The Skirball Cultural Center presents the L.A. premiere of Gadji-Gadjo! Led by accordionist Mélanie Bergeron and also featuring violin, mandolin, clarinet, guitar, double bass, and percussion, this beloved Quebec-based band reinvigorates the Roma and Klezmer traditions of Eastern Europe with diverse world influences. With its zesty, high-spirited live show, pairing original compositions and masterful improvisations, Gadji-Gadjo has become a young favorite on the world-music festival circuit. Check out their site and their music.

Co-presented by Yiddishkayt.

Part of the 2009 season of the Skirball's free Sunset Concerts, celebrating musical traditions from around the globe, presented Thursday evenings, July 16-August 13. View the Exhibitions -- all Skirball galleries except Noah's Ark are free and open during Sunset Concerts until 10:00pm -- and dine Al Fresco. More info here.

 

8/1 Book Party: Yiddish Sayings Mama Never Taught You
Warning: If you are offended by earthy, course language, do not attend this event!

Join us on August 1st to celebrate the return of Yiddish Sayings Mama Never Taught You by Marvin S. Zuckerman and Gershon Weltman. This important collection of Yiddish folk sayings has long been out of print - after thirty years it is now back in print!

In 1975 authors Zuckerman and Weltman translated, transliterated and reprinted the original Yiddish text of "coarse and vulgar" Yiddish sayings that had been privately published in 1908 by the famous collector of Yiddish folk sayings, Ignaz Bernstein (you can find him in the "Lexicon of Modern Yiddish Literature" and other sources). He called them, in Latin, "Erotica and Rustica."

The book will be available for purchase and signing. Refreshments will be served.

Presented by Arbeter Ring (Workmen's Circle). Cosponsored by Yiddishkayt.


8/9 Annual Soviet Yiddish Writers Commemoration

Annual tribute to murdered Soviet Yiddish writers, featuring music and readings in Yiddish and English.

On the fateful date of August 12, 1952, the Soviet régime of Joseph Stalin executed fourteen prominent Yiddish writers and Jewish communal officials in an attempt to wipe out Jewish culture.  57 years later, we gather to celebrate Soviet Yiddish creativity through words and songs by great artists: Moyshe Kulbak, Shmuel Halkin, Dovid Hofshteyn, Leyb Kvitko, Perets Markish, Arin Kushnirov, Yosif Kerler, Itsik Fefer, Shmuel Polonski, and honored Los Angeles poet Moyshe Sklar.

Songs will be performed by the Arbeter Ring Mit Gezang Yiddish Chorus, with the participation of prominent readers in both Yiddish and English.  Narration and translations by Hershl Hartman (also known as Yiddishkayt's Vortsman).

Presented by Arbeter Ring (Workmen's Circle). Cosponsored by Yiddishkayt and a collection of secular and progressive Jewish groups.

On August 9, 2009 the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony is proud to present "L'Khayim!" (To Life!): A Musical Celebration of Eastern European Culture* to showcase music and songs that have their roots in Russia, Poland, and other Eastern European Countries. The first half of the program includes a performance of Wladislaw Szpilman's Piano Concertino, written while he was interned in the Warsaw Ghetto and featured in the Academy-Award winning film "The Pianist."  The soloist for the Concertino will be young and upcoming pianist, Yevgeniy Milyavskiy. The first half of the concert also includes The Fiddler, which is based on a Yiddish tale by author Shalom Aleichem.  The work, by American composer Elliot Finkel, for violin, narrator and orchestra, features concertmaster Mark Kashper (originally from Russia) on violin, and all-around entertainer Mike Burstyn. The repertoire also includes the music of Grzegorz Fitelberg (1879-1953), legendary composer and conductor.  Fitelberg was internationally known as the "Ambassador of Polish Music." The life of this maestro was dedicated to promoting and propagating Polish art, culture, and music worldwide.  Clarinetist Zinovy Goro (originally from Ukraine) will be the guest artist for Fitelberg's composition To the Wedding.

The second half of the program features Broadway and international star, Mike Burstyn, long-time friend of Yiddishkayt and seen last year in our summer concert, The ˇViva Yiddish! Project. Mike has entertained audiences on stage, screen and television, in nightclubs and on concert stages throughout the world.


*Why did we spell it L'Khayim as opposed to L'Chayim?  Read The Vortsman's column for an explanation.

 

View a slideshow of Zayt Gezunt! A Farewell Celebration for the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center (VCJCC) on June 14, 2009.

After 56 years of service, the VCJCC closed its doors -- forever -- in June, 2009.  To celebrate the long and vibrant community of "The Center," over 115 friends joined together for a farewell concert and beygl brunch with music and song by Golden State Klezmer and Cindy Paley.

--> Visit us on Flickr for more photos

The Vortsman often gets complaints about the YIVO Standard for Yiddish Transcription. "It's confusing," some say. "It's hard to learn," others kvetsh. "Why have rules at all? Whatever works is good enough," insist certain free spirits.

The Vortsman, ever attuned to vox populi, was almost convinced until a non-Jewish friend asked about the ingredients in challah, which she logically pronounced as "tsha-la," with the first consonants sounded as in chest, chatter or Chattanooga. (Or in Chanukkah, for that matter.)

The point is that, lacking a Standard, a reader must know the Yiddish word in order to understand a catch-as-catch-can transcription (apparently, that's the approved term). Think of a non-English speaker trying to pronounce the "g" at the beginning and end of "garage," or the clenched-teeth sounds at the front and back of "judge."

A further point is that English, with its total lack of spelling uniformity (see above), is the worst possible language for transcription or transliteration (or whatever it's called).

Enter the YIVO Standard. You'll find it on p. xxi of Uriel Weinreich's "Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary." That chart has more information than you'll need, so here's The Vortsman's easy, condensed "Guide to Writing Yiddish in English Letters." (They're actually Latin letters, but nevamind.)

The Vortsman strongly recommends that you copy/paste the following onto some hallowed space on your hard drive for future, instant retrieval. (Right-click on the image below or drag it to your desktop.)



So: khanike is rescued from the multiple "spellings" that abound in our commercialized society. For even more rejoicing, the Standard accomodates your own (or your parents'/grandparents') particular Yiddish dialect. A litvak's (Lithuanian's) lullabye would be shlof mayn kind (sleep my child), while the galitsiyaner (Galician) would sing shluf...

Which brings us to Nancy's query last month (there's at least one reader out there!) about The Vortsman's use of maynse for "story."  She writes: "(Uriel) Weinreich's dictionary gives only 'mayse.'  So, is it a regional or a class difference, or just a typo?"

Since The Vortsman abhors and adjures (YIVO: adzhurs) all to avoid both class differences and typos, there must be regionalism at work here, and so there is. Uriel Weinreich, with whom The Vortsman argued such matters when we were both in our teens, adhered rigidly to the heavily litvak-influenced concept of a "standard" Yiddish pronunciation. Southern or peylish (Polish) Yiddish was as disdained as the U.S. Southern accent would be at Yale. Ergo, I wrote maynse, Weinreich says mayse: let's keep the whole thing going on and on...

(About YIVO: it's an acronym for the yidisher visnshaftlekher institut - Yiddish Scientific Institute, founded in Vilna [Vilnius], Lithuania. The current official name is YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.) 

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Have a question for the vortsman? Send him an email and ask the meaning of a favorite, or confusing, word or phrase.