Yiddishkayt Los Angeles

Dear Friends of Yiddishkayt,

We wish you a freylekhn Thanksgiving!

This YidBits relays the news of the passing of a dear friend to Yiddish, the birth of a new one, and some worthwhile upcoming events.


NEWS

  • Eulogy for Blume Katz
  • A Student Report from Yiddish Class
UPCOMING EVENTS
  • 11/19 - Last Minute Reminder: 99th Anniversary Workmen's Circle Gala
  • 12/1 - "Romania, Romania: Yesterday and Today"
  • 12/16 to 12/21 - CIYCL presents "The Art of Yiddish"
  • 12/21 - "Happy Joyous Khanuke" with the Klezmatics



EULOGY FOR BLUME KATZ by Hannah Pollin, Director of Education, Yiddishkayt LA

    As a young Yiddish teacher, I strive to communicate to my high school students that Yiddish has the power to change their lives. I show them how the language can grant them access to places, ideas and moments in history that would otherwise remain distant to them. To illustrate my point, I keep a photograph of me and Blume Katz z’’l on my notebook, which they can see at the front of the classroom every day. Abstract arguments about the value of Yiddish may elude high-schoolers. However, this photograph communicates to them one very concrete reward that I gained through the study of Yiddish—the adventure of befriending Blume Katz, a women who wrestled with a century of human experience, and bravely shared her memory with me. My relationship with Blume was the greatest gift the Yiddish language could have given me.

    I was privileged to visit Blume in Svintsy�n nearly every Friday of my ten-month Fellowship in Vilna from August 2004 to May 2005. At first, I sought information from Blume: What was the Jewish community like in Vilne and in Svintsy�n? What were the goals of Weinreich’s Teachers Seminar? Why did she leave for the Soviet Union in 1935? How did she stay sane while living in a gulag in Kamchatka? What was it like to return to her Lithuanian hometown after the war? How did it feel to still live in her much-changed hometown today? Soon, Blume became my close friend and I visited her not so much to gather information, but to savor her company. I set aside my research agenda and allowed Blume to guide our dialogue.

    Blume was sophisticated, warm, feisty and authentic. She was my teacher and my confidante. In the same moment, she could roll off a detailed account of a day in 1939, heap butter and cheese onto a black-bread sandwich for me, and weep while rereading our favorite Dovid Hofshteyn poem, "in vinter farnakhtn." Just as she narrated the story of her life to me, so too did I eventually share my story with her. When I left Vilna in May 2004, we planned to coauthor an essay in which we would parallel our life experiences. In the following academic year, 2004-2005, Blume and I did not manage to write this joint essay, as intended. However, I shared Blume’s address with one of my most enthusiastic students in Los Angeles. Using what little Yiddish he knew after three months of study, he wrote her a letter. In it, he said, “My name is Zachary and I am creative and strong.” Unforgettably, Blume responded, speaking to him as her equal, “Zachary, you write that you are creative and strong. These are great, if not the best, qualities a person can have.” As with me, Blume was able to transcend boundaries of age, culture and, in this case, geography to make a genuine connection with my student.

    I visited Vilna again this past summer. While there, I saw Blumke twice, once in the apartment where she was staying, and once at the opening ceremony of the VYI Summer Program. Weakened by illness, she had trouble recalling exactly who I was, but treated me warmly, kissing me and asking me if the speech she delivered at the ceremony had been good.

    My memories of Blume, and all the big conversations we had in her tiny kitchen, will nourish me for the rest of my life. I hope to honor this wise, knowing, courageous woman by further exploring and sharing her history and by teaching others in the spirit she revealed to me Friday after Friday.

(Picture shows Blume Katz and Hannah Pollin at the 2005 Vilnius Yiddish Institute Yiddish Educators Seminar.)

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A STUDENT REPORT FROM YIDDISH CLASS by Rebecca Stanley, student at New Jew Community Hgh School

    I will never forget the first day of Yiddish class. We had just finished learning our first two words in Yiddish – yo and nein, meaning yes and no – and had done some exercises using those words. Then, our teacher Ms. Pollin (or as she told us to call her, Lererin Khane), told us to say either yo or nein. She started talking to us (in what we guessed was Yiddish because we couldn’t understand a word of it) and then she waited for our response. After much confusion and shouting half of us decided on nein, which she agreed with. With that solution, Lererin Khane continued to talk in Yiddish, and we got more confused than ever. Finally, fifteen minutes before class ended, she started talking to us in English, which I have to say was a great relief for all of us. She explained that she had asked us if we wanted her to explain the class structure in English. By responding nein, we meant that she should not speak English to us.

    Our Yiddish class was just like a regular language class. We usually had a story or something of that kind at the beginning of each chapter. After hearing the story, we dissected it, using the words we knew, and learning the new words. We used the new words over and over again in class, until we knew the meaning of them (or for me, until I knew the English meaning in my head). Also, almost every night, we got about twenty minutes of homework, and about thirty minutes before tests.

    We continued to make fools of ourselves. For Hanukkah, we sang “Hanukeh, Oy Hanukeh” in front of the whole school, which besides the Yiddish class and Lererin Khane, only about two people knew the song, out of a school of about 300. For Purim, Lererin Khane said that she was the Yiddish police, and since no one spoke Yiddish anymore, she was going to arrest everyone. Then we (as a Yiddish class) came up to her to say that Yiddish was still being used, and sang “Heint Iz Purim Brider.” In between the verses, we explained the meaning of three Yiddish words to the whole school.

    I am extremely glad to be a part of the first high school Yiddish class in the country last year, and am happy to be continuing my Yiddish education this fall.



UPCOMING EVENTS:

99th ANNIVERSARY WORKMEN'S CIRCLE/ARBETER RING AWARDS CELEBRATION & CONCERT

Sunday, November 19, 2:00 pm
Temple Beth Hillel of the San Fernando Valley
12326 Riverside Drive, Valley Village, CA 91607


Concert and reception with internationally renowned Yiddish Diva Adrienne Cooper, accompanied by gifted pianist Marilyn Lerner. Meet Adrienne, Marilyn and the three community members, Julie Korenstein, Marvin Zuckerman and Erling (Eli) Dugan, whose contributions are recognized this year at a gala reception following the concert.
Tickets to this memorable event and celebration of Yiddishkayt are $125 a pair, $65 each for the public, $99/pair, $50 each for Workmen’s Circle members
Please contact the office at (310) 552-2007 or [email protected] to make a reservation.

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"ROMANIA, ROMANIA: YESTERDAY AND TODAY"

Friday, December 1, 2006, 8:00 pm
Valley Beth Shalom
15739 Ventura Boulevard, Encino
(818) 788-6000

Reservations not needed.
An evening of Traditional and New Klezmer/Yiddish Melodies with Yale Strom (violin, vocals), Elizabeth Schwartz (vocals, hand percussion), and Peter Stan (accordion).

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THE ART OF YIDDISH 2006
"STAGE PRESENTS: THE GIFT OF YIDDISH THEATER"


December 16 to 21
Presented by the California Institute for Yiddish Culture & Language (CIYCL) in association with Skirball Cultural Center

Reminder: Early Bird discount ends November 22!


Starting with a not-to-be-missed Opening Concert with Mike Burstyn on the evening of Saturday, December 16, The Art of Yiddish focuses on one of the most beloved aspects of Jewish culture -- Yiddish theater.
Morning language classes offer a brilliant crash course in Yiddish taught by an eminent international faculty, designed for students of all levels, from complete novice to the maven (expert). A conversation-only class will be available too, with no or a bisl speaking skills required.
Come for a day, a lecture or concert, or the entire special week!
All events at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
For details: www.yiddishinstitute.org or call (310) 745-1190.

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THE KLEZMATICS: "HAPPY JOYOUS HANUKKAH"

Thursday, December 21, 2006, 8:00 PM
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 S. Grand Avenue
Los Angeles, CA


The Klezmatics; special guest, Boo Reiners; special guest, Susan McKeown. One of klezmer's leading ensembles, the Klezmatics blend sounds from aching shtetl melodies to raucous Latin stomps, soulful boogie-woogie, and Yiddish labor songs; they will perform newly discovered songs by Woody Guthrie as part of their joyful Hanukkah celebration.
Click here for more info on tickets.


Yiddishkayt Los Angeles

phone: 323-692-8151
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