Yiddish Songs to Kick Off New Musical Series at Lawrence Family JCC

By Eileen Wingard

Eileen Wingard

LA JOLLA, California — A new series of Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaica Library will be launched on Thursday, January 5, 2 p.m. in the library of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. Register here.

The three-part series will feature songs of our people, opening with Yiddish Songs. It will be followed by Ladino Songs, February 9, and Israeli Songs, March 9, also at 2 p.m. I will be hosting the series.

For the January 5 program, I will be having three Yiddish singers as my guests, Deborah Davis, co-director of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble; Elisheva Edelson, director of the Ohr Shalom Choir; and Elizabeth Schwartz, vocalist with Hot Pstromi.

The playlist will include 13 Yiddish works on recordings and CDs from the Astor Judaica Library’s Collection.

The program will begin with Theodore Bikel singing “Sha Shtil,” one of the many songs about a rabbi. Next, we will hear Paul Zim in”Eili, Eili,” pleading with God to relieve the suffering of the Jews.

Three songs of longing for home will follow: Elisheva Edelson’s renditions of  “Kinder Yoren” and “Yankele” and Mandy Patinkin’s “Belz.” Elizabeth Schwartz’s “Papirossen,” a reflection of the abounding poverty, will be followed by Martha Schlamme’s “Lomir Sich Iberbetten,” a song of reconciliation. Next will be “Grune Kuzine,” from a Second Avenue Klezmer recording sung by Deborah Davis. Dudu Fisher will be heard in the famous lullaby, “Rozhinkes Mit Mandeln,” Robert Abelson will sing Lazar Weiner’s setting of “A Nigun” and Theodore Bikel will sing Zalman Shneour’s song of seduction, “Margaritkelach.”

The final three songs will be Sidor Bilarsky singing “Reizele,” Dudu Fisher singing “Yiddishe Mamme,” and Andre Ochodlo singing the best-known Yiddish song of all, “Bei Mir Bist Du Shein.”

The three guests, Deborah Davis, Elisheva Edelson, and Elizabeth Schwartz, will assist me in introducing the songs.

Deborah Davis, born in Brooklyn, majored in music and drama at Brooklyn College before moving to San Diego, where she graduated from UCSD with a BA in operatic performance. She learned Yiddish songs from her grandmother, who would sing to her as a child. In 1990, after serving as lead vocalist with Ron Robboy’s Big Jewish Band, she and Robert Zelickman co-founded the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble, which continues to this day. She is also an ordained cantor for Humanistic Judaism.

Elisheva Edelson’s birthplace was Monterrey, Mexico. She graduated from the Yiddish-Hebrew Teachers Seminary in Mexico City. She taught Hebrew, Yiddish and Jewish Music at the Yiddish Shule in Mexico City and sang in cultural events organized by the Israeli Embassy and performed in Annual Jewish Music Festivals in the Palace of Fine Arts. She attended the Senior Educators Program at the Melton Institute of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Currently, Edelson teaches Hebrew at Torah High School, Judaic Studies at Congregation Beth Am and conducts the Ohr Shalom Choir.

Elizabeth Schwartz, a native New Yorker, graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. She was a trained singer. It was not until she met her husband, Yale Strom, that she learned to speak and sing in Yiddish. With Strom’s Klezmer groups, she has appeared at festivals, synagogues and concert halls worldwide, and made recordings for labels such as Naxos World, and Transcontinental Music. She has also created audio dramas and written recipe books, such as “A Wandering Feast.”

With a comprehensive playlist and three knowledgeable guests, Treasures from the Music Collection of the Astor Judaic Library: Yiddish Songs promises to be a memorable program. It is sponsored by the Senior Department of the Lawrence Family JCC, Melanie Rubin, director, with co-sponsorship from Yaaana and Yiddishland, Jana Mazurkiewicz, director.

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Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com