Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 23, 1992 Page: 3 of 24
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IN OUR 46TH YEAR! THURSDA Y, JULY23, 1992, TEXAS JEWISH POST 3
A Stranger No Longer
Lee Richardson, who stars as the Chassidic Rebbe in "A Stranger Among
Us," jokingly refers to himself as an "Episcopalean Jew." But then the
lure of the Talmud took hold causing him to search deeply for his roots...
Lee Richardson plays the Chasidic rebbe, a Holocaust survivor and the spiritual center of his
community, in the new film, "A Stranger Among Us."
By Melinda Greenberg
ee Richardson never
I had a bar mitzvah and
I he jokingly refers to
I himself as an “Episco-
■ palian Jew.” But lately
Bhe’s been reading the
Lhh Talmud and
at age 65, he
is even contemplating mak-
ing the rite of passage he
missed 52 years ago.
Mr. Richardson’s return
to his faith came as he pre-
pared for what he called the
toughest role in his 44 year
acting career - the Chasidic
rebbe in the movie, A
Stranger Among Us, which
opened recently.
The movie, which was di-
rected by Sidney Lumet,
tells the story of a hardened
New Y ork detective, played
by Melanie Griffith, who
goes undercover to investi-
gate a murder in the
Chasidic community in
Boro Park, Brooklyn. She
lives with the rebbe and his
family, who pass her off to the community as a ba’al
teshuvah, a newly observant J ew. Through her contact with
the community and the rebbe’s family, the detective real-
izes she is missing something in her life - something she
finds in an unrequited relationship with the rebbe’s son.
Their mutual attraction mirrored the relationship between
Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis in the film Witness, in
which a detective went undercover in the insulated Penn-
sylvania Amish community.
*1 think, no, l know that this movie wiil be contro-
versial, I can only hope that out of the controversy
comes convers-ation.,.and a better understanding
of our commitment to the past and future”
Because of the romantic nature of the detective’s rela-
tionship with the rebbe’s son, the director of the movie
expects strong reactions from some more conservative
Jewish audiences. “I think we have made a film that is
entertaining yet provocative, and deals with issues that
affect us all,” said Mr. Lumet in an advertisement for the
movie that ran in various publications, including the Texas
Jewish Post “I think, no, I know that this movie will be
controversial. I can only hope that out of the controversy
comes conversation...and a better understanding of our
commitment to the past and future.”
But Mr. Richardson knew nothing of the ad or the
director’s expectation of controversy and said he did not
quite understand it. "Melanie’s character is drawn to what
she perceives as a very closed but warm society,” he said,
in a telephone interview from the New York offices of the
film’s distributor, Disney. “These things happen. I don’t
think it’s a negative movie. It views Chasidim in a positive
light.”
Indeed, the detective’s life changes as a result of her life
among the Chasidim. “The Chasidim awaken an awareness
in her of something else she wants in her life,” said Mr.
Richardson, who has appeared in such films as Prince of the
City, Daniel, Prim’s Honor arid Sweet Lorraine. “At the
end, she speaks of (being destined) for more than she has in
her life.”
Still, the movie does show the Chasidic community shut
off from the outside world. The depiction of thecommunity’s
isolation is heightened by the presence of the detective, who
does not understand the “rules” Chasidim live by.
“Even in Jerusalem, in Mea Shearim (an ultra-
Orthodox neighborhood), they've isolated them-
selves. It’s not understandable to me, but that's why
they've been able to survive.”
“They’ve ghettoized themselves,” Mr. Richardson said.
“Even in Jerusalem, in Mea Shearim (an ultra-Orthodox
neighborhood), they’ve isolated themselves. It’s not under-
standable to me, but that’s why they’ve been able to sur-
vive.”
Playing a rabbi in the Chasidic community posed an
interesting challenge for Mr. Richardson as an actor. “I
worked very hard to make Yiddish and Hebrew sound like
my first language,” he said. “I had to unlearn what I learned
in my own life. I was work-
ing on a particular accent.”
Although he knew some
Yiddish, Mr. Richardson
andEricThal, theactorwho
played his son, worked with
a language coach to prepare
for their dialogues, most of
which are in Yiddish, with
English subtitles. “It was
the hardest thing I ever had
to work on,” Mr.
Richardson said.
But his knowledge of
Yiddish puts him in inter-
esting company in the act-
ing world. “You know who
spoke Yiddish,” he asked.
“Jimmy Cagney,” he said,
obviously delighted with the
image of the “Yankee
Doodle Dandy” himself rat-
tling off phrases in the
mamaloshen. “He grew up
in a Jewish, Irish, Italian
and German neighborhood
in New Yorkandjustpicked
up the language.”
Mr. Richardson’s old
friend, the late actress Geraldine Page with whom he
starred in his first New York stage production, Summer and
Smoke, and whom he remained close friends with for many
years, “knew more Yiddish than you can imagine.”
His father, who escaped Russian pogroms in
the 1890s, was the son of a Hebrew teacher and
rebelled against the “religious aspects” of Juda-
ism. “We never denied that we were Jewish, ” he
said. "But my father did not allow me to be bar
mitzvahed”
With his new-found Yiddish and Hebrew vocabulary,
Mr. Richardson can see himself returning to a part of his
Jewish life denied him as a youngster. His father, who
escaped Russian pogroms in the 1890s, was the son of a
Hebrew teacher and rebelled against the “religious as-
pects” of Judaism. “We never denied that we were Jewish,”
he said. “But my father did not allow me to be bar
mitzvahed.”
Mr. Richardson, who lives in Easton, Conn., wants to
read more of Steinsaltz’s The Talmud, which he used to
prepare for his role, and has been thinking more and more
about what he missed as a young man. “I’m flirting with the
idea of being bar mitzvahed,” he said. “I hadn’t thought
about it for years. If I do it, you’re invited.”
Melinda Greenberg is a staff writer for the Baltimore
Jewish Times. Paul Zim, a brother of Rabbi Sidney
Zimelmanof Congregation Ahavath Sholom in Fort Worth,
played and sang the role of canter in the film.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 23, 1992, newspaper, July 23, 1992; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755427/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .