December 22, 2009
Dear Friend of Yiddish,
As founder and chair of Yiddishkayt, I personally
invite you to join us for our 15th season.
Remember Yiddishkayt in your year-end giving and become a member.
Lately I've found myself thinking about 1994. I
remember, 15 years ago, lamenting the invisibility of Yiddish in Los Angeles
with (future) board members Sabell Bender and the late Murray Brown. We decided to do something about
it. We dreamed of a Yiddish festival, to
capture the attention of an entire city and to inspire people to celebrate our
priceless heritage.
In September 1995, the first Yiddishkayt Family
Festival was held in Sherman Oaks at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center
(VCJCC).
We planned for
600 people to arrive but 6,000 attendees of all ages showed up, hungry for
Yiddish. Due to this phenomenal
success, what started as an ad hoc committee to plan the festival quickly grew into a
Board. Soon a mission statement
was formulated, a newsletter was launched, more events were planned, the
not-for-profit organization came into being and Yiddishkayt was born.
It's hard to believe that 15 years have gone by. I am awed at how present, alive, and creative
Yiddish and Yiddishkayt are today.
Yiddish is now an important part in the cultural programming roster of many
local organizations besides ours, like the Skirball Cultural Center, UCLA, and
local synagogues, to name just a few.
From 1995 to 2009, Yiddishkayt has delivered on
our mission--ensuring the survival of the endangered thousand-year legacy
of Yiddish language, culture and history.
We are still the largest organization devoted to Yiddish culture west of
the Hudson and the only organization in the country that can boast of six
Yiddish festivals, an elementary and high school Yiddish language education
program, a cultural fellowship for young adults, 30 LA premieres, 16 US
premieres and five world premiere presentations devoted to Yiddish culture, 10
cross-cultural performances and partnerships with over 25 organizations.
And we're only 15 years in the
making!
This
year Yiddishkayt has been named one of the 50 most groundbreaking Jewish
nonprofits in America for the 2nd year in a row by
Slingshot 09/10, the resource guide for Jewish
innovation. Slingshot says Yiddishkayt is
"breaking new ground in Los Angeles and forging new
forms of intercultural encounter and engagement."
Our newest program
to "break new ground" is Folks-Grupe: The Yiddishkayt Fellowship, which launched earlier this fall. The fellows have been immersed in Yiddish culture, meeting with
scholars and
mevinim (experts)
to learn about language, theater, poetry, history, literature, film, music and
food. The fellows
represent a great cross-section of young adults, from religious to secular,
from graduate students to artists and engineers, with passions in language and
passions in culture, and coming from all across Los Angeles.
And they are all united in their quest
to discover Yiddish. We
are on the brink of major growth and stability that once seemed impossible:
offering an array of services including our Yiddish language education program
with elementary and high school Yiddish language textbooks in development,
walking tours of Boyle Heights in 2010, a diverse program season, large-scale
events, online communications and strategic collaborations.
Donate now and help us
begin the next fifteen years of celebrating our heritage and transmitting Yiddish to
future generations.
In
honor of our fifteenth year, consider pledging $15 a month to Yiddishkayt,
a beautiful and affordable way to show your support. Pledge just $15 a month ($180/year) or more and we
will gladly send you a complimentary pack of our Yiddish holiday greeting
cards. (With a gift of $100 or
more we will recognize your generosity on our website.)
Whether you joined us in the
beginning, just this past year, or are new to our community, Yiddishkayt is
grateful to you for making our last 15 years a spectacular success. Here's to year fifteen and
biz hundert un tsvantsik (to a hundred and twenty)!
Aaron Paley
Founder & ChairP.S. Check out an interactive timeline and slideshow of our first fifteen years and make a donation today to help us plan for the next fifteen years!
