Honor Wall
In honor or memory of your loved one, or friends, or your Yiddish heritage.
Marlene Levenson
In honor of
Dr. Yankl Levitow
Yankl has been my wonderful Yiddish teacher for several years and is outstanding.
March 2024
Fran Quittel
In memory of
Grace Kaminstein z"l
Originally from Rome, Italy, Grace married my childhood best friend Dr. David Kaminstein z”l and with Dave became an active member of Kesher Israel Synagogue in West Chester, PA. Grace was active in the congregation and sisterhood, beloved for auctioning off irresistible home-cooked Italian haute cuisine dinners, and as the synagogue’s pre-school French teacher. She will be missed.
February 2024
Fran Quittel
In honor of
Freya Hain
on the occasion of her second birthday on February 1, 2024.
February 2024
Preeva Tramiel
In memory of my parents
Charlotte & Samuel Adler
who listened to WEVD every Sunday and argued about pronunciations every other day!
January 2024
Barbara Wezelman
In memory of my aunt and uncle
Rose & Ernie Wezelman
January 2024
Robin Braverman
In memory of my grandparents
Pauline & Bundy Lang
Pauline and Bundy spoke Hungarian and Yiddish at home. They lived next door to me growing up. Their lives were an inspiration to me in all I do and have done all of my life, not because of great worldly accomplishments, but because they showed me the way to create and anchor family. I feel blessed to have had them in my life.
January 2024
Lorraine Lerman
In honor of
Gerry Tenney
January 2024
Arva Rose
Mayn zayde hot geret yidish, mayn tate hot geret yidish un ikh vel, biz ikh shtarb, redn yidish. Yidish kenisht starbn.
January 2024
Susan Frank
In honor of
Josh (Horowitz) & Cookie (Segelstein)
Thank you for bringing the music!
January 2024
Shelley Fishkin
In memory of
Renée B. Fisher z"l
Renée B. Fisher z”l was a brilliantly talented musician, writer, and teacher who brought Klezmer music to life for family, friends, and especially for me. My beloved mother played clarinet, accordion, piano, bass, vibraharp, and other instruments, and believed music could soften our sorrows and heighten our joys!
January 2024
Martin Bobrowsky
In honor of
Evie (Groch) and Rosie (Kaplan)
Honoring Evie and Rosie for maintaining the Flisik Salon.
January 2024
Laurie Indenbaum
In honor of
Cookie Segelstein
January 2024
Elaine Moise & Bob Grodsky
In memory of
Joe and Lillian Grodsky, z"l
Who loved Yiddish language and music.
January 2024
Howard Freedman
In honor of
Judy Kunofsky
Judy Kunofsky’s work, as a founder of KlezCalifornia and as its devoted leader for two decades, has helped bring Yiddish culture to thousands. A sheynem dank, Judy!
January 2024
Alice Webber & Stephen Tobias
In honor of
Judy Kunofsky
January 2024
Shoshana Shelef
In honor of
Talia Shaham
Thanks for the great send off.
January 2024
Michael Perlmutter
In honor of
Dmitri Gaskin
Ot azoy Dmitri! I’m excited for your joining the board at KlezCalifornia, and all that you will bring to the organization! What an exciting partnership! I’m kvelling as I think of things coming full circle . . . your deep dive into the study and performance of klezmer music as a teenage, and now, years later seeing you giving back to the community in this way. Yasher koakh!
January 2024
Michael Perlmutter
In honor of
Judy Kunofsky &
the KlezCalifornia board of directors
Judy and the Board have and continue to work tirelessly for years on end to nurture, support, and grow the klezmer and Yiddish music, language, and cultural scene around San Francisco Bay. It is a labor of love that makes our community richer, more music and joy filled, and rooted in culture. A groysn sheynem dank!
January 2024
Talia Shaham
In loving memory of my dear brother
Oren Rubin (z"l )
December 2023
Joshua Wirtschafter
Thank you to
Mike Perlmutter
for bringing so much Klezmer music and Yiddish song to the East Bay! His amazing skills as a clarinetist and saxophonist, arranger and composer, band leader and community organizer, do so much to enrich Jewish culture here!
December 2023
Janice Markham
In memory of my father
Raymond Mautner (z”l)
October 2023
Atid Kimelman
In memory of
Avraham Kimelman
& Pessie Charash Teltser
Avraham is my paternal grandfather; Pessie is my maternal grandmother. Both spoke Yiddish and loved music, and I wanted to honor them with this donation to a Fund that will support future generations of Jewish music.
June 2023
Arva Rose
In memory of
Anne Ruth Lehr Holt
Among the good things my mother gave me was a true love of Yidish. Would that she were alive now so we could really speak to each other in Yidish. Would that she could see how many people are keeping di mameloshn alive. It would be such a mechaye.
June 2023
Sherri Rosenberg
In memory of
Leonard Rosenberg
I learned some Yiddish as a child and I still love it. Our cousin Leonard Rosenberg taught himself Yiddish and championed it. This is a thank you and a gift in Leonard’s memory.
June 2023
Diane Schoenfeld
In memory and appreciation of our aunt
“Auntie Sylvia” Manger
who gave us a starter Yiddish vocabulary when we were very young.
June 2023
Ed Anisman & Claire Sherman
In honor of
Judy Kunofsky and the entire KlezCalifornia Board of Directors
June 2023
Harvey Niebulski & Marianne Tatom
L’koved unzere tayere
Bobes, Zeydes, and countless members of our mishpokhe
June 2023
Nicole Lerner
In memory of
Yitzhak ben Leib z"l
I’d like to ask you to take just a moment to wish my father’s soul a peaceful journey into the next world. He was a kind person, with a smile that could brighten the darkest of places. If you could take the opportunity to do one kind gesture today in his honor, I know he will smile down and shine some light into our darkness. Thank you for holding him in your thoughts.
May 2023
Pinny Switzer
for my dedicated teachers from the
I.L. Peretz Folk Shul
in Winnipeg, Canada, including Falik Zolf, Moshe Cantor, and Avrom Lapin.
May 2023
Patricia Stoddard
In memory of
Pearl Davis
Pearl inspired me to learn to speak Yiddish as we sang together in Southern California Workers Circle Yiddish language chorus, Mit Gezang.
May her memory be for a blessing.
May 2023
Alixe Dancer
In memory of
Leora Cassells
For all that she did to share her love of Yiddish music, Yiddish culture and the Yiddish language wherever she went.
May 2023
Dorothea Dorenz
A tribute to my parents
Lillian & David Dorenz
who gave me the opportunity to play and love music.
May 2023
Laurie Indenbaum
In memory of
Theresa Dorothy Tyor
May 2023
Joan Edelstein
In memory of my maternal grandmother
Chana Gottlieb
from Tarnobrzeg and all the family that stayed behind only to perish in the Khurbn. May their memories be for a blessing.
May 2023
Joel Schechter & Diana Scott
In honor of
Daniel Ellsberg’s
repeated whistleblowing and attempts to rescue humanity from its worst impulses.
From The Pentagon Papers publication half a century ago to recent protests against war and nuclear weapons, he has been a prophet in his own time. If only more people in high places would listen to him.
April 2023
Malka Whiteman
In memory of my father
Moshe Weitman, z"l
My father, Moshe Weitman, was a Torah scholar, lover of Yiddish, opera, and the violin. He was born in the shtetl Balygrodt, Poland in 1905 and lived a life of piety, poverty, fear, and virulent antisemitism. As a young man he prepared to emigrate to Palestine but, instead, in 1938, miraculously obtained a visa for the US. He worked as a laborer, at backbreaking jobs. And he was haunted by the shadow of survivor guilt.
I think about the life my father should have had versus the one he did have. May his soul know peace in the life beyond.
April 2023
Karen Davison
In memory of
Mary Kremsdorf & Sadye Brown
Yiddish makes me think of my grandmothers. I miss them.
April 2023
Pam Gilboa
In memory of my beloved husband
Joe
the love of my life.
April 2023
Susan Frank
In honor of
KlezCalifornia
A sweet Peysekh and a joyous spring to you at KlezCal with thanks for all you do! ❤️
April 2023
Jim Mavrikios
In honor of
Olympia Silver
April 2023
Aimee Waldman
In honor of
Ellie Shapiro
Thank you Ellie for a spectacular presentation!—and for helping me to understand a bit more about my tribe—as you so rightly stated, we know more about how they died than how they lived!!!!
March 2023
Deborah Pines
For my mother
Doris W. Cohen
who got a kick out of my being the first person in the family to speak Yiddish.
March 2023
Abby Marcus
Thank you
Scheindel & Joseph Markusfeld
You left your home in Lemberg to come to America, and that’s why I am alive today.
March 2023
Eleanor Shapiro
In Memory of my mother
Esther Shapiro
March 2023
Harriet Rafter
In Honor of
Ellie Shapiro & Judy Kunofsky
This is in gratitude to Ellie Shapiro, for her important and foot-tapping research, and to Judy Kunofsky, for putting everything together. Thank you both.
March 2023
Betty Albert-Schreck
To Honor My Friend
Gerry Tenney
We have been friends and music buddies since 1961!!, when I met you and was introduced to bluegrass and old timey music and began flat picking. By now we have a history of playing music together with Second Generation, CA Klezmer, our Kindershul/KinderShule years, and our recording of Lomir Zingn a Yiddish Lid. Whew! I love so many of the songs you’ve written, especially Kitchen Music, and of course, your children’s songs, especially Haunted House, which should place you in the Children’s Music Hall of Fame. And thank you, too, for all you’ve given to the world of Yidishkayt.
March 2023
Moreen Libet
In Honor of
the KlezCalifornia Board and all KlezCalifornia volunteers
I want to thank the Board and volunteers who work so hard and thoughtfully to bring all of these enlightening, inspiring, and entertaining workshops, jokes, resources, and information to us.
March 2023
Bashe Kuperstein
In Loving Memory of my parents
Joseph & Sara Kuperstein
They excelled at being the best parents I could have had. Very grateful. Thankful they spoke Yiddish exclusively in the home. It was my first language. I treasure all the memories.
They are in my heart.
March 2023
Yael Chaver
Honoring the memory of
Eli Katz, z"l
teacher, scholar, oysergeveyntlekh [extraordinary] mentsh
February 2023
Lita Krowech
In honor of
Judy Kunofsky
for her hard and creative work for KlezCalifornia
February 2023
Elaine Moise & Robert Grodsky
In memory of
Joseph & Lillian Grodsky
February 2023
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub
In honor of
Yankl Salant
editor, graphic designer, lexicographer, teacher, and translator extraordinaire, for his many contributions to contemporary Yiddish culture.
February 2023
Howard Freedman
In honor of
Veretski Pass
On the chai (18th) anniversary of their debut CD, I make a toast in celebration of Veretski Pass. They are a treasure.
February 2023
Dmitri Budker
In memory of
the innocent victims of the Russian attack on Vinnytsia (Ukraine)
February 2023
Rachel Melas
In memory of my grandparents
Bert & Alice
who raised me up and encouraged me to play music. Not everyone would buy their granddaughter an electric bass back in 1975.
February 2023
Robin Braverman
In memory of my grandparents
Pauline and Bundy (Andrew) Lang
January 2023
Marc Epstein
In memory of
Elaine Fingerett
who brought Klezmer joy to Northern California with her effervescent personality, accordion and kindness.
January 2023
Hershl Hartman
In honor of
Gail Rubman
January 2023
Raisa Premysler
In loving memory of
Frieda Falk
my dearest husband, Isaak, my beloved parents Anna and Mikhail Chernobelsky and grandparents, Khasya Grosman and Itzhak Gendler. From shtetl to big cities, klezmer was always a part of my family upbringing and I continue to enjoy it very much!
January 2023
Marcia Falk
In memory of
Frieda Falk
who spoke a beautiful Yiddish and instilled in me a love for mameloshn.
January 2023
Sandy Tate
In memory of
Sonia Tubridy
January 2023
Llyana Landes
In honor of
Evelyn Taylor
who is approaching the last days of her 97 years on earth. A warm, smart, loving strong and beautiful woman who gave so much to me over so many decades. You are always in my heart.
January 2023
Carol Dorf
In memory of
Rivka Greenberg
Rivka found art in the work of women, both in scholarship and in the fabric arts. She was an advocate for justice, and a warm community member.
January 2023
Barbara Borts
To the Flisik Salon leaders and participants!
This year, I want to remember my great uncle Ruby, a social and political activist, and a kind and generous man. He lived for some years in Petaluma before returning to Los Angeles, and there was part of a rich Yiddish culture which included singing in the Yiddish choir. I have some of his Yiddish books. I think he would have been delighted to learn about the flowering of Yiddish in hayntikn tog Kalifornie! And with this donation, I want to thank the leaders and participants of the Flisik Salon, who have invited me in so warmly.
January 2023
Mildred Chazin
In memory of
Julian David Chazin (Yossl Duvid Khazin)
The meaning of the last name is very obvious.
December 2022
Philip Prinz
In honor of my parents
Ruth & Erwin Prinz
December 2022
Barbara Weiss
Remembering my mother
Millie (Mindl)
who learned to speak and read Yiddish as a little girl in the Bronx and my grandmother
and my grandmother
Laura (Libka)
who spoke five languages and told stories of Kracow and skating on the Vistula River.
December 2022
Lois Pearlman
In memory of
Sonia Tubridy
Last December our music and Jewish communities lost a gold mine of excellence and dedication — Sonia Tubridy. She was a brilliant classical pianist and red-hot accordion player, but never sought the spotlight. Instead she spent her 76 years teaching piano and accordion, directing the River Choir, the Russian River Jewish Community and the Redwood Arts Council classical music series, playing with Amaryllis Trio and Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble, writing classical music reviews and accompanying countless singers. Sonia was also one of my dearest friends, neighbors and an accompanist who knew when I needed a melody note to keep me on pitch.
December 2022
Barbara Wezelman
In memory of
Rose & Ernie Wezelman
December 2022
Gail Rubman
In honor of
Renee Enteen
Who gives so generously of her time and energy to numerous refugee and other social causes, as well as to the Jewish Folk Chorus of San Francisco.
November 2022
Laura Sheppard
In honor of my mother
Hilda Sheppard
on her 98th birthday!
November 2022
Moreen Libet
In memory of
Elaine Fingerett
our band’s accordionista. In the process of sharing out her klezmer sheet music. It is now going out into the world, where she has gone.
November 2022
Mildred Chazin
In memory of
Julian David Chazin (Yossl Duvid Khazin)
the meaning of the last name is very obvious.
November 2022
Larishke un Aron (Laura and Andy)
In honor of our
California Friends
October 2022
E. Mones
In honor of my beloved bubbe
Ruth Mones
And in memory of my zeyde
Arthur Mones
With awe for our ancestors and the sweet, perennial spirit of Yidishkayt.
October 2022