The
film Number Our Days, a documentary by Dr. Barbara Myerhoff, is an
in-depth look at an elderly Jewish community in a town of California. Filmed during the 1970’s, Dr. Myerhoff,
raised Jewish herself, decided to study the livelihood of an aging, tight-knit
community of Jews in a particular town. Dr. Myerhoff reveals the struggles of
these proud people, through their battles with the effects of age and poverty,
but also in this way she shows their perseverance. The community is centered around the town’s
Jewish senior center, which serves as the cultural and day-to-day center for
this particular group of people. Here
they can congregate, talk about their lives and their heritage in both English
and Yiddish, and at least just momentarily they can escape the harsh realities
of a world that has passed them by, but will never take away their pride and
heritage.
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