Mission, Vision, Values, and Strategies
Yiddish Culture
encompasses the language, arts, and customs of 1,000 years of Jewish community life across Eastern Europe. The Holocaust destroyed Jewish life in most of these places, yet the past forty years have witnessed a revival of its artistic and cultural components such as klezmer music, song, food, calligraphy, paper cutting, film, and folklore, as well as short stories, poetry, and theater (in their original language and in translation). Klezmer dance, although almost lost, is being taught again and enjoyed at community celebrations and weddings. Yiddish culture enriches the lives of those involved. Many events appeal to all ages, bringing generations together. Yiddish culture connects many who are disconnected from other community offerings with the Jewish past and a future they may help create. Accessible to Jews and non-Jews alike, Yiddish culture provides something for everyone in interfaith families. As the heyday of Jewish life in Eastern Europe fades into the distant past, its artistic and cultural legacy will thrive as each generation learns, develops, and teaches it.
KlezCalifornia's Mission
KlezCalifornia
was founded in 2003 to celebrate klezmer music and Yiddish culture in
the San Francisco Bay Area. Our focus is on the cultural heritage of
Eastern European Jewry, as embodied in its music, literature, and the
arts. KlezCalifornia events enable people of all ages to engage actively
and intensely with Yiddish culture — participating, not just watching
others perform.
KlezCalifornia's Vision
is of a San Francisco Bay Area where:
- Yiddish culture is part of the lives of an increasing number of individuals and families who engage in Yiddish language arts, klezmer music, Yiddish song and dance, and enjoy East European Jewish food.
- Yiddish cultural activities are regularly part of community centers, synagogues, and ethnic/folk music and dance gatherings.
- Klezmer music is presented regularly in community arts venues and considered one element of world music.
- Yiddish cultural events attract people of all ages, from all parts of the region and many ethnic groups.
- A growing number of people steeped in Yiddish culture are enthusiastically teaching it.
- Bay Area Jews who do not find fulfillment through religious activities have meaningful Jewish experiences through encounter with culture.
- Jewish youth are introduced to their Yiddish heritage throughout their cultural and religious education.
- KlezCalifornia continues to play a significant role in building a vibrant region-wide community to promote and celebrate Yiddish culture.
Values and Assumptions
- Yiddish culture will thrive when people actively participate, rather than exclusively observe professional performances as a passive audience.
- Yiddish culture contributes to the rich cultural mix in the San Francisco Bay Area within the Jewish community and the broader community.
- Yiddish culture can bring people closer to Jewish life and strengthen their Jewish identity and creativity.
- Arts and artists benefit from interaction among cultures.
- Yiddish culture is more appealing when promoted as fun and enjoyable rather than as something that “must” be participated in to keep the culture alive.
Strategies
- Produce larger part-day to multi-day festivals.
- Produce smaller ongoing and one-time events ("Tastes of Yiddish Culture") throughout the nine-county Bay Area.
- Publicize related cultural events through the only email list reaching Bay Area residents interested in Yiddish culture (currently at 1400 subscribers).
- Identify and link Yiddish culture bearers with each other and with the region’s creative communities.
- Connect individuals with each other and with important Yiddish teachers and culture-bearers.
- Identify and involve people already interested in Yiddish culture.
- Bring together those interested in individual elements of Yiddish culture to appreciate it as a whole.
- Attract people new to Yiddish culture through the performing arts.
- Incorporate Yiddish culture into Jewish education programs for both youth and adults.
- Encourage participation from both Jewish and non-Jewish people.
Staff
Board of Directors
Advisory Council
- Michael Alpert, Teacher, Historian, Writer, and Musician, Brave Old World
- Zachary M. Baker, Assistant University Librarian for Collection Development - Humanities & Social Sciences, Stanford University Libraries
- Achi Ben Shalom. Musician & Choral Director, Adama and East Bay Jewish Chorus
- Sharon Bernstein, Yiddish Singer & Cantor, Congregation Sha'ar Zahav (San Francisco)
- Stuart Brotman, Musician, Veretski Pass and Brave Old World
- Yael Chaver, Ph.D., Lecturer in Yiddish and Hebrew language and literature, Dept. of German, U.C.Berkeley
- Julie Egger, Co-founder of KlezCalifornia and Musician, Red Hot Chachkas
- Howard Freedman, Director, Bureau of Jewish Education Jewish Community Library
- Paul Howard Hamburg, Librarian for Judaica, Yiddish and Israel Studies at the Doe-Moffitt Libraries and Curator for Judaica Collection at the Bancroft Library, U.C. Berkeley
- Joshua Horowitz, Musicologist and Musician, Veretski Pass and Budowitz
- Donny Inbar, Director of Culture, Israel Center of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation
- Stuart Kelman, Founding Rabbi, Congregation Netivot Shalom (Berkeley)
- Jon Levitow, Yiddish language teacher, Stanford University and U.C. Santa Cruz
- David Rosenfeld, Musician, Kugelplex
- Gabriella Safran, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Slavic Languages and LIteratures, Stanford University
- Joel Schechter, D.F.A., Professor, Theatre Arts Department, San Francisco State University
- Martin Schwartz, Ph.D., Professor, Dept. of Near Eastern Studies, U.C.Berkeley
- Cookie Segelstein, Musician, Veretski Pass
- Naomi Seidman, Ph.D., Director, Dinner Center For Jewish Studies, Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley)
- Ellie Shapiro, Director, Jewish Music Festival, a fiscally sponsored project of the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay
- Francesco Spagnolo, Musician, Musicologist, and Curator of Collections, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, Bancroft Library, U.C.Berkeley
- Harvey Varga, Yiddish language teacher and Contractor
Organizations specified for identification purposes only In Special Memory (zikhroynem l'vrokheh)- Board member Icek Mozes (d. 30 April 2013)
- Advisory Council member Adrienne Cooper (d. 25 December 2011)
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