There was once a Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Schornstein who arrived in Palestine in 1935 from Copenhagen. Not wishing to remain a rabbi he transformed his love of animals into a pet shop then donated all his animals to establish a zoo in Tel Aviv. The deal was the Zoo gets the animals and he would be director of the zoo for life. There was intense lobbying to the municipality to get the land to open the zoo but a team of activists prevailed and the zoo finally opened and it was a smash hit and in a way was an achievement for the soon to be Israel.
By today’s standards the conditions for the animals were very poor but the staff was very respectful and loving of the animals. His family members remember him as a hard person to live with and it was as if he related to animals better than he did to humans.
Squabbles with his administration intensified as did the value of the real estate the zoo was occupying. Relations between the Zoo Association and Schornstein deteriorated until his paycheques became irregular and to buy lunch he took three lira from the Zoo till to buy himself lunch which was a criminal offence for which he appeared in court and was fined a token five lira with the judge admitting he was ashamed of the decision but the law was the law. Schornstein left the Zoo and became a founder of a bird sanctuary. What happened with the huge sums received by the Zoo administration from the real estate developers? What happened to those billions? Schornstein died a pauper and in 1980 the animals were transferred to a Safari Park.
As a commentator said the zoo taught many how bad a zoo can be but it also told many how greedy many people can be.
A fascinating story recounted through the many visitors to the zoo most of whom are in their twilight years. Great newsclips as well give it an authentic historical feel. In a way a bittersweet story. An important step in the bolstering of a Hebrew culture but was it in the right direction?
To buy a ticket https://tjff.secure.force.com/ticket/#/events/a0S0b00000FGm06EAD
To read more about the film and to see a trailer https://tjff.com/films/there-are-no-lions-in-tel-aviv/
The 63-minute film directed by Duki Dror will be playing November 23-24 in Hebrew with English subtitles. It was the winner of the Festival’s David A. Stein Memorial Award.
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