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Sholem aleykhem!
In his poem "Maylid (Song of May)," the poet Chaim Alexandroff (1869-1909) wrote "S'nemt a sof di shklaferay...kumt tsu geyn der ersther may -- Slavery is coming to an end, the first of may arrives!" This month we have been reminded of the enduring legacy of the First of May, International Workers' Day, a fixture on every Yiddish calendar for more than a century.
On March 25 we honored the anniversary of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and noted that the struggle for safe workplaces continues in places like Dhaka, Bangladesh, where a fire in a garment factory last year killed at least 117 workers. On April 24, another garment factory in a suburb of Dhaka collapsed -- the death toll currently exceeding 900 workers -- in both cases the victims were mostly young women. This May Day Yiddishkayt remembered and mourned the terrible loss of life -- but we also remembered the history of this struggle and the fight for the 8-hour workday here in the United States in which young Jewish women and men organizing in the garment industry played such a crucial role.
This month we are exploring another connection between Yiddish and working people's history here in Los Angeles with our Yiddish in L.A. feature on the International Workers' Order and Jewish People's Fraternal Order; you can read more about it below. From L.A. to the Lower East Side to Dhaka, we are working to make history present and to examine our world today through the lens of Yiddish culture with our online exhibits, especially our Today in Yiddishkayt Facebook feature, which reached a new milestone of 5,000 "likes" this month.
If you believe in these educational efforts as we do, we hope you'll take the opportunity to help support our Helix Project campaign to fund two students' travel expenses on our flagship educational program. Helix aims to give 12 outstanding college students the opportunity to connect the past and present, the here and there of Yiddish cultural history.
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Helix Project
Help Us Fully Fund Two Students on the Helix!
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Click to Hear Yiddishkayt's Founder Aaron Paley on The Helix
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In the not-too-distant past, young scholars used to receive the full support of their communities to go off and study in remote centers of learning. Once there, they would esn teg, literally "eat days," that is eat meals at a different home in the community each day. We still believe it is our obligation to support the next generation of great minds to further their study of our amazing culture. We created the Helix Project to give up-and-coming leaders in the field of Yiddish culture a boost -- immersing them for a month in the vibrance of Jewish cultural history in Central and Eastern Europe without having to go into debt! So, while the days of eating days might be gone, we thought we could harness the power of our community for some support. Last week, we launched an online campaign to help fully pay the travel expense for two of this year's exceptional Helix students. Our fundraising campaign launched just three days ago and we've already made significant progress toward our goal! Please help us meet and surpass it in the coming month. If you aren't able to contribute financially, you can still help support our students by passing along the word to your family, friends, and community-at-large!
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LA (Yiddish) Confidential
International Workers' Order - Jewish People's Fraternal Order
How did a beautiful and popular community center become a freeway offramp?
In April we told you about our incredible experience discovering the ruined grave of writer Lamed Shapiro that inspired the new monthly feature on our website: In der malokhim-shtot * In the City of Angels. This month, in honor of International Workers' Day, we took a look at the history of the International Workers' Order (IWO) - Jewish Section. The IWO came into being as the left wing faction of the Arbeter Ring|Workmen's Circle during a contentious political rift in 1922. In Los Angeles, the Jewish Section of the IWO, later the Jewish People's Fraternal Order (JPFO), was one of the most popular Jewish organizations in the first half of the 20th century until its expulsion from the community by the forerunner of the L.A. Jewish Federation.
Click to read more about the amazing sad story of how fear-mongering during the McCarthyite witch hunts, combined with the malicious double-dealing of LA's Jewish community establishment, culminated in its literal ruin. Did you attend a JPFO kindershul? Do have memories of the Soto-Michigan JCC or the City Terrace Cultural Center? Let us know on our site.
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Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic
Opens Friday, May 10
The Autry in Griffith Park * 4700 Western Heritage Way
An exhibition years in the making explores how a growing Jewish community settled, prospered, and helped shape the economy, politics, and culture of a city -- and how the diversity and dynamism of Los Angeles have transformed the local Jewish community for the past 160 years.
Featuring more than 150 stories, documents, objects, and images of family, community, and society, Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic highlights how the history of Jews in Los Angeles is at once familiar -- one of the many in the cultural mosaic of the city -- and unique.
This groundbreaking exhibition is the story of neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and Fairfax, people like Billy Wilder, Max Factor, and Frank Gehry, and lynchpin industries like the movies and suburban land development.
 I'm Not Rappaport
at the West Coast Jewish Theatre
through June 23, 2013
Pico Playhouse
10508 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles
The West Coast Jewish Theatre presents I'm Not Rappaport, the hugely entertaining, Tony-Award-winning play by Herb Gardner. This is the first Los Angeles production in many years. Inspired by two elderly men Gardner met in New York's Central Park, the story centers around Nat Moyer, a feisty eccentric Jewish leftist, who manipulates with his good-natured con games, and Midge Carter, a cantankerous African American, who is afraid that he's going to be put out to pasture, as his age becomes an issue at his workplace.
Common Chords
Thursday, May 16 * 8:00 pm
Skirball Cultural Center
2701 North Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles
The Skirball's new concert series Journeys and Encounters presents an unforgettable concert by Common Chords, a gathering of highly accomplished musicians from different cultures and religions, led by famed Pakistani singer/guitarist Salman Ahmad (Junoon) and world-renowned klezmer violinist Yale Strom.
Their music combines rock, klezmer, jazz, bhangra, Indian, Sufi, and qawwali into a new and distinct hybrid, brilliantly executed by Ahmad, Strom, vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz, tabla master Samir Chatterjee, bassist Mark Dresser, dhol player Sunny Jain (Red Baraat), accordionist Lou Fanucchi, and saxophone and flute player Tripp Sprague.
Skirball's Journeys and Encounters features surprising collaborations between musicians of diverse genres. Tickets and more informations at the Skirball Cultural Center.
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YidBits and YidPicks are made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs
3780 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1000 | Los Angeles, CA 90010
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