Each Christmas, Barri Evins and a group of volunteers give away thousands of books at Head Start magnet centers throughout the Los Angeles area. At each center, volunteers greet each child individually, ask them their age and then present them with a brand new book especially selected for them.
Dobkin doesn\’t play bingo, and she doesn\’t own a television. She occasionally attends a lecture or musical event, but generally, when she isn\’t working, she is reading, usually The Forward in Yiddish or English or The Jewish Journal. She reads without glasses, except for very small print.
While each show follows its own trajectory, Chaiken points out that many Jewish-themed plays explore the issue of legacy. These performers describe conflicted feelings about their parents and the aspirations held out for them. As clichéd as such scenarios may seem, they speak to the pain and humor of family, a commonality that usually resonates with audiences.
Arlo Guthrie, the son of the legendary folk singer and composer, says that his father\’s mother-in-law, Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt, inspired Woody\’s largely unknown lyrics for Chanukah, Holocaust and Jewish children\’s songs.
\”Stamina is what separates Siberian Jews,\” Aron Broder said. \”We can adapt to any form of life. We\’re not afraid of difficulty. Look at me, what I managed to survive. I didn\’t lose my spirits. I still have high hopes.\”
In 1995, Ruth Seymour and KCRW teamed up with the National Yiddish Book Center to create \”Jewish Short Stories,\” a National Public Radio series read by actors such as Leonard Nimoy and Jeff Goldblum. The program was a peculiar excursion in time-travel: back to the days of golems and rebbes and schlemiels all living together in the shtetl.
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