According to Leo Rosten's "The Joys of Yiddish," shtetls -- segregated Jewish villages of 19th-century Eastern Europe -- were fertile grounds for the emergence of the Yiddishkeit, the Jewish way of life. The shtetls, with their crowded conditions and myriad personalities, evolved into centers of culture and learning, where masterpieces of literature, music and philosophy were created.

The Oak Street Cinema is going to turn into a shtetl of sorts in November, when Minnesota Film Arts presents its Jewish Film Series. Beginning tonight, the program features some of the most incredible -- and incredibly rare -- Jewish movies, from silent comedies and mystical dramas to present-day documentaries.

Al Milgrom, who programmed the series, was inspired by the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man" and his family's own exodus in the 1930s. "My parents came to Minneapolis directly from a Russian shtetl," he said. "The Coens' movie is about a modern American shtetl in St. Louis Park. That 'shtetl to shtetl' theme struck me as directly dealing with Jewish culture in the Twin Cities."

The series opens with "Two or Three Things I Know About Him" (7:15 p.m. today-Sun.), a riveting documentary about the family of Nazi storm trooper Hans Ludin. More than 60 years after Ludin's execution, his son, Malte, trains a camera on himself and his family, uncovering denials, outright lies and terrible truths about his loving, and loathsome, father.

Other documentaries include the three-hour epic "Being Jewish in France" (7:15 p.m. Nov. 11, 13 & 15); "Inside Hana's Suitcase," about Japanese schoolchildren who investigate the disappearance of a young girl into Auschwitz (7:15 p.m. Nov. 16-17, 5 p.m. Nov. 22); and "Schmatta: From Rags to Riches to Rags," detailing the rise and fall of Jews in New York's garment district (7:15 p.m. Nov. 19).

Perhaps most intriguing is a slate of Yiddish films from the 1920s and '30s, including the hilarious "His Wife's Lover" (7:15 p.m. Nov. 21-22). Ludwig Satz, the most famous Yiddish tummler of his day, stars in this 1931 screwball musical-comedy about an actor who tricks the love of his life into marrying him ... only he's disguised as a dirty old man to whom she must remain true for a solid year. Satz's work in "Lover" inspired a young Jerry Lewis.

"Jewish Luck," a silent comedy about a Buster Keaton-esque schlimazel who tries to become a matchmaker, will be accompanied by live music from Eisner's Klezmorim Group (3 p.m. Nov. 21-22). Rounding out the bill is the newly restored 1937 Yiddish classic "The Dybbuk," a story of a woman possessed by evil spirits (7:15 p.m. Nov. 20, 5 p.m. Nov. 21).