A joyous Shvues (Shavuot) to you!    
 
Celebrate the giving of the  Toyreh beginning the evening of Saturday, May 19. Customs include staying up all night to learn, and eating  milkhiks  (dairy) such as cheese blintzes, kugel, ice cream, pizza, and, of course, cheesecake.
 
If you have ever wondered, "Why cheesecake?," check out this article in The Nosher. It includes 31 recipes for cheesecake.

Also, a freylekhn lag boymer, i.e. Happy Lag b'Omer, this Thursday!  
   
May His Memory Be A Blessing

The Bay Area's Yiddish world lost a treasure when Arje Shaw died suddenly in March.  An émigré from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Arje came to New York City as a child with his parents and sister fro m a German displacement camp after the Second World War. After a  career in social work (inc luding ti me as director of a JCC), he became a writer, playwright, producer, and performer. 
 
In 2001, his best known play, "The Gathering," was produced at The Cort Theater on Broadway starring Hal Linden, following the off-Broadway production with Theodore Bikel and Jesse Eisenberg. Once he and his wife Esther moved to the Bay Area, he jumped into Yiddish life, including singing as part of Di Megileh and in the Nigunim Chorus, teaching "How to Write Funny" workshops, actively participating in KlezCalifornia's Flisik Yidish Salon, and serving as MC for a KlezCalifornia Cabaret by the Bay.
Yiddish Wisdom
The Sheet Music is Lying! Dmitri 

How to Interpret Written Klezmer
with Dmitri Gaskin
Presented by KlezCalifornia 

Sunday, May 6, 3:45-6:45 pm 
 
We've heard that using sheet music for klezmer is sacrilegious and disrespectful. But can it be done? This class will explore the ways that klezmer sheet music can be misleading, and provide advice for what to do when faced with a piece of music that's written down (Hint: we can do more than putting it in the trash!).
 
Details
 * All ages & acoustic instruments welcome  
 * For intermediate level players or above
 * No klezmer experience needed, but it doesn't hurt!
 * Bring a music stand
 * Sheet music you may review in advance 
 * Light refreshments included
 * Listeners welcome - donation requested
 * Tickets at the door, cash or check only

Please RSVP  
Contact us at 415.789.7679 or  jams@klezcalifornia.organd tell us what instrument you play. Drop-ins welcome.

Bring a friend!
Share the FB event page with your friends. Bring someone who has never come before, and you
get a coupon for a future workshop at no charge. Such a deal!
 

Save the date for the next KlezCalifornia monthly workshop!Nign
with Jeanette Lewicki
for singers AND instrumentalists  
Sunday, June 3, Piedmont  

Lecture with author Robbin Legere Henderson 
Thursday, May 17, 7pm
Jewish Community Library, SF
 
Russian immigrant Matilda Rabinowitz (1887-1963) was a feminist, labor organizer, and mother. In her memoir, she describes life in the Pale of Settlement and tells the story of her journey to America, her political awakening and work as an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and, in her personal life, of a turbulent romance and struggle to support herself and her child. Matilda's granddaughter, Robbin Légère Henderson, added commentary and illustrations for "Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman," recently published by Cornell University Press.  

Co-presented by KlezCalifornia
Free
  Flisik Yidish Salonflisik

Fluent in Yiddish?  
Come to KlezCalifornia's free monthly conversation salon!

Sunday, May 20, 2-4pm, SF
Email us or call 415.789.7679
 
Di  temes veln zayn:
* A yidisheh yuntef: Velkher iz dir geven vikhtik oder  
  iz geven dayn balibster? Zog farvos.
* Dayn balibsteh idyomatisheh oysdrukn. Zog farvos.
* Tsvantsik shayles.
* Zing a lid oder tsvey.
 
Farges nit tsu brengen epes tsu nashn!
 

Lecture by Prof. Steven J. Zipperstein
Thursday, May 31, 7pm
Jewish Community Library, SF

Kishinev's 1903 riot seized the imagination of the international public and became the prototype for what would now become known as a pogrom. It would provide a crucial impetus to developments as far flung as Zionism, the NAACP, and the first version of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." 

Professor Zipperstein will discuss his much-anticipated new work on the Kishinev pogrom.

Co-presented by KlezCalifornia
Free
Farshidns
Farshidns
Tidbits of Yiddish culture from around the world 

Ruth Rubin album cover
  • Child soloist performs 
    A Sheynem Kholem ( Beautiful Dream), a.k.a.
    Nisht Gedayget, Yidn! ( Don't worry, Jews!)  
    (Thanks to Frank Fox).
     
  • with 1,500 20th century Yiddish songs 
     
  • Online Yiddish Theater course
    begins May 1
Yiddish Culture, Dance & Music
May
 
Jabotinsky's Children: Polish Jews and the Rise of Right-Wing Zionism,
with Daniel Kupfert Heller 
Sunday, May 6, 1:30pm
Jewish Community Library, SF
Sunday, May 6, 3:45-6:45pm
Kehilla Community Synagogue, Piedmont

When Yiddish Was Young: Vilna's Last Generation, lecture with Justin Cammy 
Monday, May 14, 6pm 
Taube Center for Jewish Studies, Stanford University

Fun Vilner Geto: Zikhroynes fun Avrom Sutzkever, lecture in Yiddish with Justin Cammy 
Tuesday, May 15, 12noon
Taube Center for Jewish Studies, Stanford University
 
Thursday, May 17, 7pm
Jewish Community Library, SF
Fridays, May 18 - June 15, 1-3pm
Acalanes College, Walnut Creek  

Sunday, May 20, 2-4pm
Private home in SF

Thursday, May 31, 7pm
Jewish Community Library, SF  
Coming in June
  
Alicia Svigals' one-woman concert, part of vegan dinner party hosted by chef Philip Gelb  
Friday, June 1, 7pm (sold out but there's a wait list)
Oakland 

Klezmer for Any & All Instruments, with Alicia Svigals
Saturday, June 2, 12noon-2pm
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley

The Nign: A Subway to Heaven
KlezCalifornia workshop for singers and instrumentalists with Jeanette Lewicki
Sunday, June 3, 3:45-6:45pm
Kehilla Community Synagogue, Piedmont

The Ancient Law - Silent film with live original music by klezmer fiddler Alicia Svigals and pianist Donald Sosin
Sunday, June 3, 2pm
Castro Theatre, SF

Sunday, June 10, 2:30-4:30pm
Jewish Community High School, SF
 
KlezCalifornia Flisik Yidish Salon 
Sunday, June 17, 2-4pm
Walnut Creek
 
 Donate

Help us continue our exciting mission to connect people and communities around the Bay Area with Yiddish culture. Donate $18, $36 or $54
here .
 
If you prefer to mail a check, use the address below.

A sheynem dank! (Thank you very much!)
A bisl mer (a little bit more)

Want your event in this newsletter? Tell us about it!