Judaic Studies Co-sponsors Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman Event with RRC 12/1/07
Renowned Yiddish poet, singer and songwriter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman will travel from New York City with her son Itzik Gottesman, associate editor of the Yiddish Forward, for an evening of song, poetry and conversation. The event will be held on Thursday, December 13 at 7:30pm at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, 8339 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA. It is free and open to the public. The evening is presented by Hiddur: The Center for Aging and Judaism of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and is co-sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program along with several other organizations. Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman was born in 1920 in Vienna. As a young girl she moved with her family to Czernowitz, Ukraine (then Romania). She was brought up speaking Romanian, German, Ukrainian and Yiddish. Her family was very musical and her mother was known for her folk music repertoire. Beyle went to study art in Vienna, but in 1938 was forced to return to Czernowitz when the Germans invaded. She married and lived out the war in the Czernowitz ghetto. After the war she lived with her family in Vienna and then in 1951 they moved to New York.
In New York, the Gottesmans took part in an experimental Yiddish community located in the Bronx. A half-dozen Yiddish-speaking families bought adjacent houses and reinvigorated the existing Sholem Aleichem Yiddish School. Beyle became a central member of this community, writing classroom materials, plays and songs for the school as well as editing a magazine for children and magazine of children's writings. Her first book of poetry, Mir Forn (We're Traveling) appeared in 1963. She has written eight books which include poetry books for adults, children's books and song books. She recorded several CDs of her songs.
Her work does not revolve around a single theme but ranges widely from Eastern European subjects to contemporary New York, from lighthearted children's fare to such somber reflections as 'Di Balade Funem Elftn September' (The Balad of September 11th). Her best known single work is 'Falndike Bleter' (Falling Leaves), a song about the changing seasons. Beyle's songs have been performed by Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, Theresa Tova, Lucette van den Berg, among others.
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman continues to serve as a resource for researchers of Yiddish folk music. She has been recorded and interviewed numerous times. Beyle participates in cultural events such as KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Buffalo on the Rook, Ashkenza and Weimar KlezmerWochen.
In 1998 she was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame in New York (http://www.citylore.org). In 2005 she received one of the highest cultural honors given by a United States agency, a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship.
She is also the subject of the documentary film, "Song of Autumn." For more information, please contact Hiddur at (215) 576-0800 ext.152 or consult the Hiddur website at http://www.hiddur.org.