Rabbi Wolff

It was the spring of 2008 and I was looking for some sort of narrator for my film In Heaven, Underground, which was about the Weissensee Jewish cemetery in Berlin. I felt that a rabbi would be best suited to convey the differences between Christian and Jewish rituals of bereavement and the concept of the afterlife in Judaism. Willy Wolff, a State Rabbi in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany, who was born in Berlin and has known the cemetery since his childhood, immediately agreed to help with the film.

I had no idea of the acting talent and great humour he was to bring to the film, not to mention his rabbinical knowledge. Willy Wolff was an absolute godsend for the film. Although he was only a secondary figure, he achieved the impossible, and employed his unique blend of wit, charm and intelligence to speak about death, bereavement and the concept of the afterlife. As soon as the film premiered at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival, the rabbi became an audience darling.

Whatever the film festival and wherever in the world In Heaven, Underground was shown, whether in Beijing, Toronto New York or Johannesburg, cinema audiences would always shake with laughter at William Wolff’s words. At every single audience discussion, I was asked to talk in detail about this man. “He could convert me to religion!”, one audience member exclaimed in London. And in Jerusalem someone said that what made Willy’s unusual wisdom on life so special was “a rare combination of Eastern European Jewish wit and British humour”. As a result, people were constantly asking me why I didn’t make a film about this extraordinary man.

Willy Wolff is not simply entertaining, he opens doors. He leads us unabashedly into the world of Judaism. He skilfully explains tradition and belief, with intelligence and humour. For him, people and their needs come first. Everything should revolve around this, including the way in which religious commandments are observed. A look at the day-to-day life in his communities also gives us the sense of how diverse Jewish life in Germany can be today. His biography, marked by flight and uncertainty, not only recounts German history, it also takes on a particular relevance in the face of the current refugee situation. I am convinced that the rabbi’s encounters and reflections are so universal that they can inspire a great many people.