My partner and I love films. We especially love Jewish films. At the end of the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, we breathe a contented sigh and then look at each other and complain: We have to wait a whole year for it to come around again? Well, here it comes. Starting March 14, for two weeks, we are going to be inundated with films. We have already chosen which 8 or 9 that we will attend. During the year, we keep connected by helping to preview films, so we have an idea of some of what is coming up, and we will volunteer at 8 of the films we are attending. It makes us feel useful, though all we are doing is standing there at the door, smiling welcomingly, and handing out evaluation cards. I like to feel useful.

My partner and I were each married to gentiles for over 20 years. There has been something comforting, a coming-home feeling, of being in a loving relationship with a good Jewish boy. Neither of us are religious, but there is a power to this Jewish connection. Sure, a lot of it is felt in the foods (I make the best vegetarian matzo ball soup), the music (Klezmer goes straight to my soul, even some cantorial music resonates in my roots), the rituals, but mostly, it is about community. I like walking into the Jewish Film Festival halls and knowing I am sitting among Jews, and people who feel some curiosity or connection to Judaism, even if they aren’t Jewish themselves. It feels good. It feels like coming home. My partner grew up hearing his parents speak German. I heard Yiddish within my extended family. And of course the Hebrew we heard at synagogue. Whenever I hear a Yiddish accent, I think of my many aunts and uncles, my grandparents, and it is makes me feel good, in a noodle kugel kind of way. We have been watching a video of an interview with Jeff’s dad from a decade before he died, this German story teller who escaped, as many of his family didn’t. It is a Jewish story. One of millions of Jewish stories.

The PVJFF brings us Jewish stories. The sound of Yiddish, old stories, modern stories; funny stories and deeply moving stories. We come together as Jews, and friends of Jews, to share in these stories. Personally, I find it truly deeply moving. We have previewed two movies recently, and I will write about them on another day. I feel blessed to live in this community and look forward to seeing many of you in the weeks to come. Check out www.PVJFF.org!!!