Tayereh Fraynd (Dear Friends),

Our warmest wishes to you for a wonderful Sukes, zman simkhoseynu, season of our joy.
Check out our three-minute video, Why Yiddish Culture is Important for Young Jews as well as the other videos produced for our program, Tam: Tastes of Yiddish Culture for Kids & Teens. In fact, check out our entire website!
If someone has forwarded this newsletter to you,
KlezCalifornia Workshops
Sunday, October 25, 11am Pacific Time (2pm Eastern, 7pm UK, 8pm Europe, 9pm Israel)

Yes, dancing on Zoom! In this pre-Halloween workshop, Bruce will teach dances from the film, The Dybbuk. Felix Fibich and his wife Judith Berg worked with the Jewish alef-beys to create the film's choreography in 1937.

COMING NEXT: November 8, Freygish and Mi’sheberakh for the “Beginner’s Mind," with Mike Perlmutter

KlezCalifornia Kumzitsn


Sunday, November 1,
3-4:30pm Pacific Time
KlezCalifornia’s seventh Kumzits will be a reading aloud of two plays in English that were adaptations of Yiddish short stories: Bontche Schweig (Bontche the Silent) by I.L. Peretz, and The High School by Sholem Aleichem. There are fifteen slots for those reading the scripts and an additional ten spaces for individuals who wish to watch. We will have a short discussion after the conclusion of the performances.

Click for updates on Yiddish Theatre Ensemble
"When Jews were not eating onions, they were talking about them. The onion figures quite prominently in Yiddish sayings and idioms, whereas garlic - which seems to have spoken for itself - really comes up only once in the well-known piece of folk wisdom, 'If you don’t eat garlic, your breath won’t stink,' that is, a truly innocent person has nothing to hide. This saying is obliquely related to a rhetorical question posed in the Talmud: 'If someone eats garlic and then smells of it, is he going to eat another clove and smell of it?' (Shabbos 31b) - just because you’ve committed one stupid sin, you are not obliged to commit a second.” - Michael Wex, in Rhapsody in Schmaltz
KlezCalifornia Tastes of Yiddish Culture
SAVE THE DATE:
Sunday, November 15, 11am Pacific Time (2pm Eastern, 7pm UK, 8pm Europe, 9pm Israel)

From the moment Jews in the Middle Ages started speaking “German” to one another, they were speaking German af tselokhes, German to spite the Germans, a German that Germans wouldn’t understand, full of words that every German knew but that were being used to conceal attitudes and ideas that, when not actively offensive to Christians, could hardly be considered endearing.

Author of three books on Yiddish, including the bestselling Born to Kvetch, Michael Wex has taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan. He is a mainstay of the contemporary Yiddish scene.

Klezmer & Yiddish Music Links
The Story of Ba Mir Bistu Sheyn, with The Zamir Chorale of Boston.

What's the Matter with the Klezmer? Peter "Klezmer Fats" Sokolow tells his life story, from his childhood as the son of a musician, to performing for Yiddish-speaking communities in the Catskills, to ultimately discovering and mastering klezmer. In this fast-moving, 16-minute film, he sits at his piano, performs songs, and shares candid moments.

My Yidisheh Mama, sung by Neil Sedaka.
Yiddish Language Links
Jewish English Lexicon, a collaborative database of distinctive words that are used in the speech or writing of English-speaking Jews. Think of it as the Wikipedia or Urban Dictionary of Jewish language.

Guide to Jewish Food Terms, from My Jewish Learning.

Boris Sandler: Steps Up to a Miracle - Cause for Celebration. Watch this all-Yiddish, one-hour program celebrating Boris Sandler's contribution to Yiddish culture, with internationally renowned performers.
Other Yiddish Culture Links

Queer-friendly, Yiddish-speaking, anarchist-run kosher cafe aims to spark a Jewish revolution in Glasgow.

Watch surprise Hasidic guests at a wedding perform a bottle dance.
Nu, What Else?
Honor Wall
Ed Anisman & Claire Sherman
In honor of Judy Kunofsky and the rest of the Board of Directors,
all a source of inspiration!
Judy Kunofsky
In honor of Tony Phillips.
Sue Frank
In honor of Rabbi Yechiael Lander: friend, rabbi and my first teacher of Yiddish.
Rabbi Stuart Kelman
In honor of Judy Kunofsky.
View KlezCalifornia's Honor Wall. Become a donor to post your tribute.
Donate
Help us continue our exciting mission to connect people and communities around the Bay Area with Yiddish culture.
 
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A sheynem dank! Thank you very much!
A bisl mer (a little bit more)