In Yiddish, Narishkayt means something like "absurdity" or "stupidity". Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, creators of the web series YidLife Crisis, set off together with the Polish director and journalist Paulina Fiejdasz to their grandparents' hometown of Kraków. There, they put on a show in which they playfully familiarise their audience with the Yiddish language. In conversation with, amongst others, a bookseller, a rabbi and the directors of both the Jewish Community Center of Kraków and the Galicia Jewish Museum, the two reflect on 900 years of Polish-Jewish history, not to mention the unique Jewish sense of humor. Narishkayt is a stirring exploration of Poland's Jewish past and present.
Text: Stefanie Borowsky
English: Peter Rickerby