LERNER, Motti 1949-

PERSONAL: Born September 16, 1949, in Zichron Yaakov, Israel; son of Arie and Dvora Lerner; married December 13, 1983; wife's name Tamar; children: Noam, Matan, Avigail. Education: Attended Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1967-76. Studied theater at various workshops throughout London, and with San Francisco Dancers Workshop.

ADDRESSES: Office—5 Massada St., P.O. Box 4305, Ramat Hasharon 47290 Israel. E-mail—motti@macam.ac.il.

CAREER: Maduga Experimental Theater, Jerusalem, Israel, writer and director, 1978-79; Khan Theater, Jerusalem, dramaturge and director, 1978-84; freelance playwright and screenwriter, Israel, 1984—; Kibbuts College Drama School, Tel Aviv, Israel, instructor in dramatic writing, 1984—. Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, Oxford, England, writer-in-residence, 1992; Beit Lessin Theatre, Tel Aviv, dramaturge, 1993-96; Duke University, visiting professor, 1997; Tel Aviv University, instructor in political playwrighting, 1997—; University of Iowa, International Writing Program resident, 2000. Military service: Israel Defense Forces, 1970-73.

AWARDS, HONORS: Best Children's Play of the Year award (Israel), 1981, for The Princess and the Hobo; Best Play of the Year award (Israel), 1985, for Kastner; Prime Minister of Israel Award for Writers, 1994; Best T.V. Drama award (Israel), 1995, for Kastner's Trial.

WRITINGS:

The Princess and the Hobo (children's play), produced by Jerusalem Khan Theatre, 1980.

Kastner, produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1985.

Pangs of the Messiah, produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1987.

Paula (a monodrama), produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1987.

Exile in Jerusalem (originally titled Else), produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1990; produced in London, England, 1992; produced in New York, NY, 1998.

The Donkey of Oz (children's comedy), produced in Ramat Gan, 1993.

Loves at Bitania (television drama), Israeli Television, 1993.

Kastner's Trial (three-part television drama), Israeli Television, 1994.

Pollard, produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1995.

Autumn, produced in Tel Aviv, Israel, 1996; produced in New York, NY, 1996.

Bus 300 (five-part television drama), by Israeli Television, 1997.

EGOZ (three-part television drama), Israeli Television, 1998.

The Murder of Isaac, produced in Heilbronn, Germany, 1999.

The Institute (twelve-part television drama), Israeli Television, 2001.

Battle in Jerusalem (three-part television drama), Israeli Television, 2002.

Silent Sirens (television film), Israeli Television, 2002.

Hard Love, produced in Haifa, Israel, 2003.

Lerner's work has been translated into English and German.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Passing the Love of Women, inspired by a short story by I. Bashevis Singer, 2004 production in Israel and Washington, DC.

SIDELIGHTS: Motti Lerner is an Israeli playwright and screenwriter whose political works have been translated into several languages. Lerner's topics—always about the Jewish community and Israeli identity—include the Holocaust, Zionism, terrorism, and a few biographies. His controversial work has been the target of censorship, though he has also been the recipient of various literary awards.

One of Lerner's most talked-about works is the drama Kastner, in which the author recreates the events that occurred in Budapest during the summer of 1944, when Germans used Jews to extort large sums of money from their community in return for false promises to slow down the flow of deportation trains. Dr. Rudolf Kastner was a German-educated Budapest attorney who was chosen as a liaison; he met with high-ranking Nazi officials on a regular basis.

Kastner's role was an important one. He collaborated with the Nazis by keeping silent about the true nature of the death camps, and betrayed his people by supplying their persecutors with Jewish underground activity. Kastner disagreed with the tactics used by the Nazis, but he never revealed what he knew. Nor did he leave Hungary, despite having numerous opportunities to do so. He and his family remained there until January, 1945, trying to save the few remaining Jews. In fact, Kastner's behavior did manage to save some Jews, but ultimately, his decision to work with the Nazis was seen as a betrayal of the highest magnitude. Therein lies the controversy explored in Lerner's play.

Lerner presents Kastner as a tireless fighter who seeks only to help others survive. Postwar critics condemn Kastner's silence regarding Auschwitz and the other death camps as his most serious crime. But Lerner wants people to see Kastner's decision as being one of calculated risk, if not admirable. Kastner eventually defended Eichmann and other Nazis. He was charged with collaborating with the enemy, acquitted at trial, and then murdered at his home by a right-wing nationalist.

In Modern Judaism Michael Taub discussed Lerner and Joshua Sobol, another noteworthy Israeli dramatist, noting: "What these playwrights ask of their audience is that, in addition to admiring the supreme sacrifices made under fire, a fresh look be taken at the contributions that the less 'heroic' Jewish figures made to Jewish survival."

Another Lerner piece, Pollard, is a political drama based on the scandal created by the Israeli intelligence service that hired an American Jew employed by the U.S. Navy to spy for Israel. Jonathan Pollard was convicted in 1987 of selling military secrets to Israeli agents. The Zionist pled guilty but argued he was not a traitor, because Israel was an American ally. That line of reasoning did not hold up and Pollard was sentenced to life in an American prison; he continues to be denied parole.

What makes Pollard controversial is the sentence given Pollard and Lerner's depiction of how it came to happen. Some members of the Jewish community found the sentence too harsh and saw in it anti-Semitic bias. These people were afraid to publicly speak out, however, for fear of a backlash. The Israeli government called the event a minor intelligence blunder. Lerner, however, portrays Pollard as a victim who is refused asylum at the Israeli embassy in Washington. With nowhere else to go, Pollard is forced into capture by American agents. In other words, Lerner suggests that Pollard was given up to the FBI by top-ranking Israeli government officials, possibly the prime minister himself.

"While the play has not led to Pollard's release or changed the government's official line about the incident, it did challenge the myth that Israel, with its superior army and intelligence agencies, would be able and willing to save Jews regardless of who they were or where they lived," explained Taub.

Lerner teaches advanced playwriting and political playwrighting at the Kibbutz College Drama School in Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv University, respectively.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Modern Judaism, May, 1997, Michael Taub, "The Challenge to Popular Myth and Conventions in Recent Israeli Drama," pp. 133-62.

ONLINE

Tel Aviv University Web site,http://www.tau.ac.il/ (April 24, 2002).