Not everyone finds humor in ‘Producers’

As the son of two Holocaust survivors, Rabbi Jack Izakson doesn’t laugh at the Holocaust.

Even if it’s satirized in a Broadway comedy.

Even if that comedy garnered a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards.

Even if that comedy is written by a fellow Jew.

Izakson, rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom, saw the original production of “The Producers,” which came out as a film in 1968. He wished he hadn’t.

Despite its rave reviews, “The Producers” is still the kind of comedy that may make audience members squirm. A show about a show, it pokes fun at Jews and satirizes heavy subject matter such as Nazism and the Holocaust. It’s also playing in Spokane during the High Holy Days, the most sacred time of year for Jews around the world.

Although there’s been no discussion among the area’s three Jewish congregations about the timing of the show, not everyone agrees about the way it treats its subject matter. Some think it’s hysterically funny. Others are offended at the way it uses irony and sarcasm to deal with such a painful time in human history.

“I personally don’t think it’s right to make light of the Holocaust at this time of the year or any time of the year,” said Eva Lassman, a Holocaust survivor who has lived in Spokane since 1949. “Millions of people got killed by a ruthless man, all because Hitler deemed them undesirable.”

After resisting the Nazis during the failed uprising in the Warsaw ghetto, Lassman was deported to Majdanek, one of six death camps in eastern Poland. When the camps were liberated in 1945, she learned that nearly all of her family and relatives had been murdered.

Although she has never seen “The Producers,” the 85-year-old said she has no desire to see any production that satirizes the Holocaust.

Gary Singer of Temple Ner Tamid said he, too, was uncomfortable with the subject matter of the Broadway hit. “I just don’t think it’s appropriate. It’s still too raw.”

But Elliot Fabric, of Spokane, said “The Producers” just continues “a huge tradition of making fun of Hitler,” although the Holocaust remains a delicate subject.

“The Jewish people have gotten through so much adversity over the years by finding humor in terrible circumstances – that’s part of our culture,” Fabric said.

Born shortly after World War II, Fabric said he never heard any “Hitler humor” in his Jewish household. But it was too soon after the Holocaust and “things like that were so sensitive.”

He recalled how shocked people were when the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes” came out in 1965, especially because the comedy was about the inmates of a German World War II prisoner of war camp. Despite the initial outrage, “Hogan’s Heroes” became a hit, Fabric pointed out.

Louisa Rose, a board member of Congregation Beth Haverim, isn’t at all offended by “The Producers.” She’s a big fan of the movie, she said, but didn’t like the musical as much when she saw it last year in Seattle.

“What I see on stage has nothing to do with Hitler,” said Rose, a playwright. “It doesn’t connect me with the real horror story of the Holocaust.”

She said she’s not bothered by the satire. “As long as it’s a bitter laugh, an ironic laugh with an awareness of history, it’s OK,” Rose said.

In a review of the show last year, Tom Teicholz, a film producer and columnist for the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, explained it this way: ” ‘The Producers’ is funny because it makes us laugh at things we’re not supposed to laugh at. … Yes, it’s a relief and it feels good to laugh at Jews, make fun of Hitler and Nazism – all strictly verboten. Given what we know now, of the world and of the Holocaust … the pleasures of laughing at ‘Springtime for Hitler’ are only increased, not diminished, because there is part of us that wants to walk away from the burden of our own self-seriousness.”

The timing of “The Producers,” which coincides with Yom Kippur on Friday, hasn’t been an issue with area Jews. The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur comes at the end of a 10-day period of reflection that begins with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. Most Jews spend the day abstaining from all food and drink.

Seven years ago, members of Temple Beth Shalom protested a symphony concert that took place on Yom Kippur. Many members of the synagogue, who were longtime symphony supporters, couldn’t attend because of their religious obligation.

Izakson at the time urged temple members who were symphony subscribers to tear their tickets in half and mail them back to the symphony office. The symphony ended up apologizing to the Jewish community.

“Take midnight Mass of Christmas and the sunrise service at Easter, combine them and multiply by 10,” Izakson said in 1997. “That’s how significant Yom Kippur is to Jews.”

Still, it’s typical for Jews to respond differently to a movie like “The Producers,” said Rose, who joked that if you put two Jews in a room, you get three opinions.

“It’s Mel Brooks,” said Henry Berman, president of Congregation Beth Haverim. “How can I be offended? He’s not only Jewish, he’s very Jewish. He’s the quintessential Jewish humorist of our time.”

And if Jews should be offended, they should have been bothered when the movie first came out 40 years ago, he added. “It wouldn’t have been the biggest hit in the city of New York if it’s something that offended Jews.”