Mame-Loshn - Living Traditions

LivinG Traditions presents
KlezKamp 23 • 23 pmeqzelq
The 23rd Annual Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Mame -Loshn
Women in Yiddish Culture
Nvwl-emASDA=m
KlezKamp Zhurnal
December 23-28, 2007/5768 • The Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, Kerhonkson, NY
KlezKamp 23
KlezKamp 23 • 23 pmeqzelq
Mame Loshn: Women in Yiddish Culture
December 23-28, 2007/5768 • Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, Kerhonkson, NY
Tayere zhurnal leyener,
Our theme this year allows us to celebrate and pay homage to the singularly important
contributions women have made to the rise and nurturing of Yiddish culture. While our
thoughtfully prepared classes and unique articles here in the Zhurnal point to the wonderful
accomplishments of women past, I’d like to point to some accomplished women with us
today who make Living Traditions­—and by extension, KlezKamp—the outstanding Yiddish
organization it is.
I am lucky to work with some of the most dedicated people in the cause of the perpetuation
of Yiddish culture: KlezKamp Associate Director, Sherry Mayrent; Living Traditions Associate
Director, Sabina Brukner; Associate Director for Development Judith Bro Pinhasik; Zhurnal
Editor Faith Jones (who sadly, could not join us this year); KlezKamp Technical Director
Laura Wernick; plus our dedicated teachers and staff, are among the most remarkable
people there are anywhere and we as a community are very fortunate to have them working
alongside us.
It has been an exciting and uplifting process creating this year’s program and the magazine
which you now hold in your hands. We hope they bring you enrichment and enjoyment in
equal measure.
Table of Contents
A Letter from Henry Sapoznik.....................................................1
Map of the Hotel........................................................................2
Program Schedule.......................................................................3
Cartooning Women by Eddy Portnoy.............................................4
So, I’ll Sit In the Dark by Michael Wex..........................................7
Toby Fluek: Artist Portfolio.........................................................8
Dovid Rogow, z”l...................................................................... 10
Sidney Beckerman, z”l by Peter Sokolow.................................... 11
Women Cantors of the Airwaves by Henry Sapoznik..................... 12
The KlezKamp Crostic
a puzzle written especially for KlezKamp by Rick Winston......... 14
Editing Women In by Faith Jones............................................... 15
Meet the Scholarship Students................................................... 17
Staff
Editor: Faith Jones
Copyediting: Sabina Brukner
Graphic Design: Jim Garber, PaperClip Design
Printed by: Westprint, Inc., Timothy Bissel, President
Photos pp. 7, 12, 13, 15, and 16 and front and back covers courtesy
of The Forward Association, from the book A Living Lens (Norton
2007)
Cover: Cabaret singer and actress Pepi Littmann, in men’s clothes for
the play Griner Bokher.
Mit frayndlikhe grisn,
Henry Sapoznik
Founder/Executive Director
Henry “Hank” Sapoznik founded KlezKamp in 1985
and Living Traditions in 1995. Sapoznik’s most recent
project a 3 CD reissue anthology “People Take Warning!
Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs 1913-1938” has been
nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for “Best Historical
Album.” It is his fourth nomination. His mother Pearl is
VERY proud.
This year’s KlezKamp is dedicated to
the memory of dear friends and beloved
members of our KlezKamp community who
have passed on in the last year. We are
grieved to imagine a world without them.
Koved zeyer undenk.
Sid Beckerman
David Rogow
Lillian Leviton
Isaac Norich
www.klezkamp.org
1
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Program Schedule
Sunday
12/23/07
Monday
12/24/07
Tuesday
12/25/07
Wednesday
12/26/07
Thursday
12/27/07
Friday
12/28/07
7:309:00 am
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
Breakfast
9:1510:45
AM1 classes
AM1 classes
AM1 classes
AM1 classes
11:0012:30
AM2 classes
AM2 classes
AM2 classes
AM2 classes
Check out
12:451:45 pm
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Check in and
2:003:30 pm registration
PM1 classes
PM1 classes
PM1 classes
PM1 classes
Meetings: staff,
3:455:15 pm work study
PM2 classes
PM2 classes
PM2 classes
PM2 classes
Meeting for
5:306:30 pm parents with
kids in the
KlezKids
program
Forshpayzn
Forshpayzn
Forshpayzn
KlezKids
performance
Dinner
6:307:30 pm
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Dinner
Inter7:308:15 pm generational
dancing
Intergenerational
dancing
Intergenerational
dancing
Intergenerational
dancing
Teen
performance
8:15pm- Opening
??
program
Film and Panel
Discussion
Staff Concert
Student
“A Living
Concert
Tradition” CD
Celebration
Concert
featuring
Ray Musiker
and Elaine
Hoffman Watts
ensembles
www.klezkamp.org
3
Cartooning Women
I
by Eddy Portnoy
t’s not the best known fact that thousands of cartoons were published in the Yiddish press. That
said, one of the interesting matters related to Yiddish cartoons is that, for hundreds of years prior
to their appearance in the late 19th century, the relationship between Jews and cartoons was
not such a friendly one. In the popular presses of Europe and North America, a virulent anti-Jewish
caricature had developed that viciously mocked Jews in a variety of ways. Cartoons became a way to
teach the illiterate to hate.
So when Yiddish-speaking Jews picked up their
pens to draw cartoons of themselves, they had
to contend with the general cartoon baggage
full of grotesque caricatures that allegedly represented them. What was their response? In some
cases, they saw the huge hooked noses, black
curly hair and bulging bellies, and said, “yeah,
there’s a little of that in us.” But that wasn’t the
whole picture. Whereas the purpose of antisemitic cartooning was to portray Jews in a uniformly
ugly, monstrous way, Yiddish cartoonists showed
all sides of the Jews: the Jew as a complete
human being. These cartoonists found ways to
appropriate visual effects associated with traditional antisemitic caricature. By moderating the
images, and rejecting the
overarching negative framework, they created a cartoon space where Jews were
recognized as Jews, but in a
context of normalcy rather
than race hatred.
So far, so good. But we
come to a problem when
we begin to look for Jewish
women in the mix. Echoing
the tenor of the period, cartoonists of the Yiddish press
had an attitude toward
women that was, with few
exceptions, sexist and chauvinistic. Even though Jews
had long been the victims
of oppression, and in spite
of the liberal and socialist nature of many of the
publications in which these
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
cartoons appeared, women were still not on the
radar as full-fledged human beings. Women’s
concerns were frequently belittled, and cartoons
depicted them as one-dimensional types.
It’s difficult for us to understand how these
progressive newspapers missed the boat on women’s issues. But “progressive” is a relative term,
and certain things remained male domains. No
female cartoonists worked in the Yiddish press,
although two men did draw under the pseudonyms “Lola” and “Rosa.” Actual women had no
clout in the boys club that was Jewish journalism.
In looking at the cartoons themselves, certain
trends can be spotted. There are a few instances
in which women are used symbolically as
symbols for good. These include the cartoons below, both of which appeared in
New York’s satirical newspaper Der groyser
kundes (The Big Stick). The first one, from
1911, shows the Lower East Side portrayed
by a powerful, young woman wielding
a sword, about to stab Charles Murphy,
the leader of the Tammany Hall political
machine. The second, which appeared in
1921, shows a robust young woman representing Yiddish donating some change
to an old woman who is meant to portray
Hebrew. At the time, obviously, modern
Yiddish literature and culture was burgeoning and Hebrew culture was old and weak.
Mostly, however, Yiddish humor magazines played on old stereotypes of women
as garrulous, interfering and in an aggressive chase after men. Even major political
activists like Emma Goldman came in for
this treatment. In the 1916 cartoon below,
she is described as “three in one”: her
friends say she’s fixing the world; her enemies say she’s polluting it; and the cartoon
concludes, she’s a blabbermouth, “like all
Jewish women.” The cups into which she
pours her verbosity have names like “direct
www.klezkamp.org
5
action,” “birth control,” “syndicalism,” and “free
love.”
The worldwide drive for female suffrage,
instead of being supported by the allegedly liberal Yiddish press, was often gently mocked by
its cartoonists. This 1927
cartoon from Warsaw shows
a “women’s protest” demanding the availability of more
grooms, the implication
being that all a woman really
wants is a husband.
In connection with this
type of attitude toward the
modernization of women
comes the notion that wearing pants and smoking are
things that men do, as seen
in this 1929 cartoon published in the Warsaw humor
magazine, Der sheygets (The
Brat). The baby in the image
asks for his mother, thinking that the pants-wearing,
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
smoking, short-haired person breast-feeding him
is his father. The cartoon’s message: how far is
this women’s movement going to go? For the
socially conservative writers of Yiddish humor
journals, it had apparently gone far enough.
All told, women, and their
place in society receive short
shrift in Yiddish press cartoons. It may seem ironic
that the anarcho-socialist
political mores of magazines
like Der groyser kundes did
not make the leap to the
social sphere. But the conservative nature of general
and Jewish society evidently
maintained a strong hold on
these humorists. In Yiddish,
female cartoon characters, as
well as prose characters such
as Yente Telebende, would
remain in the old world, even
when their feet were firmly
planted in the new.
So I’ll Sit In the Dark
From Just Say Nu
U
by Michael Wex
ttered in the proper tone of voice, virtually any Yiddish phrase can be turned into an insult.
True, no great imagination is needed to see how something like mazl tov can be used to “congratulate” someone who has ignored previous results and repeated an oft-repeated mistake, or
gone ahead and done something after multiple warnings not to. Yiddish might embrace such low-level
irony, but it also goes far beyond it. Apparently innocent statements, fact-delivery systems that are
supposed to have as little to do with emotion or
opinion as mezuzahs do with mezzotints, can be
turned into shpilkes, pins, to be used as agents
of deflation. Shpilkes are well-known from such
phrases as:
IKH ZITS AF SHPILkes
I’m on pins and needles; I can’t wait; I’ve got
ants in my pants
koto,” the first thing they’ll do is remind you of
what you’ve just said by repeating the name of
the activity that you’ve mentioned:
VEST SHPEELN KOto?
You’re going to play the koto?
Then they’ll answer themselves:
VEST SHPEELN KOto.
You’re going to play the koto.
The English version, “I’ve got
And then, with head turned to the
shpilkes”—as if shpilkes were
side,
whether anybody else is there or
rhythm—doesn’t work for anynot, they’ll ask another question:
one who already speaks Yiddish.
HERST?
Everybody has non-metaphorical
You hear?
shpilkes, and in the days before
ER VIL SHPEELN KOto NOKH.
Velcro, shpilkes, in the form of
He wants to play the koto, yet.
diaper pins, were the first fashion
accessory worn by most human
The herst in the third line is vital
beings. If you say “I’ve got shpilhere and is especially effective when
kes” rather than “I’m on shpilkes”
only two people are present. The
or “sitting on shpilkes,” you’d
appeal to an invisible force—the
best add “in my posterior” to
ambient Jewish mind, a tribunal of
those pins if you want to make
the world’s super-egos, the ear of God
any real sense.
implied by the Mishna—the constant
wondering if people who aren’t there
Shpilkes can penetrate; they can
have heard and absorbed the fullness
prick egos as well as fingers, burst Molly Picon, sweetheart of
of
your folly, is really an attempt to
all your hopes and dreams and
the Yiddish stage, as a boy
save you from yourself, to spare you
claim to do so out of love: “We
in “Shmendrik”
the trouble of having to justify your
didn’t want you to be disappointidiocy on that great and terrible day
ed if things didn’t work out.”
of
judgment
that non-Yiddish-speakers describe
It’s the domestic interpretation of the rabbinic
as “maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but
maxim, “Know what is above you” (Ovos, 2:1).
soon, and for the rest of your life”:
Where the sages meant that God was watchEFsher NISHT HEINT, EFsher NISHT
ing, the rest of the Jews take it to mean “Don’t
MORGN,
NOR BALD, IN BIZ NOKH HINdert
get too big for your britches”: given the nature
IN TSVONtsik YOOR
of the world around us, we believe in the near
inevitability of failure and we’re doing this out
Just Say Nu, by KlezKamp’s own Michael Wex, is
of love. So when you say, “Mom, Dad, I’m quitavailable at the Epes Center.
ting med school to devote myself to playing the
www.klezkamp.org
7
Toby Fluek: Artist Portfolio
Toby Knobel Fluek was born in the Lvov region of Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), in the village of
Czernica. In 1942, following the Nazi invasion, she and her family were forced out of Czernica into
the ghetto in the nearby city of Brody. Toby and one sister escaped from Brody in March 1943, and
she remained in hiding in her village until liberation a year later. She and her mother were the only
Jews from her village to survive World War II: she lost her father, a brother and both sisters. In 1949
she was married and emigrated to the United States with her husband.
Toby studied at the Art Students League and with the artist Joe Hing Lowe. Her paintings and
drawings have been exhibited around New York. She appears in the film “Image Before My Eyes.” Her
books are Passover As I Remember It (a children’s book published by Random House) and Memories of
My Life in a Polish Village, from which the pictures and text reproduced here are taken.
Woman Carrying Water
There were natural springs
along the river flowing
through the center of the
village. The women carried
pails of fresh spring water
from the cement wells to
their homes for drinking and
washing. The older peasants
wore long skirts and scarves
tied under their chins while
the younger generation wore
dresses midcalf length. Most
women used to go barefoot.
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Plucking Feathers
During the winter evenings, Mother would invite our neighbors, the peasant
women, to a feather-plucking party. They sat around the table telling jokes and
stories, having a good time while the work was done. Afterwards Mother served
baked potatoes with herring.
The features were used to make featherbeds and pillows. Pastry brushes were
fashioned from geese and duck tails, and we made feather dusters from the wings.
Surcie Fitting a Dress
My sister Surcie was known as the best
dressmaker in Czernica. She made the
clothes for the intelligentsia and the wealthier people. She worked hard to make a wellfit garment. Surcie made some blouses for
the peasants too, and they in return worked
for us in the fields. (The long, gathered
skirts the women made for themselves by
hand.) Note the ark on the left side of the
drawing. The Sabbath and holiday services
were held in the same room.
www.klezkamp.org
9
Dovid Rogow, z”l
Our dear friend and long-time faculty member Dovid Rogow left us on April 17, 2007, at the age of
92.
KlezKamp regulars remember him as a man with a smile, a joke, and a kind word for each performer; and as a teacher who gave generously of his artistic knowledge.
Dovid Rogow was born in Vilne. From early childhood he was fascinated by the Yiddish word, and
began appearing on stage as a child, first in amateur theatricals, then in professional companies and
marionette theatre troupes. When World War II broke out, Rogow and his wife Nina fled to the city
of Novosibirsk, Siberia. After the war
the Rogows decided to remain in Europe
to perform for surviving Jews in the
DP camps. To this day Jewish survivors
recall Rogow’s moving recitations, often
taken from great works of Yiddish literature.
When the Rogows came to America
in 1950, Dovid found work in Maurice
Shwartz’s Art Theatre, and when that
theatre closed became a regular performer with the Folksbiene. He was constantly active and a source of enormous
energy, running theatre organizations
such as the Yiddish Actors Union.
As one of the founders of “Nusekh
Vilne”
[“In the Manner of Vilne”], the
Henry Sapoznik with Nina and Dovid Rogow
landsmanshaft of Vilne Jews in New
York, he worked tirelessly to promote
understanding of Vilne’s importance in Yiddish life. He curated a permanent exhibit at YIVO, “Our
Home Town Vilne,” and edited the exhibit catalogue.
In the last few years Rogow recorded several CDs of readings of Yiddish literature, allowing future
generations to hear classic works read aloud as they might have heard them in Vilne a hundred years
ago. In 2002 his voice was heard in Henry Sapoznik’s nationally-broadcast Yiddish Radio Project on
NPR.
Rogow is survived by his wife, Nina, also well-known at KlezKamp, to whom he was married for
more than 60 years. Their daughter Lillian pre-deceased him by several months.
Dovid Rogow will be greatly missed at KlezKamp for his humor and generosity, and not least for his
stubborn work on behalf of Yiddish culture and literature literally “in the manner of Vilne.”
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Sidney Beckerman, z”l
When we speak of Sid Beckerman, one thought comes immediately to mind: he was absolutely
unique. His sound and approach came directly from his brilliant father, Shloimke, who was totally
idolized by his youngest child. Whereas almost every other clarinetist of his generation owes first
allegiance to Dave Tarras, Sid stood alone in this regard. True, he played much of the standard Tarras
repertoire, but his sound, ornamentation, and
basic approach derive from Shloimke, who came
to America and recorded well before Dave arrived
on these shores in 1925. The tone is rounder – the
characteristic edge of Dave’s (and, for that matter, Naftule Brandwein’s) sound is missing. The
ornamentation is more subdued, and the rhythmic,
staccato tonguing is largely absent as well. As is
common in sons of brilliant fathers, Sid lacked
Shloimke’s ear, technical fluency and daring. He
could state the melody in a simple, folk like manner—no pyrotechnics, no grandstanding, just the
basic sweetness that was immediately evident in his
personality.
At an age when most musicians contemplate
retirement, Sid Beckerman enjoyed a total revival
of his career. In fact, he became more famous
than he had ever been! Considered an also-ran
in his earlier years—after all, his competition
was such as Sam and Ray Musiker, Max and Chi
Epstein, Danny Rubinstein, Howie Leess, and Paul
Pincus—the 1980s brought recognition of Sidney’s
true worth as a klezmer clarinetist of first rank.
When Dave Tarras, who was known to have said:
“Beckerman??”, heard “Klezmer Plus!” he exclaimed:
“Beckerman!!” Just ask the myriad of clarinet students who learned from him over the many years at
KlezKamp; ask those who heard him in so many Klezmer Plus! concert and party appearances.
How unfortunate that poor Sidney’s last years were marred by the onset of Alzheimer’s disease – he
died unable to know just how much enjoyment he brought to so many, and how much his legacy
matters to musicians all over the world. For me, who made it possible, if belatedly, to bring this special man to the attention of a wide audience, the loss of Sid Beckerman is virtually incalculable.
Peter Sokolow
www.klezkamp.org
11
Women Cantors of the Airwaves
by Henry Sapoznik
Yiddish theater liberated women’s singing voices: they no longer were only to sing among themselves for fear their voices could lead men astray. But the final leap, the belief that women’s voices
could also embody the sacred, was slower to evolve. With the rise of vaudeville and radio, women
began to be heard chanting khazones.
The rise of the khaznte was in many ways an American phenomenon. The entertainment industry
at the turn of the 20th century was alive with possibilities, seeking out fresh talent and genres: and
nothing was newer than women singing cantorial music.
The pioneer of the genre was the Odessa born
singer Sophie Kurtzer, whose brief stage career
produced a handful of recordings made during two recording sessions for Pathé in 1924-5.
Even given the small recorded sample, it is clear
that her command of the genre was considerable. Indeed, she had deep family connection to
khazones, which resonate through her superb
intonation.
Her success resulted in the emergence of
young women singers now called “khazntes”
(a retrofitting of the word for a cantor’s wife,
now used for women singers themselves).
Though strenuously denied a bime (synagogue
podium), khazntes instead found fame on the
bine (stage): sometimes in Yiddish or American
vaudeville, or in the growing Catskill resorts.
With the decline of vaudeville in the 1930s,
khazntes found new and even larger audiences
on the radio.
Many small stations with a Jewish audience
had their own competing “khazntes,” such as
Liviya Taychil, who sang on WHOM, a Brooklyn
station; WCNW’s “di Berliner Khaznte”; and
“Goldie May Stiner: The Only Colored Woman
Cantor in America,” heard every Sunday afternoon on WMCA in Manhattan during 1934.
Stiner also specialized in Yiddish songs. No
recordings of her have so far been located.
One of the most famous of the radio khazntes
was Freydele Oysher, sister of Moishe Oysher.
Oysher sang first with her famous brother on
local Philadelphia radio stations, and later sang
in New York theaters and Catskill hotels. In the
1950s she recorded a series of 78s for Seymour
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Rechtzeit’s Banner label. She was at the height
of her powers and accompanied by the great Abe
Ellstein: these recordings are crying out for a
reissue.
Another of the popular khazntes was
Philadelphia-born Sheindele (née Jean Gornish).
After a brief crossover attempt and billing herself as “Jean Walker- Slick Song Bird” she made
her mark as a circuit-riding radio khaznte. By
the mid-1930s she was heard on WRAX and
WPEN in Philadelphia, and WEVD in New York.
Her long association with sponsor Planter’s
Sheindele the Chazente—Sheindele the Female Cantor,
singing at the WEVD studio.
Samuel Malavsky and his Malavsky Family Choir—on tour in Havana, Cuba in 1951.
Hi-Hat Peanut Oil assured her a regular and
devoted listening audience.
Also from the Philadelphia area was Goldie
Malavsky, daughter of cantorial scion Samuel
Malavsky. Accompanying him as part of the
singing Malavsky family choir, Goldie became
Goldele di Khaznte. She also performed in a duo
with her sister Gitl: in the manner of the Barry
Sisters, they were billed as the Yiddish swingsinging “Marlin Sisters.”
Perhaps the best known of the khazntes was
Bas Sheva (nee Bernice Kanefsky). A niece of
Sophie Kurtzer, she found fame singing khazones: she appears in the 1950 Yiddish review
film, “Catskill Honeymoon” and appeared a few
times on the Ed Sullivan show. She also had a
strange crossover career: as an outwash of her
successful Jewish 1953 Capitol LP, “The Soul of
a People,” Bas Sheva was tapped the following
year to appear on labelmate Les Baxter’s deeply
strange LP “The Passions” where, to bachelor-pad
orchestrations, she wordlessly sings the span
of emotions including “despair,” “ecstasy,” and
“lust.”
The still-recent triumph of women attaining
equity in the singing of synagogue music on the
bima itself would no doubt have thrilled and
honored the women who pioneered the genre. It
is only too bad that today’s cantorial styles tend
towards colorless repertoire and banal, guitaraccompanied congregational singing, rather than
the lush, rich repertoire of classical khazones
interpreted by the remarkable women of vaudeville, the Catskills, and early radio.
www.klezkamp.org
13
KlezKamp Crostic Puzzle
by Rick Winston
Answer the clues; transfer the letters on the numbered dashes to the correspondingly numbered squares in the diagram.
Work back and forth between the grid and the word list to complete the puzzle. The finished puzzle will spell out a
quotation (from a Vermont author or on a Vermont theme) reading from left to right; black squares separate the words in
the quotation. The “crostic” part of the puzzle (“crostic” derived from the Greek, meaning “head”) is that the first
letters of the clued answers, reading down, will spell out the name of the author and/or the source of the quotation.
1
D2
23
E
H3
24
44 G
64
A 65
C 66
86
K 87
C
G4
M
5
D 25
P 26 Q
T6
U7
R8
S9
N 10
A 11
K
27
F 28
A 29
R 30 M 31
S 32
B
45
N 46
S 47
K 48
T 49
A 50
C 51
R 52
N 67
K 68
U 69
T 70 M 71
L 72
F 73
B
88
E 89
S 90
I
91 Q
92
E 93
74
12
S 13
K 14
K 33
T 34
L 35
U
53
N 54
K 55
C 56
75 M 76
H 77
I
J 94 M 95
106 S 107 U 108 C 109 K 110 R 111 T 112 L 113 A 114 F 115 N 116 B
127 A 128 K
148 A
167 O 168 D
129 K 130 A 131 M 132 O 133 R 134 L 135 S 136 T
149 I 150 U
151 G
D
18
L 19
D 40 M 41
F 20
E 37 O 38
F 39
T 57
R 58
A 59
U
60
K 78
L 79
P 80 O
81
98
K 99
D 100 C 101 N 102 R 103 H
121 H 122 F
139 A 140 F 141 P 142 J
157 J 158 U 159 I 160 E 161 H
B
I 61 O
N 82
T 83
C 21
K 22
P
42 G 43
J
62
R 63
S
S 84
B 85
R
104 O 105 T
123 H 124 N 125 C 126 E
143 U 144 P 145 E 146 F 147 C
162 F 163 P 164 I
165 K 166 G
176 T 177 A 178 R 179 S 180 Q 181 C 182 K
A.Purim treat
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
113 64 28 130 58 49 10 127 139 177 148
L. Repeating musical figure
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
14 112 134 71 34 18 78 153
B. On the border of an area
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
118 41 95 155 52 84 73 116
M. Extreme end
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
131 75 94 30 15 4 70 40
C. Result of day-in, day-out use (3 words)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
125 181 50 55 172 65 87 108 147 100 20
N. According to Leo Rosten, it’s “the word that lies at the heart of
Jewish thought and feeling.”
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
101 81 66 53 9 170 115 124 45
D. Issued forth, as sounds
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
99 168 39 120 24 1 17
E. Massachusetts college at the foot of Mt. Greylock
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
152 126 92 160 145 88 36 23
F. Those serving in a public capacity
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
72 162 122 114 19 27 140 38 146
G. Inn chain
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
166 42 3 151 156 44
H. 1900 Joseph Conrad novel (2 words)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
161 121 154 103 123 76 2
I. Spanish language newspaper, “El _______”
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
90 159 74 164 149 60
J. Willow varieties
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
138 157 93 142 119 43
K. Musical based on “Tevye the Milkman” (4 words)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
98 67 129 182 47 54 32 109 11
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
77 128 86 171 13 21 165
14
P
36
P 17
117 Q 118 B 119 J 120 D
137 Q 138 J
152 E 153 L 154 H 155 B 156 G
169 S 170 N 171 K 172 C 173 T 174 U 175 R
B 96 O 97
L 15 M 16
KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
O. What to see in Vermont come October
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
61 167 96 37 104 132 80
P. Title character in Chaim Potok novel (full name)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
163 22 25 16 144 79 97 141
Q. A major portion of government revenue
___ ___ ___ ___ ___
137 91 180 26 117
R. Author who spent time in the “Tropics”? (full name)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
133 62 110 51 175 29 57 178 7 102 85
S. Famed Jewish activist, subject of this puzzle (full name)
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
135 63 169 106 31 46 12 8 83 179 89
T. Folk song, “_____ on the Great Divide”
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
136 69 111 173 176 56 33 82 48 105 5
U. Film actress Maureen, who played puzzle’s subject
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
107 158 143 68 174 59 35 6 150
Answer on page 28.
Editing Women In
T
by Faith Jones
he first woman listed in the Leksikon fun Yidishn Teater, the encyclopedia of the Yiddish theatre,
on the first page of the first volume, is Sofia Oberlander. Oberlander, it seems, was the first wife
of Jacob Adler. She met Adler when they both were hired to play in Naftuli Goldfaden’s troupe
touring southern Russia; they went to England together and there she died in 1884, at the age of 22,
leaving behind her husband and a son, Abe Adler, who later was active in the English-language theatre.
On page two we encounter a very different
woman. Ida Abragam (nee Feltenshteyn), born
in 1884 in Dvinsk, Latvia, studied dentistry in
Berlin and Leningrad. She practiced as a dentist
until 1919, when at the age of 35 she began
training at the Moscow State Yiddish Theatre.
While appearing mostly in mother-roles on the
stage, she did have a part in the brilliant 1925
Solomon Mikhoels film “Yidishe Glikn,” based on
Sholem Aleichem’s Menachem Mendel stories.
It took editor Zalmen Zylbercweig almost
fifty years to put together the Leksikon, which
eventually ran to six published and one stillunpublished volume. Early on he decided to
include every individual about whom he could
find information. The prima donnas and leading men, the character actors, the minor playwrights, the cabaret singers, the set designers,
the also-rans and the decidedly obscure: each
was given a spot in the Leksikon, with a picture whenever possible. This policy was strictly
adhered to for both women and men: with the
result that about 28% of the Leksikon’s entries
are of women, more than any other biographical
dictionary in Yiddish. In all, over 700 women’s
lives are illuminated in its pages.
Open any volume at random, and you will
find out something about Jewish women. In
volume four we meet Sarah Libert, who arrived
in America in 1906, age 14. Eventually earning a master’s degree in social work at Columbia
University, she was hired by the National Council
of Jewish Women as a teacher of farm children in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Through this work Libert became interested
in developing new pedagogical tools to teach
Jewish concepts and history. She sprang into her
The actress Fanny Lubritsky dressed as a Hasidic boy.
new career, writing educational children’s plays,
in her late 30s.
Perhaps the most sociologically interesting
part of the book is the “Unzere boyer” (Our contributors) section at the back of the last three
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15
volumes. To raise money to publish the Leksikon,
Zylbercweig offered donors the chance to have
their own biographies included in the book.
These donors were rarely theatre people—actors
couldn’t afford it, and would be included in
any case. The “boyer” were theatre-loving klaltuers, and their biographies are a cross-section
of communally-involved Jewish America in the
middle of the 20th century. The very last woman
listed in volume six of the Leksikon is Polia
Finkelshteyn, who, with her husband Isaac, was
active in the Detroit Jewish community. Before
her marriage Polia took part in the International
Garment Workers’ Union; after her marriage she
became head of the federation of Jewish-Polish
aid organizations. She had three children: a
daughter who was a medical librarian; another
daughter, an artist; and a son, you’ll be relieved
to hear, a psychiatrist.
Probably because it is positioned as a theatre
resource, Zylbercweig’s Leksikon is an overlooked source of information on Jewish women.
We could do far worse than to look into the
Leksikon when we need to know how our grandmothers, and their grandmothers, made their
way in life and in art.
The Jewish folksinger Isa Kremer positioning her pool cue, while Jack Schaefer,
the reigning world champion of billiards, looks on.
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Meet the Scholarship Students
Electric and double bass player Abby King was
introduced to klezmer at last summer’s London
KlezFest. She was drawn to the flattened 2nds,
fast tempos and rowdy irreverance of klezmer.
Abby was born in Jerusalem and is now a
resident of Brighton, England. She has played
in rock, jazz and country & western bands for
many years. She is classically trained and is
an accomplished sightreader. Abby is also the
happy owner of a Roland SH1000 analogue
synthesiser and a medieval bass crumhorn.
Fausto Sierakowski was born in 1988 in Paris, and
grew up in Bordeaux where he studied saxophone from
the age of 8 under Alain Cazalis. He was introduced to
klezmer at the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow while
vacationing with his father, whose family came from
Poland. After his family moved to Rome in 2002, he
entered the Santa Cecilia Rome Conservatory, studying
under Alfredo Santoloci. He has participated in the Paris
klezmer workshop, London’s KlezFest, and the Weimar
summer and winter festivals.
Living Traditions gratefully acknowledges Elliott and Sandy Mills, Corey Weinstein and Pat Skala, Dan
and Margo Sinclair, Edward Konig, Michael Isard, and Adam Whiteman and Paula Teitelbaum for helping fund full KlezKamp scholarships for this year’s recipients: Abby King (United Kingdom) and Fausto
Sierakowski (Italy).
A sheynem dank!
www.klezkamp.org
17
Congratulations to Living Traditions on another
fine KlezKamp, from your khevre at
Canada’s largest festival of Yiddish & Jewish Culture
Join us at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto to celebrate
our Bar Mitzvah year at the 7th biannual
Ashkenaz Festival, Aug 26 - Sept 1, 2008
Featuring leading and emerging artists from
Canada, the US, Europe, and the Middle East
Music • Dance • Theatre • Literature • Visual Arts • Craft
Kids & Family Activities • and the Ashkenaz Parade
Most events are free!
The greatest Yiddish culture party north of...Kerhonkson!
To volunteer or support call 416-979-9901 or email:
info@ashkenazfestival.com, or visit us online at:
www.ashkenazfestival.com
www.ashkenazfestival.co
m
Join our email list & check the website for festival lineup updates
18
KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
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19
Mazl Tov to our Grammy Meisters on their nominations!
Henry "Hank" Sapoznik and Christopher King, Producers
“Best Historical Album"
"People Take Warning! Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs 1913-1938"
(Tompkins Square Records)
Andy Statman
"Best Country Instrumental Performance"
"Rawhide," from "East Flatbush Blues" (Shefa Records)
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
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21
In honor of my fourth great-grandchild,
Isaac Mason Lieberman
born on July 22, 2007
and named after my beloved father Isaac Steinberg
and my other great-grandchildren
Alexandra Maya Lieberman, age 2,
Sophia Ruchel Mastey, age 2,
Jolie Hannah Mastey, age 5
Pearl (Pirl ) Sapoznik
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
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26
KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
In loving memory of our precious KlezMa
Lillian Kramer Leviton
who passionately celebrated her heritage and
shared that passion with all comers.
"I love my Jews! ... I love my Yiddish!!" LKL, KlezKamp '06
)*+!*,( &'( !"#$%
Susan, Gerry, Yona, Noah, Reva, Mindy,
David, and Jonathan
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
(Irving) Howe, “World of Our Fathers”— Emma Goldman loomed across the immigrant milieu as a
solitary heroine of emancipation, a little admired and a little feared, an astonishing sort of Jewish
daughter to have arisen in a world still far from morally relaxed.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Hamantashen
Outlying
Wear and tear
Emitted
Williams
Officials
Ramada
H. Lord Jim
I. Diario
J. Osiers
K. Fiddler on the Roof
L. Ostinato
M. Ultimate
N. Rachmones
O.
P.
Q.
R.
S.
T.
U.
Foliage
Asher Lev
Taxes
Henry Miller
Emma Goldman
Railroading
Stapleton
Answer to the Crostic
(page 14)
Listen to RADIO KLEZKAMP
102.3 FM
We are proud to have you as our faculty,
our colleagues, our friends.
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
and the 2005 winner
Elaine Hoffman Watts
Living Traditions takes great pleasure in
congratulating the 2007 winner of the prestigious
National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship
t
n
i
r
tp
s
e
W
re
e
h
es
o
g
Ad
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LIVING TRADITIONS – WE’RE NOT JUST KLEZKAMP!
Who are we? Founded in 1994, Living Traditions is committed to the celebration and continuity of community-based,
traditional Yiddish culture. We don’t view yidishkayt as a symbol of a lost world, nor as customs that are our “duty”
to perpetuate. Instead, Living Traditions strives to bring the lush bounty of this cultural heritage to new generations
in ways both inspiring and relevant to contemporary Jewish life. We make Yiddish a meaningful part of one’s active
personal identity in a multi-cultural world.
You already know that Living Traditions does
KlezKamp. But that’s not all we do:
n
n
K
lezKamp Roadshow: Share the KlezKamp experience with
your community center or congregation back home by
bringing them a one-day, weekend, or week-long immersion
in Yiddish culture. Led by our experienced and inspiring
staff, the KlezKamp Roadshow offers lectures, workshops,
and performances featuring klezmer music, Yiddish radio,
dance, folktales, songs, and crafts. Contact us at info@
livingtraditions.org to order “Jewish Folks Arts to Go” — we
deliver!
“ German Goldenshteyn: A Living Tradition” CD: Over four
days at KlezKamp 2005, the late Moldavian klezmer
clarinetist German Goldenshteyn, together with a handpicked rhythm section of today’s
greatest Yiddish musicians, sat down
and recorded 20 tunes from his
staggering collection of over 800 bulgars,
freylekhs, horas, khosidls, and sirbas. See
www.livingtraditions.org/docs/store.htm
for this and other Living Traditions CDs.
What’s new?
n
n
T
he Yiddish Radio Project: Co-produced with Sound Portraits
Productions, this Peabody Awardwinning, 10-week radio series on
the history of Jewish broadcasting
for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” aired in
Spring 2002. The program sparked a seven-city nationwide
live concert tour, best-selling CDs, and reached over thirteen
million people. See www.yiddishradioproject.org.
“ Live from KlezKamp! The Staff Concerts
1985-2003”: A 2 CD set featuring the
best of 20 years of KlezKamp staff
concerts.
“ From the Repertoire of German Goldenshteyn”: a book of
100 of the 800 klezmer tune transcriptions that German
Goldenshteyn wrote down over his lifetime, including 20
songs featured on the Living Traditions CD.
n
n
“ Zvee Scooler: Der Grammeister“ CD: An anthology of this
beloved Yiddish actor’s selected radio performances, poetry,
and even commerials was released in December 2006.  This
is the first in a series in Living Traditions’ releases — in the
original Yiddish — of rare selections from the Yiddish Radio
Project archives.
“ Ray Musiker: A Living Tradition” CD: At KlezKamp 2006,
clarinet master Ray Musiker recorded the next in our “A
Living Tradition” CD series, featuring Musiker’s original
and classic material and backed by a stellar staff ensemble
of Pete Sokolow (piano), Alex Kontorovich (alto sax), Ken
Maltz (tenor sax), Jim Guttmann (bass), Aaron Alexander
(drums), and Henry Sapoznik (guitar).
What’s coming up?
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L
exicon of Yiddish Theater: Living Traditions will offer an
edited and updated translation of Zalmen Zylbercweig’s
seminal seven-volume Lexicon of Yiddish Theater, originally
published only in a limited Yiddish edition, for a new
generation of scholars, researchers, students, and historians.
And don’t forget…
n
“ The Green Duck/Di Grine Katshke: A Menagerie Of Yiddish
Songs For Children”: Your kids will
love this wonderful collection of songs
about animals performed in Yiddish by
Paula Teitelbaum and Lorin Sklamberg,
joined by world-class klezmer
musicians.
O
nline Digital Sound Archive of Vintage Yiddish 78s:
Thanks to a generous private donor, Living Traditions is
painstakingly digitalizing more than 2,500 78 rpm records
of early 20th century klezmer music, folk and theater
songs, comic dialogues, and Hebrew cantorial works. Soon
you can download these precious public domain recordings
— remastered with lifelike clarity — from our new Online
Digital Sound Archive at www.livingtraditions.org.
n
n
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K
lezGig Database: Living Traditions’ website will soon feature
a centralized, searchable database of Klezmer and Yiddish
music performances worldwide for music fans.
from the Yiddish Radio Project: Living Traditions
will create a Digital Archive to preserve and catalogue
Yiddish radio artifacts — original scripts, correspondence,
advertising, newspaper clips, posters, photographs,
declassified FBI and FCC files, and 176 newly-discovered
discs of NY’s WEVD Yiddish radio shows from the 1930s
— with public access online and through major libraries.
nM
ore
Through these year-round projects, Living Traditions encourages development of a worldwide Jewish community
knowledgably steeped in Yiddish language, culture, and traditions too often forgotten in modern Jewish life.
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
KlezKamp &
Other Programs
82%
Why is Living Traditions like a bagel?
…because it takes dough to make it!
Revenue
Living Traditions’ programs cost a lot of bread.
When you come to KlezKamp, your tuition pays for your
room, your food, and the remarkable musicians, dancers,
writers, and folk artists who share their craft with you
for one memorable week.
Misc.
3%
Contributions
34%
Membership
Fees 4%
But your tuition doesn’t pay for the other 51 weeks
of our year.
That’s when Living Traditions is cooking up our next KlezKamp
and rolling out other invaluable projects: recording performances
by living folk artists, teaching folk crafts to your community,
and preserving and sharing our irreplaceable Yiddish heritage.
Tuition
59%
Expense
Running KlezKamp and our unique programs takes a
big bite out of Living Traditions’ budget bagel.
Personnel &
Overhead
15%
KlezKamp &
Other Programs
82%
Fundraising
3%
We spend more on our programs (82%) than we take in from
membership fees and KlezKamp tuition (60%). But we spend
only 18% for overhead and fundraising.*
*based on 2005 audited financials.
That’s why we depend on tax-deductible donations from
people like you who want Yiddish culture to be part of your
life — and the lives of your children and grandchildren.
Become a member of Living Traditions. And make a gift to support KlezKamp
and our programming. Help shmeer Yiddish culture nationwide!
I know that Living Traditions kneads my dough for KlezKamp and its year-round programs.
Here’s my membership fee of:
Revenue
■ $75 Individual
■ $100 Family
■ $180 Supporting Membership
Contributions
Misc.
And here’s my 34%
tax-deductible donation of:
3%
Membership
4%
■ $18
■ $36
■ $72 Fees
■ $100
■ $250
■ $36 Full-time Student/Senior Citizen
■ $360 Sustaining Membership
■ $500
■ Other___________________________
Name:_______________________________________________________________________________________
Tuition
59%
Address:_____________________________________________________________________________________
City:____________________________________________ State: ________ Zip Code:_____________________
Phone:____________________________________ E-mail:____________________________________________
Living Traditions, 45 E. 33rd Street, Suite B-2A, New York, NY 10016 USA
tel: (212) 532-8202 • fax: (212) 532-8238 • info@livingtraditions.org • www.livingtraditions.org
www.klezkamp.org
31
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KlezKamp 2007: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
KlezKamp 2007:
The Yiddish Folk Arts Program
Sponsored by Living Traditions
45 E. 33rd Street, Suite B-2A
New York City, NY 10016
(212) 532-8202 (phone) • (212) 532-8238 (fax)
info@livingtraditions.org
www.klezkamp.org or www.klezkamp.com
Henry “Hank” Sapoznik, Founder/Executive Director
Sherry Mayrent, Associate Director, KlezKamp
Sabina Brukner, Associate Director, Living Traditions
Judith Bro Pinhasik, Associate Director for Development
Dan Peck, Operations
Laura Wernick, Technical Director
Faith Jones, Archivist and Editor
Living Traditions is supported by a development grant from
the Corners Fund for Traditional Cultures.
Additional funding from the Forward Association and the German Information Center.
Founded in 1994, Living Traditions is a national non-profit organization committed to the celebration and continuity of community-based, traditional Yiddish culture. We don’t view yidishkayt
as a symbol of a lost world, nor as customs that are our duty to perpetuate. Instead, Living
Traditions strives to bring the lush bounty of this cultural heritage to new generations in ways
both inspiring and relevant to contemporary Jewish life. We make Yiddish a meaningful part of
ones active personal identity in a multi-cultural world.
Besides KlezKamp, Living Traditions also produces a growing library of CDs preserving performances by both legendary and exciting new artists from the klezmer world, Yiddish theatre, and
radio, and also publishes books on Yiddish cultural themes. Under construction, our online database of digitalized 78 rpm klezmer/Yiddish song recordings will soon be globally accessible for
study and enjoyment. From cyber technology to one-on-one instruction, Living Traditions uses
every means available to preserve, teach, and spread Yiddish culture.
Living Traditions is a non-profit organization under section 501 c (3) of the Internal Revenue
Code. Gifts to Living Traditions are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law.