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the melbourne jewish report | September 2021
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COMMUNITY KADIMAH Online Yiddish culture has been an unexpected matone, or gift, that the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre has been delighted to offer Yiddish lovers during successive lockdowns. While our beloved theatre is dark and our concerts and festivals are on hold, online classes and programs have taken centre stage and kept audiences stuck at home, enthralled with contemporary Yiddish culture. Interest in online Yiddish language, literature and conversation classes at the Kadimah has surged since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with attendees tuning in on Zoom from around Australia and the rest of the world. And enthusiasm for online Yiddish culture such as talks, discussion panels, interviews, parlour gigs and, even, open mic poetry events has also grown, with new audiences discovering a curiosity for culture mit a Yiddishn tam. Coming up next, on Sunday September 12th, the Kadimah will co-present Yiddish Poetica 2, an online open mic poetry event, in partnership with Dunera online Jewish cultural platform and Poetica, a poetry hub run by Sydney poet Miriam Hechtman. Kadimah now offers more than 15 different Yiddish classes and groups each week, with our teachers using the latest methods to make language learning accessible and approachable for everyone. “Language classes are something fun and social that you can do while stuck at home,” said Kadimah Yiddish coordinator Esther Singer. “And it turns out that it feels good to learn a new skill or to get to use the Yiddish you might know.” With geography no longer a barrier in the online era, Kadimah can now share Yiddishkeyt around the world. One
Kadimah offers Yiddish gifts during lockdown
recent beginners’ class had students from Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, who were able to connect through this class and their shared interest in Yiddish. Over the past 18 months, the profile of who was studying Yiddish through the Kadimah also altered. Retired Jews living close to the bagel belt were still attending classes, but also enrolling were people living in West Footscray, Reservoir, Montmorency and further afield in NSW, the ACT and Queensland. And much further still … from Indonesia, Canada and the USA. Many students would simply not have been able to physically attend classes held in Elsternwick or Carlton. "I just wanted to thank you so much
for the Yiddish classes this year. It has been great. The best language class I have taken and truly the only Zoom meeting I ever looked forward to," said student Marc. "I want to especially thank you because you have been undoubtedly THE BEST LANGUAGE TEACHER I have ever encountered! This being after having studied three other languages with many different teachers. Your mix of fun, engagement and empowerment of students is absolutely exceptional," said another student, Katrina. While the stage lights are currently switched off, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre has been busily continuing to work on upcoming productions. Cast and crew
are already rehearsing online for KYT’s innovative production of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl, due to open at the Arts Centre Melbourne in November. And hopes are high to reschedule our stunning show Durkh A Modne Gloz/ Through A Strange Lens, which opened briefly to rapturous acclaim in early August before the latest lockdown. This daring electro-opera, created by renowned composer Josh Abrahams and writer-performer Galit Klas, sets an electronic score to lyrics based on Yiddish poetry written by women over the past 100 years. For more information visit www. kadimah.org.au or contact reception@ kadimah.org.au
