Bukovina—land of the beech tree
spreading its branches across the Carpathian Mountains with its
turbulent rivers and rushing streams. More than one generation of forest
merchants and cattle drivers in partnership with the local peasantry
drew their livelihood from the land. Czernowitz was blessed with
resonant names—the Big City, Little Vienna, Jerusalem on the Prut,
Jerusalem of Bukovina.
Short, but abundant visually, this filmic essay expresses
critical historical moments of Jewish life in the city and
region, from the first Jewish language conference to the torment
of the Transnistrian deportation and subsequent decline of
Jewish life in the post War period. Featuring contemporary
interviews alongside original archival images, the film presents
Czernowitz through native personalities such as fabulist and
pedagogue Eliezer Steinbarg, beloved actress Sidi Tal, drama
critic Moyshe Loyev, writer Josef Burg, poet Beyle
Schaechter-Gottesman, and linguist Prof. Wolf Moskovich.
Glimpses of Yiddish Czernowitz is a visual tale of an all but
lost Jewish community. The film awakens our longing and calls us back to
seek out the traces of that city of our dreams—the Jerusalem on the
Prut.
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