Tel Aviv professor to discuss early Israeli cinema in Berman Center talk

Nurith Gertz, professor of cinema and literature at Tel Aviv University, will discuss Israeli cinema of the late 1930s and 1940s in a talk titled “Early Zionist Films” at 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 28 in Room 102 of Lehigh University’s Maginnes Hall. The program is sponsored by the Berman Center for Jewish Studies.
Gertz will examine how early Israeli cinema contributed to the creation of Hebrew identity in pre-state Palestine. In this newly emerging identity, the Hebrew male, a fanciful ideal of perfect masculinity, was situated at the top. Using several film clips, she will analyze the ways in which the image of this “hero” was constructed in such films as My Father’s House, Faithful City, Tomorrow Is a Wonderful Day, and Out of Evil.
It was this image of the male Hebrew that determined the dominant view of Zionist history, the structure of its narrative, and the masculine character of the Zionist order, according to Gertz, who is currently a fellow at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Among her recent books are Myths in Israeli Culture and A Different Chorus: Holocaust Survivors, Aliens and Others in Israeli Cinema and Literature.
For more information, call 610 758-3352
--Linda Harbrecht