Vicky Kelman, who worked as a consultant on “The Prince of Egypt,” calls the animated version of the Exodus story a modern midrash, an interpretive story on Torah.
She encourages parents and educators to use the film about Moses, which will be released Friday, Dec. 18, as a “locomotive [that] can take us to Torah study.”
“It’s only valuable if we use it as an opportunity to go back to Exodus,” said Kelman, who directs the Jewish Family Education Project of the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education. “The movie in and of itself is just entertainment.”
To illustrate her point, Kelman used a midrash about a king who gave two servants gifts of wheat and flax. One made cloth and bread, the other did nothing.
Torah is like wheat and flax, she said. “We have to take it and turn it into something that nourishes and protects.” Speaking on the role of the film in religious education, Kelman led a workshop for Jewish educators last month at the San Francisco Jewish Community Library.
She suggested that before viewing the film, families should read such texts as “A Child’s Introduction to Torah” by Shirley Newman.
Looking at the similarities and differences between the Exodus story and the film is good fuel for discussion, said Kelman, who led another workshop at Temple Beth Jacob in Redwood City.
Matzah, the festival of Passover and the heroic midwives Shifra and Pu’ah are some of the elements you won’t see in the Hollywood version.
The film adds some things, too. Ramses (Pharaoh) and Moses grow up as brothers. Moses’ wife, Tzipporah, and his sister, Miriam, have more active roles.
The discrepancies are not the result of ignorance. “They made no mistakes. They pored over this text,” Kelman said, tapping a Bible. “They made a choice.”
In spite of the changes, she said, “The Prince of Egypt” is a story Jews will recognize.
“In its broad strokes, it’s the story we know.”
Another topic for discussion, she said, is the challenge of representing God’s voice.
The filmmakers first experimented with collective voices. “It sounded terrible.”
Next, they tried a computerized voice. “It sounded too much like Hal,” the computer from 2001.
Eventually, they used the voice of the actor who played Moses, Val Kilmer. Kelman said the filmmakers hoped to reflect the kabbalistic idea that one begins to hear God’s voice through one’s own voice.
In a handbook for educators, Kelman and Ron Wilson, director of the Whizin Center for the Jewish Future at the University of Judaism, outlined other questions to ask children:
Was Moses wrong in killing the Egyptian guard? Did Pharaoh have free will in deciding not to let the Hebrews go? Why should the innocent, firstborn Egyptian children die?
Turning to the film, Kelman praised its colorful, vibrant animation, but she doesn’t recommend it for preschoolers.
Its depiction of the 10th plague could disturb very young children, she said in an interview after the workshop.