By Toby Klein Greenwald
Rabbi Berel Wein, executive producer, and Ashley Lazarus, director and writer, have come out with another groundbreaking educational project. Abarbanel —A Man of Many Worlds is about the enigmatic Torah commentator who lived from 1437–1508. The film was co-written by Jesse Cogan.
Rabbi Wein, a prolific lecturer and author of many articles and books on Torah and Jewish history, has produced many educational films and audio recordings. Previous films on outstanding role models and scholars in Jewish history have included Rashi and the Rambam, also created together with Lazarus. The late Leonard Nimoy played the voices of both Rashi and Rambam and the film on Rashi was narrated by the late Paul Scofield.
Even though they were working on the Abarbanel within a much tighter budget than previously, the film’s visuals and music are breathtaking and the excellent narrator and voice actors, who dialogue as the historical characters, keep viewers engaged and intrigued.
This meticulously researched film follows the life and work of the Abarbanel and, in the process, gives us an understanding of the persecution the Jews suffered during those years in Spain and Portugal, and the intrigues and wars of the world around them.
At the world premiere held in Jerusalem on April 16, Rabbi Wein told a pre-screening dinner of donors, “The Lord was very good to me. This film was ten years in the making…About 30 years ago I thought that film was an ideal vehicle for Jewish education because it leaves an impression on one’s mind and memory and in the Jewish world there was practically no film of Torah education value.
“The Jewish people are built of heroes, but we don’t know anything about the people. We don’t know who they were. Since the Destiny Foundation did the film on Rashi more than a million people have seen it. If you know about Rashi, you [will] automatically know about the tradition and about the Jewish people. Then we made a film about the Rambam that was also successful.
“They came from different societies. The Rambam lived in a Moslem society and Rashi in a Christian society; they had different challenges in family life. We [might] think that Rashi had no responsibilities and that Rambam sat under the protection of the sultan. But if you study their lives, it’s miraculous that they produced anything. The Torah is multi-faceted. Rashi and Rambam are not alike, but they are the pillars upon which the Jewish world rests.
“So I wanted to make a third film [in this genre], about someone who could not be put in a box—the Abarbanel. He was a Torah scholar, a philosopher, knowledgeable in science and medicine, was financial advisor to kings and empires. He lived in most turbulent times. He was a secretary of the treasury, advisors to kings…”
The Abarbanel was a leader of Spanish Jewry at the time of the Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. “He was a hero, even in his defeat,” said Rabbi Wein. “He couldn’t reverse the exile, but his heroism was in not taking an easy way out… He was scholarly but not as popular as Rashi and Rambam. But as a personality, he was a hero. He was one of the most exemplary figures in Jewish history.”
Rabbi Wein says that the film was generously funded by 22 donors, and they did the film over time. “Someone would give us $2,000, so we did a little more.” He drew laughter from the audience when had added, “And according to Ashley we’re still waiting.”
All their films are distributed to schools. “Close to a thousand, across the board. Even non-Orthodox schools use our films.” He said that the filmmakers wanted to memorialize the Abarbanel in a way that is emotionally heroic. “That’s been a difficult task.
“This is the reward for my efforts. Everything positive in life costs money. Everything spiritual depends upon the physical.”
Rabbi Wein quietly shared with his listeners that he sees what the calendar tells him (he recently celebrated his 89th birthday, bli ayin hara) and he thinks maybe he should not push it. “It’s not so easy anymore, but Abarbanel is a fitting companion to Rashi and Rambam.
“The film is 70 minutes long. It could have been longer and could have been shorter. We tried to achieve a balance.” There is an Abarbanel Family Association of approximately 3,000 descendants of the commentator. “They work in many professions,” said Rabbi Wein, and some of them helped financially to create the film.
Ashley Lazarus also spoke before the screening.
“First of all, thank you to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. This is a miracle.”
How did he team up with Rabbi Wein?
“We were introduced by Dr. Robert Cohen of Atlanta. My sister, also from Atlanta, who attended the same Shabbaton with Dr. Cohen, called me, and said, ‘Ashley you and Rabbi Wein are both teddy bears and should make films together.’
“Rabbi Wein said to me, ‘I want to make films that tell the story of the Jewish People to the Jewish People.’
“When I told the baal tzedakah [donor], the late Leon Scragowitz, of the challenges in making Jewish films, especially funding and distribution, his response was, ‘We have a Jewish historian—Rabbi Wein, we have a filmmaker—you Ashley, and me? I write checks regarding distribution…why aren’t you looking Up?’ Meaning…Where is your emunah [faith], Ashley?”
Mr. Lazarus described the filmmaking process, “We used art to transition back into history. We sourced classic paintings from museums and art galleries around the world. We used photographs of locations and commissioned six artists to create all the dialogue scenes in original oil paintings and hand drawn colored illustrations. Seven artists, from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, China, and England, were hired to create original art for the film. [This] was a function of finding outstanding artistic talent at a budget we could afford.”
The war scenes, like the rest of the film, are depicted in vibrant paintings and sound effects. Any graphics relating to the Inquisition are horrifying, so a teacher or parent must use their discretion about at what age to show children this film, and in any case should pre-screen it.
“The ‘jet engine’ of the film is its outstanding soundtrack, “says Lazarus. “We went the extra mile in creating the music and sound effects and we auditioned over 100 voice actors to find the best cast possible.”
Eleanor Leibowitz, who attended the premiere, said, “I’ve been following Rabbi Wein for about 50 years. He makes history come alive and this movie was artistically done and beautifully implemented. I hope Rabbi Wein is able to do many more because he has many more ideas to educate Jews about Jewish history which is so important for the Jewish people.”
The Abarbanel was raised in a world of privilege, among nobility, and was educated in both Jewish and classical studies by his father, Judah Abarbanel, and by the best rabbis and teachers. Like his father, he became a man of many worlds—advisor and financier to kings, a Torah scholar, spiritual leader to his people, and a man of literature, science, politics, and diplomacy. His father, in Spain, had been an advisor to King Henry the IV, king of Castille.
Jonathan Ray, professor of Jewish Studies at Georgetown University, says in the film, “The Jews were heavily taxed and an asset to Castille; [but] it did not protect them. They were subjected to virulent hatred and anti-Semitic rhetoric from the powerful Catholic archdeacon.” This resulted in a massacre and forced conversion of thousands of Jews in Seville in 1391… “The persecutions, murder, and forced conversions of Jews to Christianity… quickly spread throughout Castille and the neighboring Spanish territories of Aragon and Catalonia…”
Judah Abarbanel sought safety in Portugal with his family, he was appointed advisor to King Edwardu Duarte, and the Jews flourished.
We see the complex historical wars that ensue, including bitter rivalries within royal families, and the Abarbanel always found himself at the eye of the storm. Amid all the upheavals, Abarbanel wrote his first books—The Elements of Nature and Ataret Z’Kenim, The Crown of the Elders—at the age of 20. Then he started working on his commentary on the Torah.
In the course of the upheavals and competing loyalties, Abarbanel had an edict issued against him in Portugal and he escaped to neighboring Spain, where he settled in Sagura. Many Jews who remained in Spain were Marranos, most of whom practiced their Judaism in secret. The Abarbanel continued writing his commentary on the Tanach.
Sagura was close to the Portuguese border, so it was easier for him to receive news of his family, and to study with the renowned Torah scholar, Rabbi Yitzhak Abuhav, known as the “Maharil Abuhav.” In one scene, the Maharil Abuhav asks the Abarbanel why he asks so many questions in his commentary, commenting, “People don’t have so much patience…” and the Abarbanel replies, “Impatience is a malady of our times. The Torah is infinite. To understand it takes hard work and time. If you were digging for diamonds or gold, would you leave any stone unturned? Questions are the key to good learning. That’s why I start with them.” “But so many?” “That’s what makes my commentary different. I answer what some students do not even know to question.”
Regarding the authenticity of this dialogue (and presumably also other dialogues in the film), Lazarus explains: “The conversation was created from the writings of the Abarbanel. It accurately reflects the Abarbanel’s position on the topics being discussed. He certainly would have in-depth conversations with the Maharil. We took standard cinematic license to make the Abarbanel’s position very clear by making it into a dialogue scene.”
Yitzchak Gettinger, rabbi of the Young Israel of the West Side, another commentator in the body of the film, says, “The Abarbanel’s commentary and his passionate study of Torah have to be seen and understood in the context of how he saw the times he was living in, and the past history of Jewish exile, especially in Spain.”
Eventually Abarbanel’s family was able to leave Portugal and reunite with him in Spain, where he became the financial advisor to a Jewish bank in Toledo. He flourished there where he continued writing his commentaries.
But King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella needed his financial expertise in helping to fund the war against the Muslims in Grenada. They asked him to be treasurer and advisor to the royal court of Spain. He thought that perhaps being close to power would help him to be a voice for the Jews at a time that the church was encouraging the king and queen to rid Spain of its foreign influences. The Abarbanel feared the Jews would be next.
Abraham Senior, the Jewish, official “tax farmer” for the royal court, arranged for him to take over some of his tasks and receive 15% of his income, an offer that the Abarbanel was grateful for, as all his assets in Portugal had been confiscated.
Abraham Senior told the Abarbanel that it was he who had facilitated the meeting between King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, that led to their marriage, and that he heard that the Abarbanel had beat King Alfonso at chess. It is anecdotes like these in the narration and dialogue between the characters that humanize the film, rather than having it be a dry historical account.
The film notes that in the year 711 the Muslims invaded the Iberian Peninsula and ruled southern Spain until 1492. It was described as a golden era for the Jews when they lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors.
Ferdinand and Isabella brought the church under their control, but a major challenge for them was the converso problem. Jonathan Ray: “[The conversos] had forcibly converted generations earlier, most Catholics. Eventually they petitioned the pope to have their own Spanish inquisition in order to find out which of these conversos were good Catholics and which of them were secret Jews… [Ferdinand and Isabella] wanted to have everything under their control—the converso problem, the nobility, the cities, the Muslim groups of Granada; they had to find a way to subdue and control them all.”
It appeared that the golden age of the Jews in Spain was soon to come to an end.
Christopher Columbus came into the picture, and in addition to Abarbanel finding the money to fight the ongoing war in Granada against the Muslims, the king and queen pressured him to find the money for Columbus’ expedition to India and the Far East, which would give Spain a larger share of the spice trade.
Torquemada, the grand inquisitor, and the queen’s confessor, called “evil incarnate” by the Abarbanel, convinced the queen that any Jew who does not convert, should leave Spain. In one scene, on horseback he sees some houses in a village with no smoke coming out of the chimney on a Saturday, in winter, and tells the man riding with him that they must be Jews. He gives an order to arrest them and make a public example of them, to show no mercy.
Ray: “Technically the Inquisition didn’t have any power over professing Jews. They did have power over the ‘new Christians.’ Conversos were arrested and tortured to find out which Jews were helping them to stay Jewish… Conversos who were found guilty of heresy…were given the chance to recant, sometimes paying a large fine to the Inquisition, others were burnt at the stake. Torquemada believed that as long as there were real Jews helping them to be Jewish, the conversos would never be true Catholics so in 1483 he begins to recommend the expulsion of the Jews.”
Meanwhile, it took ten years for the Spanish army of the king and queen to win the war against the Muslims in Granada. After more than 1,000 years of Moslem rule, Granada fell in late 1491 and was back in Christian hands. The flag was raised over the Alhambra palace.
Less than three months later, on March 31, 1492, the Edicto de Granada, the Alhambra Decree, an edict of expulsion, was issued by Ferdinand and Isabella. All Jews must leave by the end of July and not return, on pain of death. July 31 was on the days leading up to Tishah B’Av.
Abarbanel and Abraham Senior raised 300,000 gold ducats that they hoped this feat would change the royal minds.
The Abarbanel spoke passionately before the king and queen about how the Jews had been loyal and contributed to Spain in the areas of medicine, sciences, and astrology, also contributing to the financial wellbeing of Spain. “Realize that it will be not only history that judges you, but G-d in heaven,” he says to Isabella. Nothing helps. The queen tried to convince them and their families to convert. The Abarbanel answered that it was impossible.
On June 7, 1492, Abraham Senior and his family converted to Christianity. Approximately 200,000 Jews, demoralized, also accepted baptism.
Approximately 100,000 Jewish men, women, and children, choose exile.
Overtaxed and penniless, they made their ways to ports in southwestern Spain to board ships that would take them into exile. Some tried to pass through the Portuguese border, but when they didn’t have enough money to bribe their way into Portugal, they returned to Spain and accepted conversion. Some did end up in Portugal, in Navarre, or in North Africa and eventually Italy and the Ottoman Empire.
The Abarbanel, proudly carrying a sefer Torah and flanked by drums, was followed by thousands of Jews who began their journey to Palos and other ports in southwestern Spain to board ships that took them into exile.
Three days after the expulsion, on August 3, Rosh Chodesh Av, Christopher Columbus set sail from that same port to India, an expedition that Abarbanel had helped fund, that discovered the new world.
Abarbanel settled in independent Naples and became financial advisor to King Feranti. More upheavals had him fleeing to Italy, then Corfu, then Monolpoli on Italy’s southeast coat.
He continued writing his commentaries, including all the prophecies on redemption, no doubt hoping to strengthen the Jews’ belief that their long exile will end.
Toward the end of his life, he reflected on the trials of the Jewish people and on the exiles. He wrote in his introduction to his commentary on the Prophets. “You looked to gold…you went after the emptiness…the powerfulness and the splendor…Plea to Hashem…He will return to you to rejoice as He rejoiced over your forefathers…
“I spent so much time serving mortal kings. I regret not having spent more time serving the King of Kings.” He died at 71, in 1508.
On Dec. 16, 1968, 476 years after it was issued, the Alhambra decree was officially revoked by the Spanish government.
The cruel and tumultuous times covered in this film are long past, but the Abarbanel’s commentaries live on.
A Berel Wein Destiny Foundation Production, other films and audio recordings can be ordered through the website: rabbiwein.com.
A Berel Wein Destiny Foundation Production, other films and audio recordings can be ordered through the website: rabbiwein.com.
Anyone interested in pre-ordering the film can find information at rabbiwein.com or at 732-987-9008. When the film is available it will be found at rabbiwein.com/abarbanel. n
The reviewer is an award-winning journalist and theater director and editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com. She lives in Israel.
A Berel Wein Destiny Foundation Production, other films and audio recordings can be ordered through the website: rabbiwein.com.
Anyone interested in pre-ordering the film can find information at rabbiwein.com or at 732-987-9008. When the film is available it will be found at rabbiwein.com/abarbanel. n
The reviewer is an award-winning journalist and theater director and editor-in-chief of WholeFamily.com. She lives in Israel.
