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Jewish Public Library announces programming

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The Jewish Public Library announces its Spring 2019 Cultural Programmes calendar, with highlights including world-class authors Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Michael Ondaatje, Montreal film premieres of Israeli documentary Desert Wounds and Slovakian Academy Award entry The Interpreter, and a special collaboration with Bloomsday Montreal on Jews in Irish literature.

AHA
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

All JPL events start at 7:30 pm (unless otherwise indicated) and take place at the Jewish Public Library, 5151 Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd in Montreal. Information and ticket purchase: (514)345-6416 or www.jewishpubliclibrary.org .

 Here is the line-up by month:

March

March 27    The Prince and the Dybbuk       

Film in English Italian, Spanish, Polish and German with English subtitles. 

Directed by Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosołowski (Poland/Germany, 2017, 82 min)

The film explores the life of cinematic enigma Moshe Waks, the son of a poor Jewish  blacksmith                       from Ukraine who died as Prince Michael Waszynski in Italy, after having made over 40 films as a                       director and producer during Hollywood’s golden era.

April

April 3         Desert Wounds

                   Montreal film premiere, in English and Hebrew with English subtitles

Directed by Nili Dotan (Israel, 2018, 59 min)

Montreal premiere of an award-winning documentary that follows the journeys of two Christian                       women from Sudan and Eritrea fleeing war, dictatorship, and religious persecution to seek   asylum in Israel. Introduced by director Nili Dotan, followed by a panel discussion with Nili               Dotan, Irwin Cotler OC, David Berger and Zoë Freedman.

April 10       Simon et Théodore

                      Film in French with English subtitles

Directed by Mikael Buch (France, 2017, 84 min)

Simon is a troubled young man; Theodore is a difficult adolescent. A chance encounter      between the two sparks a dramatic clash and ultimately heals wounds. A tough and tender    film about mental illness and love, and how to live with both.

April 15       Mary Morris: Gateway to the Moon

                      Author event             

New York Times bestselling author Mary Morris speaks about her novel, a multi-generational                       family saga in which she traces her family’s history from the Spanish Inquisition to modern-day           New Mexico.

April 18       ‘Books & Booze’ with Bethany Ball & Spencer Wise

                      Author event             

Our ‘Books & Booze’ series presents a lively discussion with two young American authors.     Ball’s What to do about the Solomons explores the secrets and gossip-filled lives of a kibbutz community.        Wise’s The Emperor of Shoes tells the story of a young Jewish American expat who       assumes the helm of his family’s shoe factory in China and his relationship with a seamstress   intent on inspiring dramatic political change.

May

May 2          The Interpreter

                      Montreal film premiere, in German and Slovak with English subtitles

Directed by Martin Šulík (Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Austria, 2018, 114 min)

A bittersweet tragicomedy about two old men who depart on a road trip, weighed down by                       unresolved conflicts that have plagued their lives. The film was Slovakia’s 2019 Academy Award          entry. Presented in collaboration with the Montreal Holocaust Museum.

May 5          Orly Castel-Bloom: An Egyptian Novel

*7 pm          Author event in Hebrew

Israeli author Orly Castel-Bloom blends faction and fiction in this unconventional telling of her             family’s migration from Egypt to Israel, expulsion from a kibbutz and life in modern-day Tel Aviv.               Castel-Bloom is thrice winner of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Award.

May 6          Denise Bombardier: “Une vie sans peur et sans regret”

 Author interview with journalist Elias Levy, in French            

Prominent Quebec journalist, novelist and essayist, Denise Bombardier will discuss her life   and decades-long career. In collaboration with the Cummings Centre.

May 13       Ayaan Hirsi Ali: “Islam, Muslims and National Security”

                      Author event                             

The controversial human rights activist, former politician and author of Infidel states that it is       important to understand the distinction between Islam, a set of ideas and principles, and      Muslims, the diverse individuals that constitute one fifth of humanity. In recent decades         Muslims have, at one point or another, been discussed as a threat to national security. Hirsi Ali          will give her perspective on this incredibly thorny topic.

May 16       Georgia Hunter: We Were the Lucky Ones

                      Author event                             

When New York Times bestselling author Georgia Hunter was 15 years old, she discovered    that she came from a family of Holocaust survivors. We Were the Lucky Ones follows her                family as they scatter across continents, determined to survive and to reunite. Her book          has been translated into 13 languages.

May 23       Yiddish Café

                      Music and storytelling event

Our annual evening of stories and songs in Yiddish and English by a group of talented      Montrealers  honouring Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem’s wish for his name to            be recalled with laughter”. The musical Fiddler on the Roof was based on the stories of   Sholem Aleichem, known as the “Jewish Mark Twain”.

May 30       Pól Ó Dochartaigh: “Hyphenated Identities: Irish-Jewish Autobiographies”

                      Lecture and exhibition in collaboration with Bloomsday Montreal

 Irish scholar Pól Ó Dochartaigh explores questions of identity, Irish and Jewish, through six    twentieth-century autobiographies by Irish Jews. The touring exhibition Representations of             Jews in Irish Literature will be presented in the main lobby of the Federation CJA  building (just          outside  the entrance to the Jewish Public Library) from May 27 to June 17, 2019.

June

June 11       Michael Ondaatje: Warlight

MichaelO
Michael Ondaatje

                      Author event

One of Canada’s most renowned living authors, Michael Ondaatje will be in conversation      with Joseph Rosen about his mesmerizing new novel, set in the decade after World War II. Ondaatje’s previous work has been awarded the Booker Prize, the Golden Man Booker Prize, the    Giller Prize, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize and the Prix Médicis.

And our courses, workshops and literary clubs:

Yiddish for Beginners: starts March 26

Intermediate Yiddish:  starts March 26

Advanced Yiddish:  starts March 25

Russian for Beginners: starts March 7

American Sign Language: starts March 4

Genre Writing Workshops with author Michelle Franklin:  starts March 6

Jewish Genealogical Society Lecture Meetings: March 11, April 1, May 6, June 3, Aug 12

Sunday Morning Family Tree Workshops (Jewish Genealogical Society):   March 3, April 14, May 12, June 2, Sept. 8

Russian Literary Club: Sunday March 17, April 28 and May 19

Hebrew Literary Club: on Tuesdays

Jewish Montreal-centric stage production Daughters of Mile End to premiere

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By Mike Cohen, with files from Barbara Ford

Both Claudia Litvak Polachek and Pearl Lottner Rothenberg are children of Jewish immigrants from two very different parts of the world, who came to Montreal under very different circumstances. These  two ladies are behind an upcoming  Labyrinth Stage Productions presentation called Daughters of Mile End (April 3 to 6 ) at the DB Clarke Theatre (1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. West)   of Concordia University

Inspired by true stories, this is a Jewish Montreal-centric creation.  Lottner Rothenberg, lived in Mile End as a girl and one of the play’s characters and experiences are loosely based on her and her family. It sounds like a great story, given the strong ties to a local Jewish neighbourhood,   children of Holocaust survivors and a look at the immigrant experience which is  such a hot topic in the news these days.

Pearl&ClaudiaPhoto_Playwrights'Notes
Claudia and Pearl.

 Litvak Polachek is a co-founder and the Artistic Director of Labyrinth Stage Productions. Previously, she started the Akiva Players and spent seven years delighting Akiva students and parents with musical productions. She has also worked at the Segal Centre, done voice-over work and acting, has degrees from McGill University (Political Science), Concordia University (Creative Writing), the Institute of Children’s Literature, and is a Wexner graduate.

Lottner Rothenberg’s love of challenges has resulted in her having several careers in her 70 years.  From the age of 12 she knew her life’s mission was to become a psychologist.  In the journey through her own labyrinth, she first became a wife to Jack and then mother to Robert and Kimberly.  Along the way she did Interior Design, opened a financial company with her husband, and finally went back to school to fulfill her dream of becoming a clinical psychologist. She accomplished her goal at the age of 40 and practiced her beloved profession for 28 years.  Due to an auspicious meeting with Litvak Polachek  the door to her love of writing and theatre/arts opened and another career was born.

The play is about four Mile End girls and the diverse paths their lives take as they grow into adulthood and beyond. The all-female multi-generational cast of 13 is under the direction of Rachelle Glait, with set and costume designs by the multi-award winning John Dinning and Louise Bourret respectively.

With humour, poignancy, and insight, Daughters of Mile End illustrates that despite traumatic family histories, the girls’ shared childhood memories and experiences lead them to a better understanding of their mothers—and themselves—enabling them to live and love more fully.

MIRIAM: “Just because I speak with an accent doesn’t mean I think with an accent.”

“Relationships—with our parents, other family members, our friends and lovers—are the medium through which we develop the tools to meet life’s challenges,”  said Lottner Rothenberg. “As a psychologist, I think that a big issue, not only for these women but for all of us, is whether we end up repeating or repairing the traumas of our past. This often keeps us from becoming authentic, well-functioning individuals. In order to not repeat our traumas with others, we need to develop a conscious awareness and understanding of what took place and why. This is not easy to do when there are often so many secrets … a major theme of this play. How different the characters are, despite their seemingly common background. As they mature and their lives become busier and more complex, they still manage to stay connected.”

 “Using the specific to explore the universal is where this play excels,”,added Litvak Polachek. “Each woman travels a different road but their combined stories touch on major human dilemmas that we all face at one time or another, from generation to generation. The audience, as silent witnesses, walks away feeling as if they’ve known these women for decades, not just a couple of hours … and in a way they have. Rachelle Glait’s direction, especially the scene transitions, is masterful, and Mike Sinnott’s dreamlike lighting for the memory sequences of the characters as young girls takes the play to a whole new level of awesome!”

Glait also had a personal connection to the story and its locale, one of the reasons she was at the top of the list of prospective directors for the new play. “It’s rare to have the opportunity to direct a production that mirrors one’s own life experiences. Daughters of Mile End examines very familiar territory: women whose mothers, like my own, survived the milchume (Holocaust) and grew up in Montreal neighbourhoods that have their own unique and extraordinary history,” she said.  “Audiences will recognize themselves in the characters as they journey through more than fifty years of engrossing reunions. With this wonderful all-female cast, including four remarkable young girls, the production travels well beyond the borders of reminiscence and nostalgia.”

For more information call 1-800-838-3006 or purchase your  tickets at  www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4048627. 

Young breakout artists to perform Sunday

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Local  pop singer, songwriter, rapper, producer composer and artist management man about town Yo Natan is preparing for a big event this Sunday, March 10 (7 pm)  at the Dollar Cinema at Decarie Square

Yo Natan

Yo Natan has pegged this unprecedented  event as the first ever  MTL Breakout Artists Extravaganza. Local, unsigned artists, musicians and dj’s will be collaborating for a night of hip hop, pop  and rock music. ” Our goal is to introduce local Montreal communities to emerging talents from multiple backgrounds, burrows and ethnicity,” says Yo Natan, whom I first saw perform  in the Sukkah of Chabad CSL Rabbi Mendel Raskin a few years  back.

Yo Natan2
Yo Natan strikes a pose.

The event will feature a cash bar ($4 Cocktails), coat check as well as seating and standing areas for the show.

Jewish businessman brings Orangetheory Fitness to West End

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When local Jewish businessman Mitchell Heft invited me to come  visit his new Orangetheory  Fitness studio on Somerled Avenue in NDG,  near Madison, I  was  curious.

I arrived at 7:30 pm to the facility, which previously housed a large Russian bakery. Orangetheory is a  one hour, full body workout, focused on training endurance, strength, and power. They use heart-rate based interval training, which burns more calories post workout than traditional exercise. When wearing their exclusive OTbeat heart rate monitors, the real time results of clients are displayed on large screens throughout the studio. Intensity is based on the person’s individual heart rate zones, making the workout effective for all fitness levels. To top it off,  certified coaches like Côte Saint-Luc’s Melanie Shernofsky lead the workout to prevent you from over or under training.

On this day Melanie had arrived at work  by 5:45 am for her first class.

IMG_4687
Mitchell Heft, Cynthia Brunner, sales rep Sasha Lagarde and Melanie Shernofsky.

There are  1,100 Orangetheory locations in 19 countries. Heft and his partner Cynthia Brunner met at the Pointe Claire franchise. Heft was working out and Brunner was a trainer, When they decided to open their own  studio they needed to find out what territories  were not already  occupied by other Orangetheory franchisees. The NDG-Côte Saint-Luc-Hampstead-Montreal West sector was available.  They soon landed the  3,200 square foot Somerled storefront and after pouring in the necessary $750,000 investment to bring the premises up to Orangetheory  standards they opened last fall.

Business keeps improving, with people of all ages signing on. A women’s  only class,  which could appeal to members of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community, may  start soon.

Orangetheory is geared toward all  levels of fitness, and everyone is encouraged to go at their own pace. They recommend signing up for a free* introductory workout, then discussing any thoughts or questions you may have regarding your fitness goals with  a coach before class.

The workout room has a variety of equipment, including treadmills (bikes and striders as alternatives), WaterRowers, and floor equipment, including dumbbells, benches, TRX suspension trainers, medicine balls, BOSU trainers, and Ab Dolly’s.

There are a variety of membership options. Just call 514.500.5464 or log on to www.orangetheoryfitness.ca . The address is 6275 Somerled Avenue.

Encrypted Histories: Nuit blanche à Montréal at the Museum of Jewish Montreal

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For its sixth consecutive year, the Museum of Jewish Montreal is participating in the Nuit blanche à Montréal festivities! Join in for an evening of live performance and an immersive art experience playing with cultural identity, visual language and communication.

01_Letters-From-My-Granduncle

Immerse yourself in a labyrinth of stories from the past to imagine a future of disrupted communication. Discover The Ocean Between Us, a photo and video based installation by Russian-Jewish artist Yuula Benivolski, inspired by letters written by an imprisoned Jewish Trotskyist dissident poet and journalist on the KGB watch list in the 1970’s.

For one night only,  on Saturday March 2   (9 pm to 1 am), the Museum of Jewish Montreal  (4040 Boul. St. Laurent  #R01)  will be transformed into an ethereal labyrinth, designed by artist Jordanna Ibghy, inviting visitors to immerse themselves completely in Benivolski’s work. Throughout the evening, the museum will host a series of live letter-readings in English, French and Russian. The performers will take turns translating each other’s words, creating a chorus of spoken word. The event is free and open to the public.

“The Ocean Between Us emerged when I came into possession of a stack of letters written by my great granduncle Misha in Moscow to his daughter Nina in Jerusalem in the 1970s,” said Benivolski. “These letters are my most precious possession. To me, they simultaneously represent both the wound and the cure: the physical distance between members of my family, and their coping mechanisms.”

The Museum of Jewish Montreal is a not-for-profit organization that explores and shares the diverse histories and experiences of Montreal’s Jewish community.

Jacob Potashnik to share his expertise with screenwriting workshops at Atwater Library

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By Mike Cohen

Montreal author, screenwriter, producer and educator  Jacob Potashnik has had quite a prolific career, so it is enlightening to hear that he will be sharing his expertise via screenwriting workshops for the Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) for eight consecutive Wednesdays, March 6 to April 24 (8 pm to 10 pm), at the Atwater Library (1200 Atwater) entitled Whose Story Is It? From Prose To Screenplay In 8 Painless Lessons.

Potashnik’s most recent publication is called The Golem of Hampstead and Other Stories, a collection of short stories written over 30 years about Montreal and other places is in the tradition of Saul Bellow, Mordechai Richler, and reminiscent of the work of Isaac Bashevis Singer and Sholom Aleichem, among others. It was shortlisted for the 2017 QWF Concordia First Book Prize.

golem

The jurors stated the following “Steeped in the texture of Jewish immigrant Montreal from the 1950s through to the present, from the culture of survival and working-class collaboration with the Québécois, to the spiritual perils of the nouveau riche, Potashnik’s tales are not only beautifully written, they combine a sense of heritage with the potential, along with the impoverishment, of everyday lives.These richly detailed and multilayered stories draw a picture of a Montreal that is both mythic and tangible. his is a confident, self-assured, muscular book. Potashnik writes in an effortless, fluid, clear, compelling prose. This is an author who revels in language. There is a filmic/visual quality to the storytelling, which is always, deft, sharp, witty and smart. Potashnik writes fully realized characters who exude personality and spirit.”

Potashnik studied communications at Concordia University and cinema at New York and Columbia Universities. In his youth, he travelled, and lived in Europe, working primarily as a sous chef. He has spent 36 years in film, television and new media production, starting from the bottom and working his way up through production manager and assistant director to director, line producer and producer for some of the best known production companies in Montreal, Toronto and Los Angeles. In 1996, at the behest of Denys Arcand, he co-wrote the WGC award-winning feature film Stardom, which closed the 2000 Cannes film Festival and opened the Toronto festival that same year. Since then, he has co-written the screen adaptations of Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers and wrote the English adaptations for Arcand’s Poverty and Other Delights, Jean Bergeron’s award-winning documentary on M.C. Escher, Achieving the Unachievable and the narration for Donald Sutherland’s voice-over for Jean Lemire’s, The Last Continent. In 2009, he translated the web ite content and museum texts for Le Jardin des Glaciers in Bay Comeau

The workshop fee is $160 for QWF members and $190.For more information, or to register call 514.933.0878 or email workshops@qwf.org.

A People’s Soundtrack: special preview of film on Montreal’s greatest tenors and sopranos

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By Mike Cohen

Montreal has long been known worldwide as a center of cantorial music. The Jewish equivalent of classical music, it enjoyed its cultural craze in the 50’s and 60’s but subsequently came to be known as a lost and dying art. When the late cultural icon, singer / songwriter and native son Leonard Cohen returned to his Montreal Jewish roots with his final Grammy award-winning album You Want It Darker, his collaboration with renowned Montreal Cantor Gideon Zelermyer thrust the ancient art-form back into the spotlight giving it widespread attention.

Cantor Zelermeyer.png
Cantor Gideon Zelermyer

A People’s Soundtrack explores this long and rich musical history and its relationship to both Montreal and its, celebrated, Jewish history. Mixing rare photos, intimate interviews, candid family moments and performance footage from some of the city’s greatest, Jewish tenors and sopranos, A People’s Soundtrack celebrates the unique ways the active voices of today are fighting to keep the ritual observances and emotional expressions of their communities alive.

Mountain Lake PBS and ONTIC Media will present an exclusive sneak preview of the new film on Saturday, March 2,  ( 7:30 pm) at The Segal Centre for the Performing Arts  (5170 Cote St. Catherine).Seating is limited so those interested must reserve early at emb@onticmedia.com. The  program will feature renowned Montreal cantors Sidney Dworkin, Rona Nadler, Adam Stotland, Daniel Benlolo  and Gideon Zelermyer. A People’s Soundtrack will premiere on Mountain Lake PBS on Tuesday, March 5  at 8 pm

The documentary is executive produced by Marvin Rosenblatt and directed by Evan Beloff (2017 Canadian Screen Award finalist for his documentary “Kosher Love”, and more recently “Daughters of the Voice” for CBC’s documentary strand “Absolutely Canadian / Absolutely Quebec”).

“The cantorial profession is a sacred calling,” said Cantor Dworkin, “The cantor is able to go into a whole different realm with the music, a very holy place. The cantor, who is the leader of prayer, is a messenger of the people. Our real function is to gather the prayers of all the congregants and to present them to God on high.”

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical tells the story of a nice Jewish girl who hit the top of the charts

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By Mike Cohen

Long before she was Carole King, she was Carol Klein, a young Jewish girl growing up in Brooklyn with a passion and gift for music. As a teenager, she fought her way into the record business and began writing hits for the biggest music acts around.

beautifulSarah
Sarah Bockel is fantastic as Carole King.

Beautiful- The Carole King Musical tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, alongside her husband and fellow songwriter Gerry Goffin, and her fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann. Along the way, she managed to make beautiful music and become one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

I was fortunate enough to be in attendance at Montreal’s opening night of Beautiful at Place des Arts (Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier). This fantastic production continues through February 17. While other family members had the opportunity to see this show with the original cast on Broadway, for whatever reason I chose another activity that day. Well I have made up for that error. We do not get Broadway shows too frequently here in Montreal, and one this moving really is not to be missed.

Beautiful features a stunning array of beloved songs written by Carole King/Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil, including “I Feel The Earth Move,” “One Fine Day,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend” and of course, the title song. The show opened on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in January 2014, where it has since broken all box office records and recently became the highest grossing production in the theatre’s history.

In this touring version, Sarah Bockel portrays King. The Chicago native does an outstanding job. Others who are part of this Tony and Grammy Award-winning hit musical include Dylan S. Wallach (Gerry Goffin) and Alison Whitehurst (Cynthia Weil), Jacob Heimer (Barry Mann), James Clow (Don Kirshner) and Suzanne Grodner (Genie Klein).

This show really keeps you on your toes—it features in equal measure intimate numbers and big production numbers. In fact, most songs begin by being played around a piano by the writers during the creative process, until the lights flash and suddenly the group that made these songs famous appears to sing them in full. The stark contrast between King’s understated versions and the way the songs were popularized is always entertaining.

“I am thrilled that Beautiful continues to delight and entertain audiences around the globe […] and that we are entering our fourth amazing year of touring the U.S.,” producer Paul Blake said. “We are so grateful that over five million audience members have been entertained by our celebration of Carole’s story and her timeless music.”

Since the tour’s launch September 2015, Beautiful has played 1,130 performances in 82 cities over 142 weeks to nearly 2.5 million patrons.

Shows are Feb 13- 16 at 8 pm, with 2 pm matinees Feb 16 and 17, and closing night at 7:30 pm. Info: www.evenko.ca. Tickets are on sale at the Place des Arts Box Office. You can call 1-866 842-2112. Tickets start at $45.85 (including taxes and service fees).

To the rescue of a piece of Israel in the heart of the Parc Jean Drapeau

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Written by Guillermo Glujovsky

Collaborated: Alice W. and J. Ederly

Full of religious and spiritual symbols that evoke the typical landscapes of the Promised Land, “The Israel Garden” is in an accelerated process of deterioration due to the ravages of time, a lack of proper maintenance by the City of Montreal and recent vandalism.  Located in the center of Parc Jean-Drapeau, The Israel Garden was built in 1980 on the occasion of the exposition Floralies Internationales[1]. The garden was conceived by Meyer Chaouat, Director of the Botanical Gardens at the University of Jerusalem, with the collaboration of the architects, Eim Karen and Shlomo Aaronson.

Historic, symbolic and religious values

The garden is full of historical, religious and spiritual symbols closely linked to the history of Israel:  the door that opens onto the garden is a replica of ones that can be found in the ancient Middle Eastern cities; there are two stones sealed together from the reign of King Herod; two columns, on either side of the tower, topped with an ancient slab found near Jerusalem. A Shomera[2], a mosaic brought from an ancient Israeli synagogue, aromatic, medicinal and religiously symbolic plants,all contributed to recreate an atmosphere typical of an Israeli plain.

A worrying reality

The replicas that endured in Israel for millennia have not fared so well in Montreal. After 39 years, the garden is heading towards an irremediable destiny: the slab that surrounds the columns are falling, which in the not too distant future will cause the collapse of the entire structure[3]. The mosaic brought directly from Israel is missing pieces while the plaque located at the entrance describing the characteristics of the garden has recently been vandalised.  As members of the Jewish Community we need to step forward and rescue the Israel Garden from its imminent disappearance. The City of Montreal needs to maintain this area of Parc Jean Drapeau just as it maintains all of its parks. If it is not possible to repair it, or at least execute the minimum maintenance to preserve its structure, why do not transport It to a safe place where it will be better appreciated and preserved by people who really value it.

[1] The New York Magazine (in its edition of 24 of March, 1980) described the exposition Floralies International as the first exhibition brought to North America outside Europe, where participated more than 20 countries from different parts of the world.

[2] The Shomera (from Hebrew, guardian, female) is an observation tower that is found in most of the gardens in the countryside around the city of Jerusalem. Is a symbol which represents that the flock and the orchard belongs to the owner. Also, is a sign to protect the residence.

[3] The authorities of the City of Montreal put many fences to protect the columns, without having taken any action to repair and preserve it.

A Bintel Brief: Yiddish Theatre alive and well in Montreal

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By Glenn J. Nashen

 The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre opened its 60th season this week with its latest production of A Bintel Brief. This performance at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts  is brought back to the stage after it originally opened in Montreal in the 1970s. It is a story based upon real letters to the editor of a Yiddish language daily newspaper in New York City in the early 1900s.

The production is composed of a series of true stories of Jewish immigrants coming to America and trying to adapt to their new world. It not only connects the stories of immigrants in the early 20th century to their former lives in Russia and Europe but it also connects them to their descendents 100 years later.

A Bintel Brief peeks inside the immigrant experience of long ago and reminds us that little has changed and that the struggles and efforts made are both timeless and universal.

The show is brought to life by budding director Michelle Heisler who has previously acted in the DWYT and works with young children’s theatre. Heisler is a talented actor and singer having performed on stage across Canada, the United States and Europe.

The cast is an energetic and spirited group of youngsters, young adults and older folk who come together as though they were a true family.

Aron Gonshor and Sam Stein are iconic in the DWYT and for good reason. Their vaudeville singing and dancing with old-fashioned, side-splitting humour kept the audience in tears of laughter. Their schtick was out of Wayne and Shuster and they were classic funnymen. They also took on serious roles in skits ranging in theme from overworked and underpaid, depressed immigrants to tragic episodes involving loss of life and great despair. If there are lifetime achievement awards for outstanding performance in Yiddish theatre this duo is certainly right for the prize.

Mikey Samra is known for  his many performances in the Cote Saint-Luc Dramatic Society but his stage presence in Yiddish was equally spectacular. He is a compelling young actor who will continue to flourish in whatever language he chooses.

Jodi Lackman has played at the Segal before but her performance in A Bintel Brief takes the cake. Her facial expressions and shrieking voice at learning her husband has another wife and children, her melodramatic overtones in yearning for her secret lover and her comedic expressions are worthy of praise and applause.

The list of talented and dedicated young actors who have put in tremendous effort to speak a language that is probably quite foreign to most of them is long and impressive. Kudos to all of them for entertaining the audience with song and dance, with drama and comedy and by keeping the language and rich history alive.

One particular skit involves a class of immigrants trying to learn to speak English. It is ridiculously funny with mispronunciation and misunderstanding. I could just imagine my Bubby and Zaida in such a class with their thick yiddishe accents trying to learn their new language. Indeed, I still remember the words of my very funny Russian-born Zaida who’d say, “I speak 12 languages and don’t understand any of them!”

The stage was simple and old fashion in the Segal Centre’s smaller theatre. Presented with English and French supertitles it is an easy-to-understand show even if you’re not fluent in mama-loschen. The four piece band was fun and lively under the musical direction of Nick Burgess.

Despite the young children who sing and dance in the first act (they leave at intermission to get home for bedtime) the heavy adult themes would give this musical performance a PG-13 rating, not age appropriate for pre-teens.

DWYT President Ben Gonshor thanked the capacity opening-night audience for continuing to support community theatre, particularly in Yiddish. With such great benefactors such as Alvin Segal, Barbara Seal and the Azrielli Foundation and Federation CJA Montrealers are fortunate in that they will continue to be treated to such memorable and entertaining evenings for years to come.

A Bintel Brief continues at the Segal Centre though October 21. Tickets are available at SegalCentre.org or by calling 514-739-7944.