By Benjamin Ivry July 14, 2009

Opening this year’s ongoing Avignon Festival in southeastern France, “The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness” is a production inspired by Josephus’s “War of the Jews,” conceived and staged by Israeli director Amos Gitai. Gitai’s uncompromising films include “Kadosh” (1999), “Kippur” (2000), “Alila” (2003) and “Free Zone “(2005).

Possibly misleadingly, the show’s title is taken not from Josephus, but from a manual for military organization and strategy that was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Recounting such pivotal episodes after the First Jewish-Roman War as the mass suicide of the Sicarii rebels in the Roman garrison of Masada and the destruction of the Second Temple on Tisha B’Av, the play is narrated by French screen legend Jeanne Moreau, who recently starred in Gitai’s much-praised film “One Day You’ll Understand” (“Plus tard, tu comprendras,” 2008) as a Jewish mother whose parents were murdered in Nazi concentration camps, but kept this information from her own children.

But it is not Moreau who gets top billing in “The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness.” It’s the Forward’s advertising director Jerry Koenig, who plays the role of the Roman emperor Vespasian. He’ll be back at the Forward offices in August, but will briefly return to France for the play’s Paris run in January.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Since French, English, and Arabic are heard onstage as part of the play, it would seem a natural for the kind of multi-lingual programming of the Next Wave Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music (or BAM), so New Yorkers can always hope they’ll be able to catch the unusual cocktail of Josephus, Moreau and Koenig mixed with a twist of Gitai.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount