Staff & Board
Dmitri Gaskin
board chair
- Accordionist, composer, arranger, and pianist with Tsvey Brider, Baymele, and Saul Goodman’s Klezmer Band.
- Got his first accordion for his bar mitsve
- Bay Area native: grew up in Berkeley, now lives in Watsonville
- Doesn’t speak Yiddish, fluent in Polish
Judy Kunofsky
Treasurer & ACTING Executive Director
- Four careers so far: mathematician, environmental organizer, fundraising consultant, Yiddish culture organizer
- Plays classical viola
- Grew up in Borough Park, Brooklyn and Lower East Side, Manhattan
- Reads Yiddish fluently, speaks nisht azoy ay-ya-ya
Gerry Tenney
Board president
- California Klezmer band leader; mandolin, guitar and vocals
- Former director of East Bay Kindershul and children’s entertainer
- Hosted The Gerson Yankl Show on KPFA
- His mame loshn is Yinglish, but his Yiddish is pretty good too.
Talia Shaham
vice chair
- Had long career as a scientific programmer and analyst
- Plays violin in a string orchestra
- Hebrew speaker, studied Yiddish
- Klezmer music and Yiddish culture enthusiast
- Grew up hearing mother speak Yiddish with others, but she sprinkled her speech to us kids with colorful Yiddish phrases which stuck!
Gail "Gitl" Rubman
Secretary
- Immunological researcher at Harvard Medical School, microbiologist at Mount Zion Hospital, and lab supervisor at Clinica de la Raza in Oakland.
- Yiddish singer with Jewish Folk Chorus of San Francisco
- Passionate about the history of activism of American Yiddish choruses
- Wishes she could have understood all those Yiddish jokes her parents’ friends told.
Ed Anisman
Board MEMBER
- Degree in architecture from UC Berkeley
- Licensed architect and a principal at Interactive Resources, a Richmond, California architecture and engineering firm
- Volunteered with VISTA in Fayetteville, Arkansas
- An ardent student of Yiddish
Laurel Fox
board member
- Recently retired as professor in Department of Ecology and Evolution, U.C. Santa Cruz
- Has spent a lot of time studying eucalyptus trees in Australia and maritime chaparral in California
- Went to High School of Music & Art in New York City to study violin
- Plays klezmer fiddle
- Knows not a word of Yiddish but grew up with it because it was her parents’ (and their friends’) first language
Josh Horowitz
board member
- Internationally acclaimed composer, arranger, accordion, cimbalom, and piano player with Budowitz, Veretski Pass, and Cosmic Diaspora
- Teacher at KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Yiddish New York, Yiddish Summer Weimar, and the Klezmer Festival Fürth
- Performed and recorded with Itzhak Perlman, The Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Bikel, Rubin & Horowitz, Brave Old World, Alicia Svigals, and Adrienne Cooper
- Minimal Yiddish, fluent in German
Rosie Kaplan
Board MEMBER
- Born in Germany to Polish Holocaust-survivor parents
- Educator, entrepreneur, and volunteer coordinator for Sierra Club and BOSS
- Taught English to adults in Israel while she was there learning Hebrew.
- Yiddish is her mameloshn and she co-leads the monthly KlezCalifornia Yiddish Salon
Laura ‘Larishke’ Rosenberg
Board Member
- Arts administrator and conductor; left classical music for Yiddish song during her midlife crisis
- Co-founder of the Hot Springs Music Festival, New Yiddish Theater, and KLEZCADIA
- Sings in Yiddish, accompanied by her concertina or by one of the more eccentric klezmer bands
- Speaks only a bisl Yiddish, but curses in it daily
Anthony Russell
board member
- Yiddish vocalist, composer and arranger with frequent collaborator and fellow KC board member Dmitri Gaskin
- Essayist and lecturer on Jewish culture, the music of the African diaspora and social issues in a number of publications
- Born in Texas, raised in the Bay Area; arguably “a combination of the best features of both”
- Describes self as “a doggedly intermediate speaker of Yiddish”
Laura ‘Lita’ Sheppard
board member
- Director of Events at Mechanics’ Institute where she presents authors, films and literary celebrations
- Producer of celebrations, festivals and cultural events for over 35 years
- Professionally trained actor, dancer and self-proclaimed stage diva
- Lover of Yiddish Theater
- Speaks a bisl Yiddish!
Noah Youngs
board member
- Former Data Scientist in the energy industry
- Plays klezmer saxophone (first performing at his bar mitsve party as a walk-on with Gerry Tenney’s band)
- Berkeley native with stints in New York and London
- Speaks nisht keyn vort of Yiddish but relies on his mother for any needed translation