General Interest Classes  

Don’t worry – if you aren’t a singer, dancer or musician and don’t speak Yiddish, there are still plenty of classes you can enjoy.

Operettas, Tearjerkers and Haunted Tales: Coming Up Close to the Heart of Yiddish Drama/PM2 Miriam Isaacs

This course explores Yiddish plays by famous playwrights of the golden age of Yiddish theater, including Avrom Goldfadn, Jacob Gordin and Peretz Hirshbein. Using translations and original Yiddish texts, we enter the powerful emotions of this highly expressive tradition through song lyrics, scenes and dialogue. Learn about and listen to actors, comics, heartthrobs and singers of the Yiddish stage, including Aaron Lebedeff, Molly Picon, Joseph Buloff and Boris Tomashevsky.

Yidvertising: Classic Ads from the Yiddish Press/PM1 Amanda Miryem-Khaye Seigel

Cigarettes, gefilte fish in a jar, and shtreimel repair shops: Yiddish advertisements adorn newspapers, from the classic Forverts to today’s Hasidic Yellow Pages. Join us for a fascinating and funny exploration of these iconic images and texts, and how they shaped generations of Yiddish consumers.

Joseph Rumshinsky: The Composer Who Reformed Yiddish Musical Theater/AM2 Ron Robboy

Equally at home using Jewish liturgical and folk motifs, the composer of “Sheyn vi di levone” was also the first to put American rhythm on the Yiddish stage. Using the Mayrent Collection of historic recordings as our principal resource, we will examine Rumshinsky’s remarkable music and career. Putting some of his many songs in the context of his dozens of operettas, we’ll see how he shaped what we know today as the Second Avenue style.

The Yiddish Film Musicals of Abe Ellstein/PM1 Ron Robboy

“Oy, mame, bin ikh farlibt,” “Abi gezunt,” “Mazl,” “Tif vi di nakht,” and of course “Yidl mitn fidl.” These are not only among the best known of Ellstein’s songs, but are among the most famous of Yiddish standards—required repertoire for every gig band and singer. Strikingly, these songs were all composed not for the stage, but for a cluster of film musicals he scored in the late 1930s. Viewing extensive film clips, we’ll focus on Ellstein’s scores as we deconstruct the musicals.

How Radio Rescued the Yiddish Theater/AM1 Henry Sapoznik

Join KlezKamp founder Henry Sapoznik as he demonstrates—through rare examples from his Library of Congress radio archives—how both original radio dramas and adaptations of staged productions on the air helped sustain the Yiddish theater through the dark days of the Great Depression’s economic uncertainty.

From Shund to Shakespeare: Yiddish Theater in the Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library/AM2 Amanda Miryem-Khaye Seigel

Trace the history of Yiddish theater on Second Avenue and beyond, through vintage theater posters, sheet music, and Boris Thomashefsky’s play manuscripts, from the collection of the Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library.

Jewish Comedy Songs from the Shtetl to the Catskills/AM2 Pete Sokolow

A survey of comedy songs in Yiddish and English, featuring both live performances and classic recordings from the likes of Aaron Lebedeff, Irving Kaufman, the Barton Brothers, Mickey Katz and Alan Sherman.

Foodways in English/AM1 (see Foodways)

Wexology/PM2 (see Language/Lit.)

Daytsh af Tselokhes/AM1 (see Language/Lit.)

Our Lives Are In Our Songs/PM1 (see Yiddish Song)

Yiddish Theater Songs: Taste, Class, Actors and Audiences/AM1 (see Yiddish Song)