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A “Bissel” song, humor and joy highlighted the Day of Learning
As advertised
By Jeff Margolis
Those who attended the 10th Annual Jewish Day of Learning at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center were treated to a morning of Yiddish song and humor, klezmer music, and an up-close look at recorded sound archives and the rare books and manuscripts at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
Stage, film, TV and Yiddish theatre performer Adam Shapiro entertained the audience with stories and songs of his career including his role as the rabbi in “Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.”
Dr. Tom Cimarusti, professor of music at Florida Gulf Coast University brought his “Klezmaniacs.” He told an interesting history of klezmer while the “Klezmaniacs” provided songs that brought the crowd to its its feet with a rousing rendition of Hava Nagila as well as a tribute to Israel with “Hatikvah.”
Daniel Scheide and Alethea Perez presented an enlightening PowerPoint “tour” of the Special Collections Department of Florida Atlantic University’s library. Perez played music from the unique collection of Jewish song, explained the different types of media in their collection and gave a tour of their vintage equipment.
Scheide showed a great variety of rare books archived at the Special Collections at the FAU library. There are over 10,000 books from 1530 to today, including handmade books, illustrated manuscripts and one-of-a-kind books.
An invitation was extended to all those in attendance to make an appointment and visit the collections. Attendees were ready to do so and asked for return visits from Shapiro and Dr. Cimarusti and the Klezmaniacs.
Many thanks to all of those who helped make this year’s program a success.
Thank you to the Day of Learning Committee — Ida Margolis, Andy Roisman, Dale Hackerman, and Jewish Federation of Greater Naples Program Director Reneé Bialek, along with Jewish Community Relations Council Chair Lisa Koppel. The program is part of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples.
