In the spirit of our ancestral myths — the echoes of our predecessors — we enjoyed the old film production of The Dybbuk.
Created in 1937 (based on the 1914 play by S. Ansky), it tells the beautiful and tragic tale of a young woman and a young man, promised to be together since birth — but having nearly missed each other, she becomes possessed by The Dybbuk — the young man’s spirit.
All in Yiddish with subtitles, you can watch the movie from Youtube HERE.
The film itself is a beautiful tableau of life in Poland in the shtetl, a character study of communities and the worst — and best — traits of people.
In its tone the film shows us at our most vulnerable — in loss, in madness. It is beautiful and it is haunting.
It is a story told by generations, playing on our deepest fears — that we will never find the one who is for us…that we will not live to see our children, our grandchildren…that all will not be okay in the end.
For so many of our ancestors, things were not okay.