IAYC Conference Updates

June-July 2003
Report #8
Meet the Committee Behind the Conference

It takes a lot of work to realize a conference from the original vision to the on-the-ground event. And the Baltimore conference scheduled for September 4th though 7th is no exception.

SYLVIA SCHILDT, coordinator and chair, took the original theme and ran with it. She recognized its potential because of her ten years studying with great Yiddish teachers of the Arbeter Ring. Sylvia saw in it a celebration of glories past, and a challenge to Yiddish teachers and Yiddish lovers to carve out a new role for Mame Loshn as one of the pillars of Jewish education today. Aiding her was her personal acquaintance with a who’s who of the world of Yiddish through the Internet. She was also guided by the input of founder Harold Black, along with Hilda Rubin, Fishl Kutner and Morrie Feller. Her search for the key post of treasurer brought her a true treasure, an oytser in the person of TED (Tevye) CHASKELSON, who continues to bring order and sanity to the business management of the conference, but also has expanded his role to promotion of the event to local synagogues and other Baltimore groups.

Co-Chair ERIKA GREENBLUM will be overseeing the events at the Conference to be sure all goes smoothly. AARON SEIDEN helped plan the tour of Jewish Baltimore and is t the person for the job, since he is a docent and guide with the Jewish Historical Museum.
At a series of meetings, attended by committee at large members, CHARLOTTE GELLER BETTY TEPPER, AL KARCHEM, JIM KAPPLIN, DAVID FISHMAN, GILBERT RUDDIE, JEAN PINDRIK & SUE TYBERG, details of the program were hammered out and beautiful pocket folders are being prepared.
Baltimore Councilwoman RIKKI SPECTOR has aided in liaisons with the city authority Thanks also to Dr. SONAT HART, DEBORAH MARGOLIS & ELAINE ECKSTEIN of co-host Baltimore Hebrew University for their assistance. And to co-host JCC’s RABBI NINA CARDIN and EILEEN BERMAN for generous counsel and support.
Other committee members MARK HART and ROKHL EISSENSTADT are waiting in the wings to assist with registration, tickets at special events, hospitality and other tasks.
All these people are important to the success of the Conference, as are the stellar cast of Presenters and Performers. But the most important people at the Conference will be you, the participants. We need you to register NOW. And remember: prices go up for those received after July 1st – and bus space is very limited for the Tour. If you need a registration form, call Sylvia Schildt at 410 298-4765.

May 2003
Report #7
Program Schedule

The centerfold inside this issue is the near final program schedule. It is very well planned and has the proper balance so that there are sufficient sessions for both the knowledgeable and seasoned veterans as well as for the first time attendee or fairly new beginner. With a full schedule of evening programs of entertainment and a magnificent tour at the end, lead by Aaron Seiden, even the absolute beginner will have a great time. The complete choice for everyone to feel at home with kashruth and shabes services means that for the first time we are now able to completely satisfy your personal needs.

Here are a few of the highlights. Because of the theme relating to Yiddish teachers, the number of Yiddish teachers attending will be larger than in the past. There will be the opportunity for them to meet and share ideas, and for the rest of us to get questions answered.

While many of the best presenters from previous conferences are returning there will be a remarkable, new group who will add a wonderful new dimension to the program.

Among the exciting new presenters will be Dr. Sheva Zucker, author of Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture in two volumes. Eve Jochnowitz will bring balance and interest with her lecture on Jewish Foodways. William Tenn has a title catching topic—Sholem Aleykhem Meets Sci-Fi in On Venus Have We Got A Rabbi. Miriam Beckerman will speak on Mayn Lerer Dovid Katz. Kollye Borodulin will give two different programs—Yiddish Life in Birobidjan and a slide show on Yiddish Children’s Texts. Motl Rosenbush will tell us how to start a Svive and Lori Cahan-Simon Will speak on researching Mikhl Gelbert. Betty Tepper’s topic is Yiddish Tango: Buenos Aires to the World. Also new is Sholem Berger’s Yiddish presentation, Vos fara Yid redt Yidish? Then Shelby Shapiro will treat us to Fascinating Exploration of the Yidishe Ganovim. Judith Seid will lecture on Secular Options in Judaism.

Plenary session speakers are both new and have a formidable background. Gela Schweid Fishman’s keynote address will cover The Secular Yiddish Schools in North America —An archival Collection as a Living Source of Jewish Creativity. The second plenary speaker will be David Weintraub the Executive Director of the Dora Teitelboim Center for Jewish Culture.

The long list of returnees and special, previous presenters are shown in the centerfold. All in all this will be a conference not to be missed. Your editor looks forward to seeing you there.

Have a question, call Sylvia Schildt at 410-298-4765 or e-mail: creativa@charm.net

April 2003
Report #6
Experience The Soul of Jewish Baltimore

From the minute you arrive at the Hilton, your Jewish experience in Baltimore begins. You will find yourself in Pikesville, the heart of Jewish BaltimoreÑa community of black hats, secular humanists and every point in between.

Reisterstown Road, where the hotel is sited, hosts many shops and restaurants. Parallel to this long avenue is Park Heights Avenue, a veritable parade of synagogues, and the prestigious Rambam Yeshiva.

An influx of young Orthodox and Iranian Jews, add to BaltimoreÕs growing reputation as the Yerushalayim dÕAmerika. Drop into the 7Mile Supermarket. YouÕll think you are in Jerusalem Ñthe frum, the fray, Russian ŽmigrŽs, Israelis, Americans who speak the unique Bawlamor accent, former New Yorkers, all rubbing shoulders in the crowded aisles as they rush to buy kosher foodstuffs in time for Shabes.

Down Park Heights is Baltimore Hebrew Univ. a fountain of Jewish learning. They have a great collection of Yiddish films, tapes and books. ThereÕs a choice of kosher restaurants serving Chinese and pizza and more traditional items. Israeli products, Judaica and crafts abound.

Friday nightÕs Shabes dinner of heymish gefilte fish, challah rolls and delicious entrees will be followed by Zmiros and other Shabes songs, sung in the Ashkenazi nusakh by Cantor Allan Berman of the Moses Montefiore Modern Orthodox Synagogue.

Shabes, before the workshops commence, youÕll hear davening emanating from our makeshift shtibele for the Shomer Shabes. Come join in if you wish, visit the synagogue of your choice or just happily reminisce with newly-found friends or former shule-mates.

Sunday, after the conference, youÕll be able to board a bus, guided by docent Aaron Seiden who will show you Old Jewish Baltimore near the Inner Harbor, the lively Jewish Museum of Maryland and the beautiful landmark BÕnai Israel Synagogue, Di Russishe Shul - (1876), the oldest Baltimore synagogue in continuous use. YouÕll see Corned Beef Row, historic Lombard Street, where the Jewish immigrants lived, and so much more.

Baltimore was the hometown of Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah and the girlhood home of Yiddish actress Bessie Tomashevsky.

A great conference on Yiddish education, important speakers, concerts, a talent show, two film premieres, an exciting tour, and a great Jewish experienceÑthis is not to be missed. Register earlyÑdonÕt be disappointed.

Have a question, call Sylvia Schildt at 410-298-4765 or e-mail: creativa@charm.net

A great conference awaits you. Just as important as the program is location, location, location. The Hilton Pikesville Inn is located in the heymish Jewish heart of Baltimore. It’s only twenty minutes from our fabled Inner Harbor. It has become a tourist Mecca since the city planners turned old warehouses into a dream vacation center by the water. There’s the:
• National Aquarium
• Science Center
• Camden Yards
• Harborplace Shopping Center
• Vista of Small Boats
• Food Courts
• Cafes and Restaurants, and much more.
This charming hotel offers:
• Oversize Rooms, Non-smoking and
Handicap-Accessible Rooms
• In-Room Movies and Cable TV
• Hairdryers
• Dual Line Telephones with Data Ports and
Voice Mail
• Hair Salon, Jewelry Shop, even a Bank
• Indoor Tennis Courts
• Nautilus Fitness Center
• Outdoor Pool
• Saunas and Massage
• Dining Room with Mediterranean Cuisine
• Sports Bar for Light Snacks
• Nearby Restaurants Include Kosher Chinese
and Pizza.
The hotel is conveniently located only twenty minutes from BWI airport or the AMTRAK station. For those who will be driving up it’s also a breeze. Connect from I-95 to the Beltway, get off exit 20 and slide right in; the hotel is right at the off-ramp.
Following the Conference there will be a wonderful tour of Jewish Baltimore. Remember that Our Milwaukee Tour was a not-to-be forgotten highlight. Now you’ll see:
• Park Heights Avenue—a boulevard of shuls,
shtibelekh and yeshivas,
• Chanukah House
• Baltimore Hebrew University
• Old-time Jewish Baltimore Along the Harbor
• Jewish Historical Museum
• Corned Beef Row
• Lloyd Street Synagogue
• Di rusushe shul, the oldest continuously
functioning Orthodox shul in Maryland.
Four fabulous days, September 4, 5, 6 and 7. Thursday to-Sunday! There is so much to see and so much do in Kheyn Shtot. Register now and avoid the disappointment. Registration form is inside or download one at the website: www.derbay.org
For any additional questions that you may have contact the Yiddish teacher and Conference Coordinator, Sylvia Schildt,
by e-mail at: creativa@charm.net
or by phone at: 410-298-4765

February 2003
Report #4
Workshops & Lectures See Inside for Registration

Feast on a smorgasbord of Yiddish creativity. While the theme is Yiddish teachers and related topics, you can nosh on workshops on memories of Brownsville to Yiddish Tango. Lectures will be in Yiddish, English or both. Presenters to date are:
JIM KAPPELIN My Life as a Zamler for the NYBC
MIRIAM BECKERMAN Mayn Lerer Dovid Katz
SHOLEM BERGER Young Yiddish poet, journalist, publisher of online Der Bavebter Yid
NIKOLAI BORODULIN A Sheyne Bobe-Mayse A History of Yiddish Children’s Books (slide show) also Yiddish Culture and Language in Birobidzhan
MORRIE FELLER Yiddish Kompyuteray
ANNA GONSHOR Yiddish at Montreal’s Peretz & Bialik Schools, also, Kadya Maladovska, Yiddish Writer and Teacher of Yiddish in Pre-War Warsaw
TROIM KATZ HANDLER Women & Sex in Judaism also Simkhe., her new book of poetry
MOTL ROSENBUSH Founder of the Yidish Svives. How to start a Yidish Svive in Your Town
HILDA RUBIN Teaching Yiddish through Theatre
SYLVIA SCHILDT Brownsville (Brooklyn) memories Mayn Shtetele Bronzvil
JUDITH SEID Secular Options in Yiddishkayt
SHELBY SHAPIRO Explorating Yidishe Ganovim
LORI CAHAN SIMON Researching Mikhl Gelbart
YALE STROM Klezmorim in Yizkor Bikher
HERMAN TAUBE, Educator, Forverts Writer
WILLIAM TENN Sholem Aleykhem meets Science Fiction in On Venus Have We Got a Rabbi
BETTY TEPPER Yiddish Tango
PROF. MAX TICKTIN Topic to be announced
IOSIF VAISMAN Internet as a Yiddish Teaching Tool: also Hersh Segal, Yiddish Culture in Czernowitz between the World Wars
FANNY YOKOR Dialogues: Yiddish Conversation
DR. SHEVA ZUCKER Introduces her Book II, also a facilitated Session on Shule Memories.

January 2003
Report#3
Entertainment & Screenings

All workshops and no play? Not at the 8th IAYC Conference in Baltimore. The Thursday night keynote evening also will feature a musical salute to Mikhl Gelbart teacher of Yiddish song, composer, arranger, choral director by teacher/klezmer Lori Cahan Simon who recently produced the highly-acclaimed CD, Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me, Vol. 1, Passover. Topping things off will be the rousing traditional sounds of the huge Baltimore Klezmer Orchestra.

The Saturday night Gala concert will feature Charm City Klezmer with its innovative repertoire of Yiddish and a touch of Ladino. Charm City has thrilled local audiences with its fresh take on traditional klezmer sounds and virtuoso instrumentalists. Vocalist Judith Geller sings Yiddish with a real taam. Another musical treat, the delicious song styling of Shira Shazeer and fiddler Ken Richmond, two young musicians of Klezmaniacs fame, striking out on their own as the Fish Street Klezmer Duo. And as a rare treat, we shall be presenting Beth Tfiloh’s own beloved world-class Cantor Avi Albrecht, 5th generation Israeli born, who claims Yiddish as his mame loshn. He will share his repertoire of great Yiddish songs, glorious voice and authentic khasidik flavor.

We’ll also be screening the award-winning Australian film, Uncle Chatzkel. Chatzkel Lemchen lived through the Russian revolution, two world wars, the Holocaust (when the Nazis and their Lithuanian supporters killed most of his family and fellow Jewish citizens), a communist regime and the transition of Lithuania from a Soviet republic to an independent state. Lemchen survived using his skills as a linguist and lexicographer. Continuing to live in Vilnius, Lithuania, he provided a bridge between Lithuanian, Russian and Yiddish cultures.

Sunday morning closing ceremonies will include a musical treat, live performance of the acclaimed CD/Song Booklet Mayn Oytzer published by the Sholem Aleichem Club of Philadelphia. Singer Sherm Labovitz will enchant our lucky attendees with gems of Yiddish Art and Folk Songs, arranged and accompanied by Sender Botwinik and Marvin Weinberger on violin

From September 4-7, 2003 we shall salute our Yidishe Lerers—those hardy, talented individuals who gave so much as well as those today who are continuing this tradition. Today’s Yiddish teacher must struggle in a wealthy but fragmented Jewish world, where Yiddish is undervalued or written off. We also invite those who attended the Yidishe shuln and summer camps to this simkhe of reunion. Our lerers would have kvelled! Look for the Conference registration form inside.

Our keynote speaker will be Gella Schweid Fishman who in 1994 established the Secular Yiddish Schools in America Collection at Stanford University (California). She will speak on: The Secular Yiddish Schools in North America: An Archival Collection as a Living Source of Jewish Creativity. Gella has been a student, parent, board member and teacher in a secular Yiddish school system (Sholom Aleichem Shuln) in NY. She taught Yiddish language and culture courses from kindergarten to university for more than 50 years in both secular and modern Orthodox educational settings.

Our plenary session will feature Henry Sapoznik on Yiddish Education and the KlezKamp Phenomenon. KlezKamp has become a nursery of Yiddish culture going far beyond the music alone. He was the co-producer with MacArthur Fellow David Isay of the 10-week radio series the Yiddish Radio Project on the history of Yiddish radio for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He founded the Archives of Recorded Sound at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Spearheading the renewal of interest in klezmer music with his pioneering group Kapelye, Sapoznik. His book Klezmer! Jewish Music from Old World to Our World (Schirmer Books), the first book on the history of klezmer music in English, was the winner of the 2000 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Scholarship.

Our closing speaker will be David Weintraub, Exec. Dir. of the Dora Teitelboim Center for Yiddish Culture. The Center has launched Yiddish Online and works to bring Yiddish into the curriculum of Jewish Day Schools and other venues. Following a historic Yiddish for Youth Initiative on May 28th, 2002 at which were assembled representatives from South Florida1s JCC1s, temples & synagogues, Hebrew Day schools and other Jewish educators, work was begun on this impressive mission.

This is the first in a series of columns leading up to the next International Association of Yiddish Clubs Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. They will cover all aspects of what will prove to be the biggest and best of an exciting series of events moving around the United States and Canada. It is hoped that New Orleans, Montreal, Houston, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia and Boston will be sites for future conventions.

With the formation of Yiddish of Greater Baltimore the groundwork was laid for Baltimore becoming a significant player on the Yiddish scene. It is 50 miles closer to large centers in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, making them even more accessible.

The IAYC has grown from the idea of a few dreamers to a major player on the Yiddish scene. It is the only group that is constantly moving and spreading the seeds of Yiddish just as the Olympics have done for sports. One wonderful example has been the last conference in Milwaukee. With the inspiration of Paul Melrood and the Leadership of Alvin Holzman Milwaukee again has a thriving and growing Yiddish club.

Just as in the past several conferences a single person steps forward and says, “I can lead the way for a conference in my city.” This was the case for the upcoming Baltimore conference when Sylvia Schildt rose to the occasion and impressed the IAYC conference search committee. Her knowledge, background and choice of theme all proved to be a winning combination. As an inspired and inspiring Yiddish teacher, she chose the theme: Yidishe lerers: Heldn amol un haynt (Yiddish Teachers: Heroes of the Past and Today). Future columns in Der Bay will be entitled.

Registration information is on the website. If you are interested in presenting at the conference, you can reach Sylvia at: creativa@charm.net