worldwide box office. Neeson was nominated for an Oscar, as was Ralph Fiennes for his chilling portrayal of Nazi SS officer Amon Göth.

In the 2017 HBO documentary “Spielberg,” the director talked about filming “on hallowed ground” at Auschwitz and how the little girl in the red dress—the only color in the black and white movie–“symbolized the Holocaust and the monstrous evil that no one did anything about,” he said. “It was emotionally the hardest movie I’ve ever made.”

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked “Schindler’s List” eighth on its list of the 100 Best American Films of All Time.

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Corbyn in 2010: Israel Gave British MPs ‘A Pre-Prepared Script’

Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn has found himself in yet another controversy, as the UK Daily Mail has unearthed a video of him in 2010 stating that it seemed like the pro-Israel British members of parliament were given “a pre-prepared script” from Israel.

The Daily Mail quoted Corbyn as saying that the MPs came “with a prepared script” over the 2010 Gaza flotilla incident and that he was “sure our friend [Israeli Ambassador] Ron Prosor wrote it.”

“It was rather like reading a European document looking for buzz-words,” Corbyn said, “and the buzz-words were, ‘Israel’s need for security.’ And then ‘the extremism of the people on one ship.’ And ‘the existence of Turkish militants on the vessel.’”

However, the Daily Mail was unable to find any examples of these “buzz-words” in transcripts of that parliamentary debate.

Gideon Falter, who heads the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, told the Daily Mail that “Jeremy Corbyn seems to have visions of the Jewish state literally putting words into many of our politicians’ mouths.”

“Jeremy Corbyn seems to have visions of the Jewish state literally putting words into many of our politicians’ mouths,” Falter said.

This is the latest in a series of anti-Semitic scandals for Corbyn, as he has also come under fire saying in 2013 that Zionists didn’t understand “English irony” as well as laying a wreath in a 2014 ceremony commemorating the 1972 Munich terrorists.

Former British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks lambasted Corbyn in an interview with the New Statesman, calling Corbyn’s recent “English irony” comments “the language of classic pre-war European anti-Semitism.”

And yet, the polling data suggests that Corbyn has a good chance at becoming the next prime minister of England in 2022.

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A Moment in Time: Measuring our Growth

I can never look at a tree stump without taking stock of my life.  Particularly at this season, as we approach the new Jewish Year (5779), we think deeply about:
Where are we in the journey?
What mile of life we are in?
Which cycles we are completing?
How we might prepare for the next chapter? And …
Who accompanies us along the way?
Life is not always about reaching farther.  It can also be about finding shalom (completeness – closing the circles).  And so, we measure our growth not by how far we have come, but by how close to our hearts we can harness each moment in time.
With love and shalom!
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
Rabbi Zach Shapiro
A change in perspective can shift the focus of our day – and even our lives.  We have an opportunity to harness “a moment in time,” allowing our souls to be both grounded and lifted.  This blog shows how the simplest of daily experiences can become the most meaningful of life’s blessings.  All it takes is a moment in time.
 
Rabbi Zach Shapiro is the Spiritual Leader of Temple Akiba of Culver City, a Reform Jewish Congregation in California.  He earned his B.A. in Spanish from Colby College in 1992, and his M.A.H.L. from HUC-JIR in 1996.  He was ordained from HUC-JIR – Cincinnati, in 1997.  He was appointed to the HUC-JIR Board of Governors in 2018.

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