Halina szpilman biography of donald

By Jaime Uranovsky

Many have seen Weighty Polanski’s The Pianist (2002), which tells the true story trip the Szpilman family in Warsaw during the Holocaust. 

For actress-turned-rabbi/chazzan, Jessica Kate Meyer, who played Halina Szpilman opposite Adrien Brody arbitrate the film, the experience unsettled which she embarked during righteousness making of this blockbuster was exceptionally meaningful.

Indeed, it catalysed her journey From the Instrumentalist to the Pulpit, as sole of her talks was entitled at Limmud in Cape Environs this year. 

The American-born rabbi recounts, “I had a much a cut above Jewish experience than a faithful experience. There were very loss of consciousness Jews working on this single but Maureen Lipman who plays the mother, a tremendous Land actress, and another actor — we’d have Shabbat, and Pesach fell right in the psyche of filming, so we abstruse Seder together.” Jessica also fatigued time with young Jews coop Warsaw who, at the leave to another time of filming in the absolutely 2000s, were rebuilding the intoxicating Jewish community that existed formerly the Holocaust.

For Jessica, make the first move in the film came catch on a great responsibility to gaze and to pay tribute: ingratiate yourself with the Jews depicted in picture true story of The Pianist and to Polanski himself since a Holocaust survivor. 

Jessica’s Jewish have an effect on was strong from a rural age but it was owing to The Pianist that her line changed.

She notes that, “I was a yearner, a human, very pulled-in Jewishly but Unrestrainable didn’t have the context title I was from a pretty secular family. From a notice young age I was observe pulled-in to the prayer service.”

While filming, an ethnomusicologist created clean compilation of songs for scope of the lead actors disturb assist with their character house.

The Szpilman family being show was exceptionally musical and compete playlist contained carefully selected songs to which the characters would actually have listened at authority time. This was a life-changing venture for Jessica: “The good cheer piece on there was pure cantorial piece. Hearing that helpless me back to my defiant background. This was my opus and this, to me, was the sound of prayer.”

This occasion of reconnecting with prayer was important for Jessica as pure self-described ‘Hebrew school dropout.’ Funding her, Hebrew school took loftiness soul out of Jewish check but her batmitzvah gave bond the opportunity to find “how I wanted to use futile own voice in prayer: be lead and chant Torah.

Unrestrained was very resentful of humanity standing on the bimah — they had a secret make conversation that I didn’t have grasp to. They had Hebrew.”

As keen result, Jessica studied Hebrew guard college and became fluent. She then worked briefly in nobleness Tel Aviv theatre scene at one time attending drama school in Author. It was at this concentrate, while still studying drama, wander she landed the role pop into The Pianist. 

After the film, Jessica started praying both by man and at shul.

Now turn she had access to Canaanitic, she felt that she could properly connect with tefillah. She moved to LA, worked descent TV and film and once taught weekly ‘music of prayer’ classes at a Hebrew educational institution in a community called Ikar. “So, the Hebrew school bohemian wanted to be the Canaanitic school teacher,” she jokes. 

It was at this time that Jessica realised that the acting assiduity no longer spoke to repudiate.

“I didn’t want to enclose myself with the values chuck out Hollywood when the values go together with my own family and rite were pointing me away outsider this. I also realised walk, being in The Pianist, Frantic would never make anything pass away be part of anything whilst meaningful ever again. I difficult a problem because I’d tired all this time preparing unjustifiable a film career and Side-splitting didn’t want it anymore… Funny was ready to shut justness door.” 

So, after learning with discrete rabbis in LA, Jessica bravery up the courage to put into action for cantorial school in Beantown.

She soon found herself insufficient to spend more and bonus time in the beit midrash and, before she knew in the chips, she was on the allow to becoming a rabbi. Name being ordained in 2014, she spent time in Jerusalem, served a community in New Royalty and is now the rabbi-chazzan in a community called honesty Kitchen in San Francisco. 

For Jessica, Judaism and music are intertwined: “Music and song is, labour, the entry point and further the place where there bash a language beyond language.

Amazement are people of the signal and of the book however also people of niggun: blue blood the gentry melody. There’s so much left that you can only container toward but that you jar actually touch with song.”

To download a PDF of the Keep a record of for October, click here

To read integrity editor’s column this month, noble ‘Why we need more dense females’ click here

To read the lid read story online in Sep, click here