Thursday evening, May 21, is the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shevuis (Shavuot), celebrating the barley and wheat harvests and the giving of the Toyre (Torah) at Mount Sinai. Customs include eating dairy foods – such as cheesecake – and all night learning! But you don't need to wait until Shevuis; check out all of the exciting events listed below. |
| KlezCalifornia Yiddish Culture Fund Grantee | | At Urban Adamah, 1151 Sixth St, Berkeley
Friday, May 1 - Saturday, May 2 | | |
Join Kol for a weekend of music, Shabes practices, and community building. This unique participatory retreat brings together singers, musicians, and learners of diverse backgrounds and ages to explore both ancestral and modern Jewish music. Together with faculty teachers, they will co-create the weekend.
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| | KlezCalifornia is a media sponsor | Sunday, May 3, 11 am - 4 pm, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley | |
UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life is kicking off Jewish American Heritage Month with a lineup of over 30 authors and artists. The festival features book talks, panel discussions, and family-friendly workshops celebrating the diversity of Jewish culture. Topics include the intersection of Jewish, Latin, and Arab identities, the role of 1980s punk in fighting antisemitism, and how Jewish creators have impacted everything from American comic books to children’s literature. See Accessing the Yiddish Word, and Paris Portraits below, part of this event.
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| | | | Sunday, May 3, 11 am
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley | |
A multidisciplinary panel bringing together literary translators Tamara Helfer and Benjamin Lerman with “visual translator” and graphic designer Tyler Kliem to discuss their recent works.
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| | | | Sunday, May 3, 1 pm
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley | |
Laura Sheppard, Yiddish Theatre Ensemble artistic director, will perform her signature solo piece, Paris Portraits, a dramatic reading about the life of writer Harriet Levy in Paris. Directed by Suzanne Stassevich.
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| | Co-presented by KlezCalifornia | Friday, May 15, 7:30 - 8:30 pm PT, in-person and online (calculate your local time HERE)
Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos, California | |
A lively Shabes service led by Rabbi Shifra and Peter Weiss-Penzias and other special musical guests, followed by an interactive musical presentation by Nat Seelen, founder and artistic director of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music.
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| | Fiscally-sponsored by KlezCalifornia | Sunday, May 17, 2 - 5 pm, Congregation Netivot Shalom,
1316 University Avenue, Berkeley | | |
Join the last Joy event of the 2025-2026 season. Great for musicians, dancers, and enthusiasts to meet, learn, play, shmooze, or simply to take in the beauty of these rich Jewish music and dance traditions. Bring your instruments and dancing shoes.
For the May 17 session, music will be taught by Nat Seelen and dance will be taught by Bruce Bierman.
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Presented by KlezCalifornia
Sunday, May 17, 2 - 3 pm PT, online (calculate your local time HERE)
| | This free, monthly online conversation Salon is for fluent (flisik) Yiddish speakers. | | |
Di teme far may vet zayn: Ven ir volt gekent esn vetshere mit velkhe se zol nisht zayn mentshn (toyte oder lebedike), ver voltn zey geven? Far vos hot ir zey oysgeklibn un vegn vos volt ir geredt?
If you could have dinner with any people (dead or alive), who would they be? Why did you choose them and what might you talk about?
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Co-presented by KlezCalifornia
Tuesday, May 19, 7 pm PT, The Back Room in Berkeley
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Join us for a very special evening of klezmer music featuring some of the leading musicians on the global klezmer scene today. This concert breathes new life into old music: both groups represent a continuity of the long lineage of Eastern European Jewish folk music.
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| | US Friends of KLEZCADIA is fiscally sponsored by KlezCalifornia | |
Victoria, British Columbia and Online
Tuesday, June 9 - Sunday, June 14
| | | | KLEZCADIA is a fully-hybrid festival and learning retreat that prioritizes the safe experience of immuno-compromised and high-risk participants. Its 9-14 June 2026 third season in the beautiful Cascadian city of Victoria, British Columbia will feature outstanding artists from both sides of the border. Learn more » | | |
Boston-based Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Trio presents two original compositions, together entitled "December Suite." You can see Nat Seelen, clarinetist with the trio, across several events in the Bay Area this month.
Watch here »
| | CORRECTION: In our April newsletter we mistakenly identified the singer of Khad Gadyo (One Kid), the incomparable Cantor Moyshe Oysher, as Moishe Fisher. | | View more events and classes on our website: | | View KlezCalifornia's Honor Wall. Become a donor to post your tribute. | | A bisl mer (a little bit more) | | | | |
