Di Nyu yorkerin: Poetry and Purim Shpil – Yiddish Cultural Events in March

by SARAH PONICHTERA

As the heavy monotony of all the snow begins to be broken with longer and longer stretches of sun and warmth, it’s time to emerge from the cocoon, and there are plenty of options to choose from.

March starts out with Ruth Wisse’s lecture on Jacob Glatstein, “A Yiddish Genius in Anglicizing America.” Wisse will read excerpts from Glatstein’s poetry and discuss his literary career. Glatstein is one of di nyu-yorkerin’s favorite poets, so she will be there! The lecture will take place on Tuesday March 4 at 7 PM at YIVO, at the Center for Jewish History.
Attend the event.

This coming Sunday, March 2, YIVO will host a discussion between Elissa Bemporad of Queens College CUNY and Glenn Dynner of Sarah Lawrence on the topic “Tevye’s Daughters: How East European Jewish Women Confronted Modernity.”
Attend the event.

Purim brings with it a host of cultural events, including JFREJ’s (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) Purimshpil. This annual event, founded by Adrienne Cooper, z”l, brings a spirit of festive political activism to the holiday. Find more information on past years’ events, as well as plans for this year here. The Park Slope Jewish Center in Brooklyn regularly reads a section of the Megillah in Yiddish, making it a heymish option for celebrating the holiday.

On a less pious note, Target Margin Theater will debut its performance of the tale of the apostate of Amsterdam, Uriel Acosta. The play runs from March 14 – April 5.  This performance continues Target Margin Theater’s engagement with Yiddish theater and Yiddish culture, a trend analyzed in Debra Caplan’s recent piece in American Theatre Magazine.

Toward the end of the month, there are some fantastic musical performances  coming up.  The Klezmatics will perform a musical tribute to the Triangle Fire on Sunday, March 23 at 2 PM at the Museum at Eldridge Street. Find more information and buy tickets here.

Also on March 23, Steven Bernstein will perform an innovative interpretation of Jewish music in his “Diaspora Projects,” which arranges traditional cantorials, Ashkenazi wedding songs, and other Jewish tunes in the style of the Gulf Coast Sound encompassing Texas and Cuba. Bernstein will be performing at Lincoln Center at 7:30 and 9:30.

With all of this, how could you stay inside?

Sarah Ponichtera is a Processing Archivist at the Center for Jewish History.