“Neshoma” is the Yiddish word indicating someone’s “soul” or “spirit.” Sandra Beerends’ beautiful and bittersweet film Neshoma captures the spirit and soul of Amsterdam’s Jewish community between the first and second World Wars, using a unique mix of authentic archival footage that is woven together by a fictional correspondence, letters between 17-year-old Rusha, who writes about daily life in the city to her older brother Max, who has emigrated to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. This cinematic tapestry creates a lively portrait of a thriving center of Jewish life that was to be severely tested by an economic depression and then the rise of fascism. The film is about a lost way of life, but also about a vibrant spirit that still remains.
Neshoma
The 2026 Jewish Film Festival is sponsored by:
Anonymous (3)
Joseph & Roberta Rosenblum
Rebecca Colin & Michael Bergenfeld
Dvora Fields
Kauff McGuire & Margolis LLP
Cheryl Brandes & Lloyd Pine
Nadia & Robert Bernstein
Suli A. Fassler & Howard P. Magaliff
Beverly Frank
Louis & Jeannie Sorell
as of 3.19.2026
Neshoma
Pre-recorded Q&A with filmmaker Sandra Beerends on March 27; Community Discussion with Rabbi Brusso from Bet Torah, moderated by Elisabeth Schonfeld on April 6
Tickets: $13 (members), $18 (nonmembers)
“Veteran Dutch director Sandra Beerends has crafted a massive archive of film and photographs into Neshoma, a brilliant look at a Jewish culture and society that was rapidly disappearing.”
SPECIAL EVENTS
JFF Community discussion with Rabbi Brusso from Bet Torah, moderated by Elisabeth Schonfeld
Monday, Apr. 6 2026, 7:00
- Rabbi Brusso is senior rabbi of Bet Torah, where he has led a vibrant and dynamic congregation of approximately 650 families in Northern Westchester since 2009. In addition to pastoring, preaching, teaching and leading in the Bet Torah community, Rabbi Brusso is an officer of the the Rabbinical Assembly, a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute and served as faculty for the Anti-Defamation League’s Bearing Witness program teaching Catholic school educators about Judaism and Antisemitism. During his time at Bet Torah, Rabbi Brusso has been a vocal supporter of immigration rights and was awarded the 2020 Human Rights Hero award from T’ruah.
Tickets: $13 (members), $18 (nonmembers)
This film is part of the following initiatives:
This film is part of the Jewish Film Festival 2026 series.
The 2026 Jewish Film Festival is sponsored by:
Anonymous (3)
Joseph & Roberta Rosenblum
Rebecca Colin & Michael Bergenfeld
Dvora Fields
Kauff McGuire & Margolis LLP
Cheryl Brandes & Lloyd Pine
Nadia & Robert Bernstein
Suli A. Fassler & Howard P. Magaliff
Beverly Frank
Louis & Jeannie Sorell
as of 3.19.2026
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Now Showing through April 6