As the owner of the 95-year-old Jewish Independent, I know full well that our Jewish community is built on the shoulders of those came before us. It is upon this foundation that we continue to grow, keeping our institutions going, while also starting new ventures and winding up groups that have served their purpose. Sometimes an organization will rebrand and recreate itself, sometimes it will reconnect with and reestablish its roots.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I watched the short documentary film Four Pillars of Peretz, which premiered last month at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. But it was also more personal than that, as I knew the four women being profiled: Bluma Field, Sylvia Friedman, Claire Klein Osipov and Gallia Chud, all of whom have passed away. To me, these women exemplified grace and grit. They were doers and they lived by their beliefs – most important, to me, though, was that they welcomed me, made a place for me, treated me as if I mattered, despite my holding very different views than they did on many things.
Nothing in filmmaker Michael Kissinger’s 36-minute documentary shattered the notion that they treated everyone with such respect, for which I’m grateful. I want to remember these women this way. A key element I feel is missing in the world today is this ability to be friends, or at least be civil to, people with different opinions. We are so polarized that our own views – and our need to express them – often take precedence over making another human feel, well, human.
I know that this phenomenon is nothing new. As is the case with most organizations, the Peretz Centre was started to fill a need that wasn’t being met by other groups at the time. Secular and socialist in nature, the Peretz has rarely “fit in” with the mainstream Jewish community over its 80-year history. While its politics held no interest for me, its focus on Yiddish culture, its choir in particular, did appeal to me and I was involved for some 30 years, having been introduced to the centre by Claire, who was the epitome of class – and, wow, what an incredible voice. She was close friends with my aunt, who also, sadly, has passed away.
Going down memory lane with Four Pillars of Peretz was truly a pleasure. For people who don’t know the four women profiled, I would still recommend watching it, if only to demystify the Peretz Centre. Community unity shouldn’t mean community uniformity, and everyone should be so lucky as to have at least one place where they feel welcome. We don’t need to belong everywhere, but it’s vital to our health, I think, that we belong somewhere.
Four Pillars of Peretz is also an example of what other organizations could do to honour their founders. Keeping history alive is so important, in my view. It’s not an inexpensive endeavour, but it’s worthwhile. In the case of this documentary, Kissinger really captures the spirits of these women and the way in which they still inspire others. Bluma, Sylvia, Claire and Gallia were by no means the only pillars of the Peretz Centre, but they were particularly driving forces, and they were so for decades.
“These stubborn old ladies, you know, they get sh*t done,” says Faith Jones, providing the first comments in the film, which features clips from interviews with other Peretz members and with members of the women’s families. Through these snippets, as well as photographs and other archival material, you get a sense of the enormous amount of effort and love that it takes to start an organization and keep it running.
The film starts with an overview of the four women, then each gets their own spotlight. The snappy music and the way in which Kissinger has edited the film makes it move along smoothly, both communicating the challenges these women – and others in their generation – faced with tenacity, but also with joy.
“I think all of these women, if they were here today, would say that they got just as much out of it as they put into it, because it’s community,” says one of Gallia’s daughters, Rita Chudnovsky, near the end of the film. “And there’s no replacement for a sense of community, and that’s something that’s, I think, getting harder for people to find.”
For more about the film, go to peretz-centre.org/post/four-pillars-of-peretz-short-documentary-film-project.