KlezCalifornia 



Menorahs The Bay Area is overflowing with Yiddish culture this month so this newsletter is longer than usual! Enjoy!

We hope you will respond generously to the request for support for KlezCalifornia, which you will receive next week.

We send you our warmest wishes for a joyous Khanikeh /
Hanukkah/ Chanukah, which begins Tuesday night, December 12.


 
CABARETS BY THE BAY SUCCESS!!

Our recent Cabarets in Los Gatos and Berkeley were great events! We are very happy for another round of Cabaret fun and thank all who joined us, as well as our JCC partners. Below are a few photos from both events. For those who attended, these are great memories, and for those who couldn't make it - may they inspire you to come next time! See links below to many more images from both photographers.
   
Cabaret by the Bay, JCC East Bay, Berkeley:

















Hundreds more wonderful images by Nadine Samuels ( nadinesamuels@yahoo.com, 510.910.4383) of the Cabaret in Berkeley are available for you to review and download at no charge. Set up a free account here and download as many pictures as you like!

Cabaret by the Bay, Addison-Penzak JCC, Los Gatos:




Hundreds more wonderful images by Lea Delson ( delsonphoto.com) of the Cabaret in Los Gatos are available for your enjoyment (and possible purchase) here.
 TWO Klezmer Workshops and Jams
 
Our final TWO klezmer workshops/jams of 2017 w ith two terrific teachers!

Sunday, December 3, 2 - 5pm
with Jeanette Lewicki
Congregation B'nai Emunah, San Francisco
Throw Away Your Music Stand: Klezmer Intuition

AND

Sunday, December 10, 2 - 5pm
with Cookie Segelstein
Urban Adamah, Berkeley (in the yurt, heated if needed!)
Make Them Dance: How to play klezmer tunes with a great feel for dancing

Participants of all ages welcome, on all acoustic instruments. Must be at least intermediate level on your instrument. No klezmer experience needed, but it doesn't hurt!
$25 sliding scale, for participants. (i.e. pay what you can afford, $5 - $25 or more). Listeners welcome; donation requested.
Pay on site with cash or check.
Refreshments included.
Rsvp to 415.789.7679, jams@klezcalifornia.org (tell us which event and instrument) or just show up!
 History of Hasidism
Thursday, December 7, 7pm
Far from a throwback to the Middle Ages, Hasidism is a product of modernity that was a radical alternative to the secular world. So argue the eight distinguished authors of "Hasidism: A New History," the first comprehensive account of the movement's place in modern Jewish history. Writing collectively and using a rich variety of sources, they combine for the first time intellectual, religious, and social history of the followers and leaders of Hasidism.  
Co-presented by KlezCalifornia.
415.567.3327
Jewish Community Library, San Francisco
Free!
Salon
Yiddish Conversation Salon

KlezCalifornia Flisik Yidish Salon
Sunday, December 10, 2 - 4pm
For fluent speakers
 
Di temes:   
Vos hostu gefunen?
Vu bistu geven ven ___________________?
Vi azoy hostu gefilt als kind nitltsayt?
 
די טעמעס
װאָס האָסטו געפֿונען
װוּ ביסטו געװען װען
װי אַזױ האָסטו געפֿילט אַלס קינד ניטלצײַט
 
Limit of twelve participants this month, so RSVP soon to 415.789.7679, flisik@klezcalifornia.org.
At a private home, San Francisco
Free!
NigunimHanukah Concert
 
510.644.2020 
Co-presented by KlezCalifornia
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley 
$24 advance / $28 door
KungKung Pao Kosher Comedy
 
Saturday, Dec. 23 - Monday, Dec. 25, 5pm and 8:30pm
Headliners are Cathy Ladman, Gary Gulman, and Wendy Liebman, with M.C. Lisa Geduldig.
 
A share of the proceeds goes to JFCS Sonoma County North Bay Fire Relief & JCC Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria Relief Fund.
New Asia Restaurant, San Francisco
$52 - $72 (including dim sum or full meal) 
Farshidns (This 'n That)

The sadly timely "Giter Brider Nisht Gekhapt" (Good Brother, Don't Grab!), as sung by Pepi Litman
(thanks to Len Rosenberg)

Dolphin sings klezmer (really) at Zimbabwe National Park
(thanks to Les Plack)

(thanks to Jim Rebhan)

Yiddish New York returns with a six-day gathering of klezmer music in late December in New York City. Yiddish culture, song, folk dance, theater, lectures, language, workshops, performances, visual arts, and film, with affordable programs for adults, kids and teens!

In time for the secular New Year, "Berl der Alter Shiker," (Berl the Old Drunk), sung by Janie Respitz, with translation, transliteration, and commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

Proverb of the month 
In remembrance is the secret of redemption. 
אין געדענקען ליגט דער סוד פֿון גאולה
(In gedenken ligt der sod fun geuleh.)

Yiddish Culture in December
 
Exhibit through December 15, Tuesdays through Fridays, 11am - 4pm  
510.643.2526
 
415.655.7800 

Friday, December 1 - Friday, December 15, 1-2pm
JCC San Francisco, San Francisco
Free!
 
Friday, December 1, 8pm  
Awaken Cafe, Oakland
$10-$15 advance / $15-$20 door
 
Klezmer Workshop and Jam, with Jeanette Lewicki
Sunday, December 3, 2-5pm
See details above.
Congregation B'nai Emunah, San Francisco 
 
Lunch and Learn about Eastern European Jewish Music, with Hazzan Risa Wallach (of Congregation B'nai Shalom)
Thursday, December 7, 11:45am-1:30pm 
Reservations: justiceguy@aol.com, 415.699.1387 
Buttercup Grill, Walnut Creek
$18 lunch ($17 Men's Club members)
 
Hasidism: A New History, presented by David Biale
Thursday, December 7, 7pm
See details above.
Jewish Community Library, San Francisco
 
KlezCalifornia Flisik Yidish Salon
Sunday, December 10, 2-4pm
See details above
Private home, San Francisco
 
Klezmer Workshop and Jam, with Cookie Segelstein
Sunday, December 10, 2-5pm
See details above.
Urban Adamah, Berkeley
 
Kugelplex. Part of Oakland Symphony's "Hallelujah! Let Us Break Bread Together"
Sunday, December 10, 4pm
 
Thursday, December 14, 1:15-2:15pm
510.219.9748, 510.220.8426, www.mailbox@jewishfolkchorussf.org  
JCC San Francisco, San Francisco
Free!
 
Thursday, December 14, 10:30am-12:30pm
Congregation Kol Emeth, Palo Alto 
 
Thursday, December 14, 7:30pm
Bing Concert Hall, Stanford
 
Kugelplex
Friday, December 15, 4-6pm
510.848.3354
Friday, December 15, 7:30-8:45pm
412.861.6932
Congregation Sha'ar Zahav, San Francisco 

Tsum Buddy featuring Aharon Bolste
Saturday, December 16, 12noon-2pm
510.848.3354
Saul Goodman's Klezmer Band, Gerry Tenney (song leading), Bruce Bierman (dancing)
Saturday, December 16, 4-6:30pm
Part of Latkepalooza! 
Free!
    
Orchestra Euphonos
Sunday, December 16, 5:30pm music and dancing
Part of Hanooka Festival of Lights & Latkes, 4-7pm
Chochmat Halev, Berkeley
$0-$20, includes plate of latkes and a dreydl
 
Ben Goldberg (clarinet) and Rob Reich (accordion)
Sunday, December 17, 12noon-2pm
510.848.3354
Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, Berkeley

Nigunim Chorus' Chanukah Concert
Sunday, December 17, 2pm
See details above.  
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley
 
Sunday, December 17, 3pm, and Thursday, December 21, 7:30pm
Congregation Netivot Shalom, Berkeley, and Temple Israel, Alameda 
$10-$15 
 
Mala Klez
Saturday, December 23, 12noon-2pm
510.848.3354
Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, Berkeley

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy 
Saturday, December 23 - Monday, December 25, 5pm and 8:30pm
See details above.  
New Asia Restaurant, San Francisco

Adama
Sunday, December 24, 12noon-2pm
510.848.3354
Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, Berkeley
 
7th Annual Klezmer Street Party, with All-Star Lineup
Monday, December 25, 12noon-3pm
510.848.3354
Saul's Restaurant & Delicatessen, Berkeley 
Honor Wall

New Honor Wall posting this month: 
 
Judith Offer: I was raised a Catholic, but my paternal great grandparents, Sigmund and Rosa Spitzer, were Orthodox Jews. They immigrated in 1905 from Hungary to Niagara Falls, opening the first kosher restaurant in upstate New York. Their son, my "Grampa Rudy," married a Catholic, and promised to raise any children as Catholic. I married a Jew, Stuart Offer, and in 1990, we produced my play about the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909-1910, comprised of 90% Yiddish-speaking girls. So I studied Yiddish, getting proficient enough to write a poem, which was published in "J Magazine" last year (in English).
Preview of Yiddish Culture in January
 
Sunday, January 14, 3-5pm
Occidental Center for the Arts, Occidental
 
Explorations in Modern Jewish Literature with Rabbi Janet Marder & Dr. Joyce Penn Moser 
Sunday, January 14, 9-11am, Session 1 of multi-session class 
Congregation Beth Am, Los Altos Hills  
 
KlezCalifornia Salon for Yiddish Speakers 
Sunday, January 21, 2-4pm
415.789.7679, flisik@klezcalifornia.org
Private home, Oakland
Free! 
 
Thursday, January 25, 7pm
Jewish Community Library, San Francisco
Free!
 Support KlezCalifornia
 
Pot of gold Your support of KlezCalifornia helps Bay Area Yiddish culture and community thrive. Read more about donor benefits and donate by credit card, or mail a check to 
KlezCalifornia at the address below. A sheynem dank! Thank you very much!
Other Bits of Information

 
 
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For Bay Area and on-line Yiddish-related events, people, and places (including on-line), check out KlezCalifornia's website here!