A couple of times a year, I visit my grandmother’s Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA) senior center and I entertain her and the other seniors with my piano playing. I am asked to play Classical, and Broadway, but the the thing I am asked to play most often is always Klezmer.
For this reason, when I starting reading the New York Times article entitled “Lifting Spirits With Music Passed Down Through Generations“, I was immediately interested.
This article details the story of Dave Levitt, who has also been performing for the elderly Jewish community since he was a young boy. He is now continuing this life path as a music specialist working the Jewish Home Lifecare’s daytime program in the Bronx.
Levitt is determined to preserve the Yiddish language and art of Klezmer music. I think this is incredibly admirable and important. Too many languages and music styles have been neglected over the years and eventually lost. Besides my personal connection to Levitt’s cause, I feel that any effort at preserving art is incredibly important and extremely worthwhile.
Klezmer and Yiddish are very historically important to the Jewish people and I appreciate Levitt’s role in continuing these traditions.
Preservation and innovation within tradition are essential elements of a vibrant approach to the arts. As time goes by, it becomes increasingly challenging and difficult. It is nice to see that such efforts are serious and widespread. There was a time (especially up until the mid- 20th Century) when the Yiddish Theater (especially in New York) was a vibrant and active cultural presence.