While it may come as a surprise to the uninitiated, our humble corner of Western Massachusetts is one of the Yiddish capitals of the country, second only to New York. A booming population of young Yiddishists, members of a post-vernacular movement dedicated to revitalizing a language once considered dead, surrounds the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst—perhaps born from it, perhaps pre-dating it. The Yiddish Book Center provides important opportunities for formal education, but it is naturally bound by the limitations of its form as a donor-supported institution. It exists to serve the interests of the whole Yiddish-interested world, not the hyper-local scene.
Young Yiddishists find a different sort of connection in local Klezmer concerts, the new KlezCummington Yiddish music festival, and the People’s Puppet Parade, all publicized through a 500-person “valley shtetl” group chat. Though Yiddish is spoken by people across the political spectrum, much of this community shares common values of leftist politics and Jewish Diasporism—an anti-Zionist movement rooted in the Yiddish language that values doikayt, or “hereness.” Rather than longing for return to a distant homeland, Diasporists focus on improving the local Jewish community and forging a sense of safety and belonging that doesn’t rely on nationalism.
The purpose of this documentary is not to explain Yiddishism, Diasporism, post-vernacularity, political puppet theatre, the Klezmer revival, Yiddish ethnographic history, or any of the other complicated concepts that inspire our story’s heroes. This documentary is about the People’s Puppet Parade, a multigenerational, political-spectacle performance-project started by a remarkable group of multidisciplinary musicians, performers, artists, and community organizers who all happened to find themselves on Summer Street in Northampton with cardboard, paint, and a vision for change. The purpose of this project is to highlight a collective that is tirelessly working to build a better tomorrow, motivated by the bold reclamation of their diasporic culture. Their values—inclusion, community, open-mindedness, authenticity, whimsy, and radical joy—are universal.
Visit the People’s Puppet Parade’s Website: https://peoplespuppetparade.weebly.com/past-parades.html