L ifestyle /C ulture
‘Asia’: A Study in Loneliness, Understanding
FI L M
ANDY GOTLIEB | JE MANAGING EDITOR
THE MAIN CHARACTERS
in “Asia” share a couple things
— loneliness, feeling out of
place — without sharing
anything at all.

That’s a small premise, but
in the well-acted award-win-
ning Israeli film written and
directed by Ruthy Pribar, it
more than carries this brief
window into the lives of the
title character (Alena Yiv)
and Vika (Shira Haas, coming
off her breakthrough perfor-
mance in “Unorthodox,” and
of “Shtisel” fame).

And while a film that explores
a dysfunctional mother-
daughter relationship, terminal
disease and sexual frustration
isn’t exactly light and cheery,
the gradual bond and under-
standing they forge is ultimately
uplifting. This is no tearjerker,
although the final scene may
leave your eyes a bit wet.

Asia is a 35-year-old Russian
expat single mother working
long hours as a nurse, while
17-year-old Vika does what
many teens with too much
free time and too little super-
vision do. In her case, she
hangs out with a skater crowd,
succumbing to peer pressure,
smoking pot, drinking and
thinking about or fighting off
the advances of teen boys.

That doesn’t sit well with
Asia, but she’s not avoiding
temptation either, as she has an
affair with one of the doctors at
the hospital and visits bars —
when she claims to be working
— to find one-night stands.

Neither’s happy,
and money’s tight. Their relation-
ship is a tense one, although
not atypical for many parents
and teens.

But Vika also is dealing
with a never-named degen-
erative disease that seems to
be progressing rapidly. When
she mixes her medication with
alcohol, she winds up in the
emergency room.

While Vika is tired of
hearing her mother’s admon-
ishments, she soon realizes that
she’s going to become depen-
dent on her mother for help and
lets her mother in a bit. In turn,
Asia loosens up as well.

For example, there’s a
scene where Vika, now using
a wheelchair, asks her mother
for a cigarette. After initial
consternation, Asia relents
and they bond over a smoke.

Not exactly “ABC Afterschool
Special” material, but effective
nonetheless. Vika, who is shown earlier
devastated by the cruel words
of a fellow teen she rejected,
confides that she doesn’t want
to die a virgin. They have a
heart-to-heart about men, with
Asia saying Vika was the only
thing she ever got from a man
that was worthwhile.

Asia hints to Gabi (Tamir
Mula), a male nurse trainee
who’s assisting with Vika’s care,
about her daughter’s wishes. That
morally compromises Gabi, who
has bonded with Vika.

And even as the bonds
develop, they remain tenuous.

Vika consents to have her
mother apply makeup, but after
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16 JULY 1, 2021
From left: Asia (Alena Yiv) and Vika (Shira Haas) share a small space, but little else.
Courtesy of Menemsha Films
From left: Asia and Vika enjoy a brief moment at the makeup table.

initial acceptance, demands
that Asia remove it.

At just 85 minutes, “Asia”
moves its story along rapidly,
wasting little time on subplots
or extraneous material, and
culminating with a heart-
breaking final act.

Shot in muted colors with
a spare piano background,
“Asia,” which won nine Ophir
Awards in Israel (including Best
Film, Actress and Supporting
Actress), as well as three awards
at the 2020 Tribeca Film
Festival, deserves its honors. In
JEWISH EXPONENT
an era of bloated storytelling
that features an overreliance
on flashbacks, flash-forwards,
dream sequences, CGI and
other devices, “Asia” focuses
on character development.

Granted, it doesn’t hurt that
Yiv shines as Asia — her world-
weary demeanor comes across
as perfect.

And Haas may be even better,
never taking her character
in a schmaltzy direction. She
captures the spirit of a disen-
franchised teen, while adding
the complexity of dealing with
a debilitating illness; that said,
after such dour roles in “Asia”
and “Unorthodox,” it would be
nice to see her in a lighter part.

Yiv and Haas, who really
look like they could be mother
and daughter, play off each other
well. They never feel like they’re
acting — reason enough to make
“Asia” worth your while.

“Asia” is playing at the
Philadelphia Film Society
Bourse Theater in Center City. l
agotlieb@jewishexponent.com: 215-832-0797
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



T ORAH P ORTION
The Sum of Us, Not Just Some of Us
BY RABBI RON SYMONS
Parshat Pinchas
o Once in connection
with the formation of
the camps [Numbers 1].

o and once in connection
with the division of the
land [Numbers 26].

Twice in the days of Saul
[1Samuel 11:8, 15:4].

Th e eighth time in the days
of David [2Samuel 24:9].

Th e ninth time in the days of
Ezra [Ezra 2:64; Nehemiah
7:66]. Th e tenth time will be in the
future era of the Messiah,
when, [as Jeremiah said:]
Th e sheep shall pass again
under the hands of one
who counts them [said the
Eternal]. [Jeremiah 33:13].

PERHAPS YOU remember
the 2020 census. I know, it
seems like it was so long ago.

• Th e arguments about citizen-
ship questions and deadlines, •
enumerators and computer
forms, congressional districts •
and federal funding — it seems
like a lifetime ago because of
COVID, and yet the results will •
guide us for the next 10 years ...

until we get to census 2030 as
mandated by the Constitution.

In this week’s Torah portion,
Pinchas, we again turn our atten-
tion to a census of ancient Israel.

Th is is the fi ft h of 10 censuses the
We know that there are
people of Israel have and will take
practical reasons for all this
in the ancient world:
counting. Knowing how many
On 10 occasions were Israel
people live
in our community
counted: both today and in the ancient
• Once when they went down world aff ords us the data we
need to feed and care for the
to Egypt [Genesis 46:27].

• A second time when they most vulnerable, to assure the
rights and responsibilities of
came out [Exodus 12:37].

• A third time aft er the community, and to prepare for
incident of the Golden Calf a future of abundance for the
sum of us rather than just for
[Exodus 30:12].

• Twice in the Book of some of us.

According to Rabbi Lord
Numbers: Jonathan Sacks, z’l, all of this
is important from a human
perspective. While we need
to know all of that, there is
another reason, he argues in
“What Counts,” why counting
must happen from a spiritual
perspective: A Divine census is utterly
diff erent [than a human census].

It has nothing to do with
strength-in-numbers. It has
to do, instead, with conveying
to every member of the nation
that he or she counts; that
every person, family, house-
hold is held precious by God;
that distinctions between great
and small, ruler and ruled,
leader and led, are irrelevant;
that we are each God’s image
and the object of His love. A
Divine census is, as Rashi says,
a gesture of endearment. Th at
is why it cannot be described by
the usual verbs of counting —
limnot, lifk od, lispor, lachshov.

Only the phrase naso/se’u
et rosh, “lift the head,” does
justice to this kind of enumer-
ation, in which those entrusted
with the task are commanded
to “lift the head” of those they
count, making every individual
stand tall in the knowledge that
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
July 2
July 9
they are loved, cherished, held
special by God, and not merely
a number, a cipher, among the
thousands and millions.

Th e work of the Divine
census must continue long
aft er census 2020 and long
before census 2030. We, not
God, must continue the work
with the same intentionality
we applied to census 2020.

In her most recent book,
“Th e Sum of Us: What Racism
Costs Everyone and How
We Can Prosper Together,”
Heather McGhee proves
chapter aft er chapter how the
impact of racism costs all of
us, not just those who are the
object of racism.

While she proposes the
“solidarity dividend,”
I suggested to her that we can
nuance the phrase to be the
“solidarity redemption.” You
see, when the Hebrew slaves
left Egypt some 3,000 years
ago, we did not leave by
ourselves. Without checking
off a box on a form to see what
race, ethnicity, gender identity,
sexual identity, country of
origin they were, a mixed
multitude of people were a part
of our “we.”
Cohen Continued from Page 5
settled in the United States.

“Th at opened my eyes up to
the wider world,” Lisa Cohen
said. Kalisch noted that Cohen
was an activist in speaking out
against the Vietnam War and
was open to both interfaith and
LGBTQ inclusion ahead of his
time, as well as civil rights.

As a rabbinical student in the
1950s, he organized protests of
a Woolworth’s lunch counter
in Cincinnati, Kalisch said.

Cohen’s interest in civil
rights made Beth David’s
decision to relocate to
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Gladwyne in the mid-1980s
troubling for him, Kalisch
said. She said he likely was the
last congregant still living in
Wynnefi eld.

Cohen also was prolifi c as
an author. His works included
a biography of his grandfather
and “Charley Braunstein and
Jewish Tradition,” a take-off
on Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts”
characters. While serious about social
justice and Judaism, Cohen
displayed a soft er side to the
congregation with his “Charley
Braunstein” stories and silly
songs tied to holidays and
Jewish tradition, and to his
family with lesser-known
passions, Lisa Cohen said.

“My dad was an avid sports
fan,” she said, adding that they
used to play baseball in the
backyard, and his attempt to
ride a skateboard resulted in a
broken ankle. “He prayed for
the Phillies.”
When it came time for his
developmentally disabled
daughter, Shelley, to have her bat
mitzvah, Cohen wasn’t deterred.

“He said, ‘We’re going to do
something that works for her,’”
JEWISH EXPONENT
Lisa Cohen said, also remem-
bering the time he performed
a funeral service for a neighbor
girl’s hamster.

After retiring in 1993,
Cohen was active in various
groups and a strong supporter
of Ben-Gurion University, but
an early diagnosis of dementia
eventually limited him, Lisa
Cohen said.

Cohen is survived by his
daughters, Shelley and Lisa,
and a granddaughter. ●
8:15 p.m.

8:13 p.m.

All of us, the sum of us
made it through the plagues,
got to the water’s edge, were
confronted by Pharoah,
marched through the mud,
helped each other as we fell
and rose together, and fi nally
the sum of us, all of us, danced
on the other shore of the sea
as we continued our journeys
through all the challenges of
living together in community.

We will state it because it
will be true as a result of our
shared eff orts to help “... every
individual stand tall in the
knowledge that they are loved,
cherished, held special by God,
and not merely a number, a
cipher, among the thousands
and millions.”
It will be true because even
though humans count humans,
we will lift up every head so
that we see our neighbors as
“neighbors qua moral concept”
and not just numbers. It is all
about the sum of us, not just
some of us. ●
Rabbi Ron Symons is the senior
director of Jewish life at the JCC of
Greater Pittsburgh, where he is the
founding director of the Center for
Loving Kindness.

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