By Eileen Wingard
(Engraving: Wikipedia)
LA JOLLA, California — “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus’ words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty take on new meaning in our current climate of controversy about immigration.
“The New Colossus,” from which the excerpt was taken, was written to raise money for the pedestal for France’s gift of the Statue of Liberty. It is not the only powerful poem that came from the pen of this remarkable 19th century American Jewish poet.
Tuesday evening, March 5, at 7 p.m., in the Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, other selections of her poetry will be read by eight local readers and two different musical settings of her famous Statue of Liberty excerpt will be sung.
Also, at this evening of Jewish Poets of the Past, songs of Abraham Goldfaden will be heard. Goldfaden, composer of the most famous Yiddish song in the literature, Rozhinkes Mit Mandeln, was the founder of the Yiddish Theater. Seven of his songs are programmed. The English translations will precede the Yiddish renditions.
Elisheva Edelson, conductor of the Ohr Shalom Choir, will be conducting the choir in selections by Goldfaden and Lazarus. She will also sing two solos, one of which is a song inspired by Goldfaden’s Rozhinkes Mit Mandeln.
Deborah Davis, co-director of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble and Humanist Judaism Cantor, will sing two Goldfaden selections.
David G’mach, a member of the San Diego Jewish Men’s Choir, will sing in Yiddish as will Lana Schaffer, a member of the Jewish Community Choir. Rebecca Myers, a recent graduate from Brandeis University, who is the assistant to Todd Salovey for the 2019 Lapinsky Jewish Arts Festival, will be singing a Goldfaden song that was written especially for the Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. Monique Kunewalder, chamber music pianist and polyglot, who served as translator at Olympic games, will be the piano collaborator.
Readers of Lazarus’s poetry include Sara Appel Lennon, journalist and poet; Daniel Warren, actor; Susie and Eli Meltzer, past presidents of the Jewish Community Center; Leean Knetzer, San Diego Museum of Art docent; Myla Wingard, Jewish educator and violinist; Liba Sherman, Israeli folkdancer and active congregant at Beth Jacob; and Michael Horvitz, poet and accountant.
There is no charge for this Astor Judaica Library program. The evening will conclude with a reception featuring Rozhinkes Mit Mandeln, raisins and almonds.
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Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com