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Yitro, the father-in-law of Moses, may be a ‘bit-part’ player in the Torah narrative, but his contribution is seminal. The hierarchical judicial structure he proposed of appointing “leaders of thousands… hundreds… fifties and… tens” (Exod. 18:21) under the overall direction of Moses has become the foundation of all judicial systems in democracies the world over. Moreover, the criteria he outlines for the appointment of judges has become the gold standard for every just society. “You shall seek out from the entire nation [as judges] anshei chayil: G-D-fearing, men of truth, haters of rapacity” (ibid).

At this year’s film festival, a woman asked me how movies get chosen to be shown. There’s a portal on the festival website where film makers can submit their work, which is then reviewed by the festival staff. The decision is mainly based on Executive Director Igor Shteyrenberg’s extraordinary curatorial eye along with input from the year-round Festival Team (all 4 of them). There is usually some Jewish angle — a theme, a character, a historical moment, etc. Occasionally there isn’t a Jewish angle, but we make exceptions, like showing a movie about the treatment of Roma (aka Gypsies) during World War II. There is no Roma film festival, so we felt it appropriate to screen the movie since the Roma and Jews were both objects of Nazi racism.