Contrary to its name, Crazy Block Cheesecakes in Oakland, opened in March 2025, has more than cheesecakes. It is also famous for its brisket (available in a sandwich on Grand Bakery challah) and crispy, dense latkes, though they have a rotating menu of 160 flavors of New York-style cheesecake. Writing...
Originally from Ukraine, Zina Pozen grew up in a family of classical musicians, playing piano from a young age. In her house, salty Yiddish sayings, contraband Barry Sisters, Stravinsky and Poulenc, traditional Ukrainian and Moldovan tunes, Utyosov and Dunaevsky weaved their sounds together. After moving to the U.S., Zina fell...
Linda Hirschhorn is a singer, songwriter, performer, cantor, wedding and other life cycle celebrant, composer, arranger, and choral conductor. She is founder and director of Vocolot and sole clergy at Temple Beth Sholom in San Leandro. She offers week-long residencies to communities who wish to learn and perform much of...
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers and Song Leaders / East Bay
NOTE: The website for Sadie's Babkas is no longer public (checked 7/14/21). If you know the status of Sadie's Babkas, please write nu@klezcalifornia.org. When the pandemic cut hours at her new dream job at Chez Panisse, Sara Eisen launched her babka business. Eisen is mainly keeping it traditional, with cinnamon...
This kosher grocery store features a butcher counter, sizable wine cellar, and a (new - Spring 2020) cafe serving deli fare. Menu includes pastrami, pulled brisket, house-made corned beef, pickles, and more. Abba’s Hummus, located inside of Oakland Kosher Foods, has a Hummus Bar and New York Deli serving corned...
According to an article by Alix Wall in the 6/26/20 issue of "J. The Jewish News of Northern California," Hella Bagels is a home-based startup in Oakland, where chef-owner Blake Hunter can make only 100 bagels at a time, which he does Sunday mornings. Hunter delivers in the East Bay...
Yiddish learning and conversation group meets Wednesdays 10:30-11:30am, except holidays outdoors at the JCC East Bay in Berkeley. No charge. Kum un redt a bisl Yidish mit unz. Come join us as we shmues. Everyone is welcome who has an interest in Yiddish, whether remembering only a few words or...
Thursdays 10 – 11:30am Turn your morning into dance. Discover the beauty and rejuvenating force of this ancient ecstatic dance as the moves of the ancestors are tailor fit to each individual body and unique expression. Glorious Jewish World Beat and Middle East grooves are our soundtrack as the whole...
Bushrod neighborhood favorite, Nick’s Pizza and Bakery, recently launched a new breakfast menu available Fridays and Saturdays from 8-11 a.m. Baker-owner Nick Yapor Cox has quietly rolled out his own take on New York-style bagels, which use the bakery’s signature sourdough starter for its dough, which is then hand-formed, boiled...
Professor Kronfeld teaches Hebrew, Yiddish and Comparative Literature at U.C. Berkeley with a special emphasis on modern poetry. She is the author of On the Margins of Modernism: Decentering Literary Dynamics which won the MLA Scaglione Prize in 1996 for Best Book in Comparative Literary Studies. Her co-translation (with Chana...
Yiddish singer, solo and with her sister as Di Shekhter-Tekhter.
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers and Song Leaders / East Bay
Renna Khuner-Haber is a longtime Jewish community organizer and song leader. She is a collector of Jewish melodies old and new and ran the Bay Area Nigun Collective (www.nigun.community) for four years. She has taught workshops and supported individuals around the country in starting their own wordless singing groups. Renna...
Performers, Yiddish Choruses, Singers and Song Leaders / East Bay
A wholesale Jewish bakery serving the Bay Area for over 50 years — making every day a challah-day. Grand Bakery is a storied food institution that brings delicious, traditionally Jewish goods to a broad and diverse community. We've been baking in Oakland since 1959, and after a brief hiatus, we've...
Band for adults and teens that rehearses weekly on Tuesdays, 7-9pm at Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley. Directed by Cantor Pamela Sawyer.
Band led by Gerry Tenney available for klezmer performances, weddings, bar/bas mitzveh parties, community celebrations. Klezmer, Yiddish folk songs and instrumentals, Yiddish and Yinglish versions of rock & roll songs, and original compositions.
Teaches conversational Yiddish, Yiddish sayings and folk expressions
Lecturers, Yiddish Language Teachers and Translators / East Bay
The Kehilla Klezmer Band features members of Kehilla Community Synagogue of Piedmont (right on the border with Oakland), California. Members of Saul Goodman’s Klezmer Band have been collaborating with Kehilla since 2017. The collaboration culminates each year with a Simkhes Toyre dance party.