The Common Vein

Ashley Davidoff August 2009

Copyright 2009

Mission

The intention of  ?40 years of Wandering? is to create of story that weaves the threads of individual life time stories of a generation of South African Jews who were caught up in a complex political, religious, social ,and intellectual world.  This group consisted mostly children of first generation Jewish parents who had  fled from Poland, Lithuania and Russia , and who came to South Africa with little in their pockets, with a hope and a dream for a better life.  They succeeded for many reasons, but in reality lived worked and succeeded within the priviliged world of white South Africa.  At the height of apartheid, this group was evolving into thinking adults and each reacted differently when presented with the choice of how to respond to the immoral world they were born into.  Some left the country, and some stayed.  A 40 year high school reunion prompted connections enabled by the Facebook phenomenon, and many recounted their 40 years of wandering with uncanny honesty and depth prompted by strong bonds and trust developed by their school years together.

Background Chatter for ?40 years Wandering?

(Davidoff)

This is what is so surprising and revealing and rewarding about this thread ? many of you were not my friends and now I am sharing intimate stories with you ? the connections of our youth run deeper than we know and knew, and now many walls are down, and we realise we are all the same, with same feelings and needs and a connection of 5000 years all with the same forefathers and four mothers

Hoping somebody with a knack of penmanship, or a group effort with the knack of penmanship will volunteer to write first draft for an intro to ?40 years?

My initial thoughts and an overview and a suggested direction

? many of our parents grandparents came from a frying pan ? new immigrants into a new environmemnt that they could not read with the hindsight we have now, nothing in their pockets ? to a country which promised hope ? they surfaced succeeded in having children maintained their identity, sense of humor, and dignity, and were relatively successful in one generation, but the next generation, well educated, found themeselves in another frying pan and we each dealt with this separately once graduating We have been in the desert for 40 years (A time period according to Jewish thinking of a maturation of a generation ) and have to decide for ourselves what the promised land is and whether we can and should enter it .

I really feel there is something very valuable in our story and stories and am committed to working this out for myself and hopefully for others that may allow us and others to have a clearer path as to where we should be, and what we should be doing to come the circle and feel fulfilled

Lindsays story to the other thread of a yearning for a return ? a love of his place of youth a feeling of being in the desert in a country where Mana was part of the attraction (Mana = cutting edge of ideas, meeting and working with cutting edge people in an extremely dynamic society, and Mana in terms of the materialistic rewards offered, and Mana in terms of a moral society ? at least according to the laws written for attempts at morality but not always transferred to real life )

I once delivered a dvar torah equating the delivery of the Jews from Egypt through the parting waters to the breaking of the waters of childbirth Birth growth and renewal are part of our process ?

Lindsay Leveen Communications with Kathleen

I got a reply from Kathleen.    I will tell her I will meet up with her in Bezerkley to catch up with her and find out more about the film world.  I will wait for your replies before I respond to her.  I think the film is more than a documentary or about an event.  It is about how all of us spent forty years growing up apart and how we came together not just for an event (the reunion) but as a rope that we will share to pull us through the rest of life.  If I am being unrealistic and you all view this as a documentary let me know.  I think the story line is that folks can grow and perhaps even mature but that in forty years of wondering you go back to roots that are strong and childhood friendships are never replaced.  The beginning can be first or second grade with fast forward to matric and the middle is the stuff we all did over the past forty years with flashbacks to mainly high school and the end is when we all choose to go together to a new promised land.  This new promised land could be a virtual world in Facebook.  By the way I kind of know the new CFO of facebook (he was at genentech).  Our stuff is powerful advertising material for FB.  Lets discuss.  Here is Kathleen?s reply to me.   Hi Lindsay,

Are you thinking about a feature length documentary?  Or are you thinking about writing a screenplay for a feature film?  It just depends on the hook and what you think is compelling about it.  Why will people want to watch it?  What do you want to say with this piece?

It sounds interesting and is certainly worth talking about.  I am completely swamped with preparing for the film fest and the art exhibit and my house for a lot of company and still doing the recruiting work.  If you are in Berkeley I?m sure I could find some time to talk with you.  If not, let?s see what our schedules are line the beginning of October.

Cheers,

Kathleen

I will tell her I will meet up with her in Bezerkley to catch up with her and find out more about the film world.  I think the film is more than a documentary or about an event.  It is   In a message dated 9/7/2009 4:14:32 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, L LEVEEN writes:

Guys I sent the following to an independent film producer in Berkeley.  She just got a movie produced about a lady in the mountains with goats who does oil painting portraits of fallen US soldiers and gives these portraits for free to the soldiers? famailiies.  The woman has painted over 500 portraits.  Kathleen fancies herself as producer.  She may take on our cause if we want to have a movie made.  I know her pretty well.   Let me know your thoughts.  I think the forty years is worth making a movie about.   Lindsay     Hey Kathleen   I have a great movie idea. It will be called Forty Years.   I graduated from high school in S Africa in 1969.  The high school was a Jewish Day School and more than half of us left S Africa to live in Australia, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, England.  We are now arranging our reunion and have used facebook to contact a significant number of our high school chums.  Their achievements and accomplishments have been enormous.  Medical professors, business people, peace makers, artists, ad executives, engineers, accountants, Applied Mathematics gurus, etc.  The facebook threads are full of wonderful stories of tragedy and triumph.  The school was co-ed but more guys than woman have opened their hearts to where they have been.  Forty Years is of special significance as the old testament is filled with reference to how it took forty years for the Israelites to loose the slave mentality.    I have been the catalysts for many to share their stories including one particular woman who lives in Israel and who was by far from the most wealthy family in the school if not one of the richest families in the country.  She has become a broker for peace with the Arabs and arranges for young women Jews and Arabs to go to summer camps together.  She writes poetry that is heart wrenching.  I think we should sit down and discuss this idea of a movie and let?s see if you can produce it.  We have more than goats.  We have Camels, elephants (yes one guy has elephants in Botswana), a sadistic head master who caned us.  This could be an award winning film I kid you not.   Lindsay

 

Phil Cramer

?What is the story?  ? there is nothing without the story and everything is the story.  If anything we have an overabundance of wealth in all our stories and histories tying so many things together. Judaism, South Africa, Apartheid, 40 years, Personal growth, Israel, etc.   I will have a go over the next few days of boiling this down.

One critical thing about a documentary is ?documenting?.  The reunion is a golden opportunity,  We should get someone to be there to record the event, interview people etc.   It doesn?t have to be the best equipment but something servicable.

I?ve always been told and believe that a good story can transcend its core audience while a bad story or even a good story told badly will not even succeed within its core audience unless your target is 13 year-olds in which case any old crap will work.

 

Phil Cramer

What do you think of the title ?The Children of Privilege?

We were all children of privilege to a lesser or greater degree.   Access to the best schools. servants to wait on us ? on the surface at least very little to worry about ? We could have arrogantly abused that but we didn?t and now we are coming together, 40 years later to tell our stories and to unite to give back to the two lands that shaped us, South Africa and Israel.   Our paths have been disparate but all have been inspiring on some level,.

Let me know what you think and I will write it up for the group.

BTW ? I?m reading a book,  ?Playing With the Enemy? about Mandela and the 95 Rugby World Cup,  An amazing book, an amazing story about a truly amazing person.  If you haven?t read Mandela?s autobiography I thoroughly recommend it.

Cheers

 

Eric Stillerman

There are 20+ great stories / themes. Let?s list them and see which ones encapsulate what?s going on here, and which will attract a wider outside audience.   Eg   An Overall theme will start emerging   eg. 40 years, multiple bios, SA connection, Israel connection, Children of the 60?s ? will attract a huge audience if well pitched     (not crazy about children of privilege Phil ? this is one aspect, but not central in my view    The Top 3-5 stories could be highlights   The other 20+ could be woven into the thread as background   Back to my day job.   E

 

Phil Cramer

Eric ? thanks for the input.  Obviously not wedded to anything as yet, especially the title.

One truth about documentaries is that they evolve and in a sense take on a life on their own that is not entirely predictable. For example person A might have a great story to tell but is completely uncomfortable in from of the camera while person B?s story might be less compelling but  far more complelling as a character.

The idea of ?Children of Privilege? is more to define out starting point than the ultimate title.

One other aspect I would like to consider is featuring some of the teachers as well.  Some of them were very instrumental in shaping our ideas and our lives and should be a part of the story.  For me it was the number of liberally inclined teachers who landed up at KDHS because they could not teach at public schools because of their politics.  Eddie Webster, the Adler brothers etc ? I am sure there are many others we can add ? are also part of the story.

 

Ashley Davidoff

Morning from Boston

cOLD AND DREARY

I spent an hour this morning on a plan and for some odd reason I lost it all in my email to you and cannnot find it

On the Name

Was speaking with Lev and he felt that we in fact were underprivileged in the grand sense of things  ie we were born into a screwed up society ? and this may be a the grand question  ? so going along Phils idea maybe it should be

Children of Privilige?

Either way I still  like the idea of 40 years or 40 years wandering ? because it takes that amount of time to have the ability to understand the things we have gone through and we may be able to come through with a clear message to the next generation that is about to enter the ?Promised World?for a life  without us

To me we have had a taste of life ? almost like the taste of a tasty or not so tasty peach ? we have savoured or not savoured it and now we are ready to decide what to do with the seed ? throw it away and lost forever, (perhaps?) or create a fertile environment that will allow the seed /pip/or pit to grow and flourish so that the new fruit will be a little better than ours

 

Concept and Name

My wife Naomi has worked with a very prominent professor of physiology who has a CV from Boston to Oz land and his suggestion to her as she starts out with a new project is to put a disproportionate amount of time into the title and idea which may only be a few words but that crystallizes the thought and to spend less time on the writing of a 50 page grant

I think if we struggle and persist with the title the writing and evolution will have a cohesion that is necessary to tell a story (as per Phil)

 

Sams thoughts

Also spoke to Sam whose wisdom of not biting off more than we can chew should be heeded

 

Potential Plan

So in esssence I think we should try a few small steps and build the idea and the product of choice

Nevertheless we have enough material and thought to try and catch the eye of the big time and there is no harm in exploring this I believe ? particularly with connections   In that way we could have professional thinking with us ? eg screen writers who know how to weave a story

 

Short of that?.

My suggestion would be to create a book ? each chapter a story from one of the mebers of the group ? with a preface that expands our title and our mission ? and a few scattered chapters that bridge the stories

My life ambition is to see the common vein ? an ambitious project, to its end,  I have come to a conclusion (after many painful years of trying to get the big catch) that in order to get the idea out to an audience larger than my immediate environment ? that a book crystallising the idea should be the first step All I need is to catch the eye of one influential person to bring it to fruition  I have just submitted my proposal

I have  a few agents that I could submit our proposal to, and I am sure others also do

In essence ? we are not far from submitting a proposal ? and we have a tremendous amount of material

 

My Proposal

1 ? Consolidate  and crystallise the title and the essence and the story

2 ? Get the writers to  write the preface

3 ? Get the ?lumpers? to bring the chapters or stories that have similar themes together in groups

3) Get the ?splitters? to cross the t?s and dot the i?s and make English out of mish-mash

4 ) Get the writers back in again to write the bridge chapters

5 Get the grant writers to write the proposal

6 Get those who are connected to the publishing world to make the pitch

 

And Lastly and most importantly

The mission of the group/project  needs to be clarified from the start

My suggestion is to create a non profit organization ?KDS 69? whose grand mission is Tikiun Olam (Lev) and that Jewish Education is our beneficiary

This component should be clear to all and have a consensus of the  founding group before we embark on the project and decide later that this aspect of our mission was not unified We need the think tank to plant the seed ? we need the group later to help us move forward

I look toward the first  FB thread as the think tank,  and so I am going to post this on that thread

Cheers from Boston

Looking forward to your responses

 

Sam Sharp

My two-cents worth:I think if I were a newcomer to the imagingdomain website and read through the fifty odd bios there, the overriding impression I would get is one of passion and commitment to a chosen path. This is a constant theme and if I were a journalist or documentary maker I would want to ask ?what sparked this energy in a single cohort of a private school in Johannesburg?. And if there is an answer, it must lie within the interwoven strands of 20th century Jewish history, Apartheid and King David. It is here we will find the source of Lev?s ?screwed up society?. This is the story of those who stayed and those who left, and if there is a 40 years in the wilderness theme, it is about an emotional homecoming.

On one hand I have a vaguely uncomfortable feeling that the core is yet to be identified. It is almost as if we are making a documentary before there is something to document. For example, if Eric?s dream of a truly global South African initiative were to be realised, if some substantial humanitarian project were successfully delivered through the joint efforts of reconnecting friends from around the world ? that would be the story?s core!

One the other hand, as it stands we have some amazing stories already that are certainly worth telling but they are individual projects such as Anael?s, Ash?s or Dave?s or Russells or Nadine?s or Lev?s and which are not born directly of the fruits of King David collaboration. And so to constitute a whole, they would have to be integrated in the sense of finding common sources of inspiration that drove these efforts, assuming that they exist. And they may not. The forces behind these initiatives may be purely personal without great overlap.

I don?t mean this to sound negative but these are questions I would want answered if I were a documentary or film maker.

In terms of titles:

I think ?Children of a Greater God? has a slightly offputting superior tinge to it?.(our God is bigger than your God) ..besides I think it places too much emphasis on the Jewish influence and not enough on the South African one.

The question mark appended to ?Children of Privilege?? raises doubts about our privilege which is misleading.

I am coming around to Phil?s initial title suggestion but I don?t think it yet foretells the whole story. I would lean towards something like ?Children of Privilege and Purpose? or ?Privilege and Purpose? or ?From Privilege to Purpose?. Come on Terry. This is your area!

I like Ash?s plan of action.

Have a great weekend all!

Ashley Davidoff

Rainy day in BostonHave to go into work for the day so a quick note

Sams thoughts
?And if there is an answer, it must lie within the interwoven strands of 20th century Jewish history, Apartheid and King David. ?

I like it..

and I therefore want us to rethink the title of ?40 years?
It is an open title without bias or suggestion
It is applicable to all who go through life and reach the age with 40 years of experience
It suggests a mature look at life just before the 50?s set in and we are too old to remember, lack the enrgy and vitality I see it as the autumn of life ? mature ripe with a kinda wisdom

The title allows us to explore with a mature eye ? our situation where the story that is woven comes from how we view bullying at all levels now,(apartheid, and name calling in school for example)) how our tribalism is put to positive effect (jewish and king david)
how we view God parenthood etc

Food for thought on Shabat

Shabat Shalom

Naomi Stein

Re your brainstorming re book/movie project.
My tuppence input:
Statistically significant (ask Lindsay) information re no of men vs
women coming forward with their stories, and at a far slower pace.
Also far fewer women than men are talking on your threads. Now that
is a story in itself. Perhaps not for this project (how many themes
can you have), but for another.
Naomi

Eric Stillerman

Naomi Stein

 I went to a remarkable conference put on by one of the contemporary
psychoanalytic institutes last year. The theme was ?Loneliness?
Different from the usual intellectually dense ones, presenters (in
this field, usually a restrained bunch) spoke about their own
experiences. Had quite a profound effect on many.

Kind of similar to what you are doing, I thought.

Made me thing of some of the themes that seem to have been most
meaningful: connection, loss of connection, alone in thoughts and
feelings even tho with friends. Attachment/detachment. Emigration
stories are full of these. And for SAfricans, there is also the
loneliness of those ?left behind?, those who chose not to emigrate
and those for whom, more poignantly ? there was no choice possible.
How profound it is to connect around this, despite most of us having
full lives.

Balanced with people?s joys and jokes and life experiences etc- makes
for a great movie.

Potential Writers and Producers

Mark Levin & Jennifer Flackett, Writer/Director, Little Manhattan  212-875-0123 (H)  310-560-7797(C) 310-285-0022  310-285-0022(W)

Gary Barber Movie producer