Yiddish Songs for Children is an 8×11 full-color book with a disc of 14 lively songs with a message, such as: it is good to listen to your parents, enjoy Shabbos, appreciate nature, and give charity.

The book includes Yiddish lyrics with English translation, Yiddish transliteration and musical score. A CD with all the songs (played by  musicians from the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra) is enclosed on the front cover.

To order Yiddish Songs for Children, contact:

Mame-Loshn Productions
8914 N. Central Park
Evanston, IL 60203

(847) 675-3335

Cost: $30 (including sales tax and regular postage)

Figa

Tzivi’s Report: Chicago YIVO Summer Festival favorites Stewart Figa & Ilya Levinson brought the crowd to its feet Saturday at the “Kosher Cabaret” sponsored by West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest.

Their 6 partners in the New Budapest Orpheum Society (Julia Bentley, Philip V. Bohlman, Dan Davis, Iordanka Kissiova, Mark Sonksen, & Don Stille) joined Figa & Levinson for a celebration of Figa’s 13th year as WSTHZ’s cantor extraordinaire.

Figa sang in German, Hebrew, & Yiddish, including my all-time favorite number “Ich bin ein unverbesserlicher Optimist” (“I’m an Irrepressible Optimist”) by Hermann Leopoldi & Robert Katscher. He also added a great rendition of Irving Berlin’s raucus “Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars” (in English).

Levinson

Mezzo-soprano Bentley provided the female touch with German torch songs, including the wonderful “Black Market” solo Marlene Dietrich sang (in English) in Billy Wilder’s 1948 film A Foreign Affair.

The New Budapest Orpheum Society has two CD collections (Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano & Jewish Cabaret in Exile) and they are BOTH highly recommended.

To Stewart: Mazel tov on your Bar Mitzvah year at WSTHZ!

SRO Crowd @ WSTHZ

Photo Credits: Jan Lisa Huttner (12/3/11)

Fall2011ChgoYIVO

Our screening was Sunday Nov 6th @ 3:30 PM at the AMC Northbrook Court, followed by a private dinner for Wolman at DiPescara Restaurant.

The screening was sold out! Sheynem Dank to everyone who attended & special thanks to the staff at DiPescara for a delightful evening.

Dan Wolman speaking about Gei Oni at the DiPescara reception. Pictured with Wolman below are Kate Berezutskaya (l) plus Morrie Fred, Cindy Stern & Fran Dvorkin (r).

Read more about Gei Oni in Tzivi’s Guide to the 2011 Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema (in the October issue of the JUF News):

“Tamar Alkan makes an unforgettable screen debut as ‘Fania’ in Gei Oni (Valley of Fortitude). Fania is a refined young woman who arrives in Turkish Palestine circa 1882 traumatized by the Ukrainian pogroms which decimated her family. Moving to a settlement near Sfat, she must build a new life for herself while coming to terms with her past. Gei Oni, directed with epic scope and historical precision by Dan Wolman, has already received festival awards in France, Germany and Romania.”

Torah graphic courtesy of Free-Bitsela.

Zackary Sholem Berger will read from his new book Not in the Same Breath (a book of poems in both English and Yiddish)

Where: Harold Washington Library Center

When: Tues Oct 18 @ 6:30 PM

Zackary Sholem Berger, better known to Forverts readers as Sholem Berger, will be in Chicago for a medical convention in October. (Those of you who read Forverts &/or The Forward regularly may have enjoyed his dispatches from medical school, and then as a resident in training in internal medicine.)

Among Sholem’s other accomplishments is producing children’s books, specifically translating two Dr. Seuss books (One Fish, Two Fish and The Cat in the Hat)  into Yiddish. Sholem did this in collaboration with his wife Celeste (a book designer), and they were allowed to use the publisher’s copyrighted design, artwork, etc. as an “official” translation of these works.

Some of you may remember when Sholem and Celeste came to Chicago to read from Kats, der Payats way back in 2004, others may remember studying these texts (not really exact translations but rather adaptations capturing the essence of each story) in Khane Feygl’s classes. 

Come to the Chicago Authors Room on the 7th Floor of the Harold Washington Library Center on October 18th and help us welcome Sholem back to the Windy City!

To Pre-Schoolers, K-12, Gen-X, Gen-Y, Boomers, Bubbes & Zaydes:

The Chicago YIVO Society invites you & your entire family to a Holiday Sing-along with a quintet from the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band & noshes from EJ’s Pizzeria!

Date: Sunday, Oct 2 (between Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur)

Time: Doors open 11:30 AM/Music @ Noon/Refreshments 1-2 PM

Where: Evanston S.P.A.C.E.  @ 1245 Chicago Ave.

One block east of Dempster Purple Line station.

Free municipal garage across the street, plus on-street parking.

Cost: $7.00 per person (under 6 years old FREE)

LIMITED SEATING – RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

email: fdvorkin@comcast.net / phone: Fran (630)620-0634

Click here for pdf download –> 11Oct02KlezmerParty

Cantor Stewart Figa of West Suburban Temple Har Zion in River Forest told a series of traditional Khelm Stories (including An Open Door and Teltse by Solomon Simon) while cellist Racheli Galay and pianist Ilya Levinson provided punctuation.

Most of the musical interludes came from Klezmer Tunes with a Classical Touch by Israeli composer Daniel Galay (Racheli’s father). Then, in his grand finale, Figa lead a sing-along of Yiddish favorites (such as Der Rebbe Elimelekh), and Galay and Levinson closed with a medley of their own called Wedding Potpourri.

Born in Warsaw in 1911, Sarah Lazarus lived most of her life in Chicago. After graduating from DePaul University with a degree in music, she became a beloved teacher at both Yiddish folkshuln and local Hebrew schools. She also sang in synagogue choirs and performed at hundreds of metro Chicago community events.

The SRO crowd included program sponsors Jerry and Debbie Lazarus (Sarah’s son and daughter-in-law) who came from Denver to reminisce with dozens of her former students.

Top photo from left: Levinson, Galay, and Figa.

Bottom photo from left: Levinson, Figa & Galay with  Debbie &  Jerry Lazarus, and Chicago YIVO Board President Jake Morowitz.

Photo Credits: Jan Lisa Huttner (7/10/11)

Date: July 10 (Sunday)

Time: 1:30–3:30 PM

Where: Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center

Mayses un Klangen (Stories and Sounds) features texts based on Jewish folklore to be narrated by Cantor Stewart Figa accompanied by cellist Racheli Galay and pianist Ilya Levinson. The music was written by Israeli composer Daniel Galay (Racheli’s father).

RSVP & PRE-PAYMENT REQUIRED!

For details, visit the ILHMEC website.

Sarah Rose Lazarus (1911-2000) taught thousands of children in Chicago’s folkshuln the joys of Yiddish music, and later taught at Hebrew day schools.  Her happy personality and nurturing attitude made her beloved to her students.

Our special guest for this performance will be Sarah Lazarus’ son Jeremy. Born and raised here in Chicago,  Jeremy  A. Lazarus, M.D. (President-elect of the American Medical Association) is now a clinical professsor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and resides in Denver.