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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

who spoke Galitsyaner un Litvish Yiddish and whose beautiful lives steeped in Yidishkayt graced the towns of Rymanow & Lida.
 
Sadly, we were only fortunate to get to know you in some small measure through a few photographs, stories recounted in Yiddish and Hebrew, and family trees. Although we never had the opportunity to meet you personally, we are honoring your memory and legacy and unzer traditsye. We are mamesh pleased to have the opportunity to carry it forward into the future.

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