Sholem Aleykhem!  

 

Four years ago today, Yiddishkayt presented an amazing Peysekh event, the Doikayt Seder. Doikayt, which can be loosely translated as "Presentism," was the watchword of Yiddishists of the 20th century. Doikayt holds that Jews, with their intimate understanding of displacement and exile, should struggle to make the here-and-now the best possible. This meant connecting deeply with the place where you make your home and caring about its past and future as a way of being rooted firmly in the present.

 

Doikayt has been on our minds a lot recently. As many of you may have read, our investigation of Yiddish cultural history through our Today in Yiddishkayt project ended up on the front page of the LA Times. If you haven't read the story yet, I hope you will. And perhaps, rather than seeing this tale as the bleak fate of a particular site in East LA, we can start a conversation about how we allow the rich cultural heritage of Yiddish-speaking Jews, even those who lived in our own city, to be forgotten. And maybe start thinking about how when we allow that culture to be forgotten, we also forget our connection to contemporary communities who still face the same circumstances our forebears faced. 

 

We hope this story doesn't inspire people simply to clean up a ruined place, but to think deeply about what parts of our heritage we identify with and what parts we allow to be forgotten--consciously or unconsciously, here and now. 

 

      --Yiddishkayt   

LA Yiddish
Yiddishkayt in the LA Times
Today in Yiddishkayt Hits the Front Page 
Only twice in the history of the Los Angeles Times has a Yiddish writer made the front page. The first was when Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Nobel Prize in 1978 and the second was this past Friday!  For over a year now, Yiddishkayt has been profiling individuals who are significant in some way to Jewish culture. We cover a different person nearly every day. This is all part of our project Today in Yiddishkayt, which appears both on our facebook page and on our website. On March 10,  Lamed Shapiro's birthday, we went out in search of this great Yiddish writer's footsteps in L.A. What we found was astonishing! Here is how it begins:
LA Times
Yiddishkayt's Mindl Cohen and Rob Adler Peckerar at East LA's Mt. Zion Cemetery (Wally Skalij, Los Angeles Times)
 GRAVES OF DISQUIET
 
A search at Mount Zion for the tomb of a prominent Yiddish author reveals a dystopian landscape of toppled tombstones that no one seems to own. 
BY HECTOR BECERRA, LOS ANGELES TIMES  
The black gates of Mount Zion are chained. A sign stamped on a wall of bright bougainvillea on Downey Road asks visitors to call a neighboring graveyard if they want to go in. The phone number doesn't exist anymore.
 
 Robert Adler Peckerar stood at the entrance of the Jewish cemetery in East L.A., the downtown skyline behind him, the rush of the 710 and 5 freeways around him. It was a Sunday, and he was on a quest to find the grave of a man born on that day more than 100 years before...
 
 
Beginning Yiddish 
A New Session of Yiddish Classes Starting Soon 
Yiddishkayt offers you the keys to a millennium of Jewish culture. Learn Yiddish today!

Mindl CohenJoin Yiddishkayt's Mindl Cohen to learn the secret language of your heart. Two classes in two parts of town are starting on April 15. 
 
Beginning Yiddish is perfect for newcomers and those who know only a few words and phrases. It will be taught on Mondays & Wednesdays at Yiddishkayt's HQ in Koreatown. Or enroll in Continuing Yiddish -- suitable if you know the alphabet, have some knowledge of the language, or if you knew Yiddish once but have forgotten. This class is offered on Tuesdays & Thursdays at the Arbeter Ring in Pico-Robertson.
 
CLICK HERE to find out more. 
 
 
LA (Yiddish) Confidential  
A New Monthly Feature at yiddishkayt.org
Sometimes it can go unnoticed just what a huge role Yiddish used to play in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club
 
The experience we had investigating Lamed Shapiro's life (and death) inspired us to create a new monthly feature on our website: 
In der malokhim-shtot * In the City of Angels examines how Yiddish once resounded on the streets of our city. We invite you on a tour of some of our Yiddish landmarks, each month we investigate a different site of Yiddish culture's past in L.A. We also hope you'll share your memories and photos of these places!
 
This month we look at the history of the esteemed Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club. Beginning in Echo Park in 1926, establishing its impressive center in East Hollywood in the 1940s, and finally moving west in the 1970s, the LA Yiddish Culture Club has reflected the sea changes in our city's relation to Yiddish and to its history.
 
CLICK HERE to check it out. 
Around Town
The Legacy Of Lazar Weiner  
Friday, April 26 * 2:00 - 5:30 pm 
Popper Theater  * UCLA 
Lazar Weiner
As Jewish music confronted modernity in the 20th century, European composers created musical settings of exquisite Yiddish poetry, guided by the spirit of their nineteenth century German and French musical ancestors. Composer Lazar Weiner (1897-1982) is remembered as a giant of the Yiddish art song genre and is also remembered as the collaborator (and brother-in-law of LA-based Yiddish poet and playwright Peretz Hirshbein). Weiner's son, Yehudi Wyner, is the greatest living authority of his repertoire, which covers a 60-year span of creative work. 
 
A composer in his own right, Wyner chaired the composition faculty at Yale University for 15 years and was the recipient of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Assisting Prof. Wyner is Roslyn Barak, a recognized interpreter of Lazar Weiner's Yidishe lider. Ms. Barak is also the cantor at Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco's oldest synagogue. 
 
Admission to this event is free, but please RSVP to the UCLA Music Department if you plan to attend.
 
Friday, April 26 * 8:15 pm 
Adat Ari El  * 12020 Burbank Blvd., Valley Village
 
Roslyn Barak and Cantor Ira Bigeleisen will be joined by pianist Yehudi Wyner in a performance of Lazar Weiner's songs. The concert and conversation with Mr. Wyner will follow the service and dinner.
 
Admission: No admission charge for the service and concert; 
$20 for Dinner at 7:15 pm.
For more on this program, please visit Adat Ari El. 
 
YidBits and YidPicks are made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs
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Phone: (213) 389-8880 | Fax: (213) 365-0702 | [email protected]  
 
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