A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus

Freedom Is A Verb: 25th Anniversary Concert
With special guest daniel kahn

ABV Concert Poster 2023

Host Committee

Mishpokhe Katz-Gritz
The National Workers Circle

Andy Strauss
Dr. & Mrs. Bruce Feinberg
Dianne Perlmutter & Julie Silberman
Ed & Dena Brody
Judy Rottenberg & Harry Bochner
Laura Derman & Lee Teitel
Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman & Rep. Frank Hornstein
Mike Felsen & Tolle Graham
Norman Berman & Sheri Abrams

Amy Lampert
Anne Greenwald & Jeremy Bloch
Ann O. Koloski-Ostrow & Steven Ostrow
Ava Cheloff
Bob Follansbee & Jenny Silverman
Helen Raizen & Kathy MacDonald
Joe Pryse & Beth Worell
Judy Somberg
Lisa Gallatin
Mitchell Silver & Ora Gladstone
Peter & Marci Pepper
Sarah T. Axelrod

Ashley Adams
Barbara & Jeremy Ruskin
Carrie & Jordan Pollack
Ellen A. Bruce & Richard Segan
Joel Schwartz & Jan Selcer
Judith Schwartz & Michael Furstenberg
Marcia Zuckerman
Marie Ariel
Martha Matlaw & Michael Weinstein
Michelle Golden
Norma Finkelstein
Paul &  Joanne Egerman
Peter Rhodes & Shelley Reed
Rachel Hess
Rebecca Hornstein & Jonathon Feinberg
Robin Barnes
Rochelle Ruthchild in memory of Vicki Levins Gabriner
Sandra Forman
Steve Lipsitt
Steve Perlmutter & Beth Altman
Susan B. Jones
Susan Sommer
Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus (NYC)

For 25 years, the A Besere Velt Yiddish chorus has created a culture of resistance, and brought us together through radical song. On June 10th at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, Boston Workers Circle and A Besere Velt will be joining forces with Yiddish rock/folk star Daniel Kahn to present Freedom is a Verb, a concert that is sure to inspire and sustain our work for collective freedom. As Daniel sings:

Freedom is a verb
Something never finished, never done
It's something you must make
It's something you must take
It's something you must constantly become

At Freedom is a Verb we are thrilled to honor and celebrate: Progressive Jewish leader Nadav David, Boston Workers Circle Community and Yiddish community leaders Linda Gritz & Mike Katz, and labor leaders Jessica Wender-Shubow & the Brookline Educators Union. Each of our honorees actively lead our community towards freedom.

June 10, 2023
7:30 PM ET
In-Person & Livestreamed
Kresge Auditorium, MIT
48 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge

Parking details can be found here.  Kresge Auditorium is also accessible via public transit.

Purchase Tickets Here

PLEASE NOTE: At this time, Livestream tickets are available at the link above -- In-person tickets will be available at the door.
Contributor - $100+
Full Price - $54
Young Adult / Low-Income - $36
Livestream - $18

In keeping with Boston Workers Circle's values as a mutual aid organization and a community of care we will require all audience members to wear masks at the concert. We mask in respect for those who might be particularly vulnerable, recognizing that we as a community should take collective responsibility for each other's wellbeing. 

During events at Kresge Auditorium, guests are able to park in select MIT garages and lots.  Details for parking can be found here. 

MIT recommends the use of public transit when possible.  Kresge is accessible via red line or bus. 

If you are able to support the 25th Anniversary of A Besere Velt, and help us honor our incredible honorees, please consider giving to the host committee.

Donate here to join the host committee. 

Questions?  Email Rebecca at rebecca@circleboston.org.

PLEASE NOTE: Our Ad Deadline Has Now Passed.

Purchase an ad in our beautiful keepsake program book which will be handed to 750 people. Support Jewish culture and social justice.

Advertisement Opportunities:

  • Two-page Center Spread (12x9" Horizontal): $4200
  • Full-page Inside Cover (6x9" Vertical): $2500
  • Full Page (6x9" Vertical) : $1200
  • Half Page (6×4" Horizontal): $700
  • Quarter Page (3x4" Vertical) : $400
  • Eighth Page (3x2" Horizontal): $250

To Submit Your Ad:
Submit your payment online or via check

Ad formats accepted: JPG/JPEG, PNG, TIF
300 dpi resolution

All Ads will be formatted for 6x9" size page and will be printed in black & white
DEADLINE: May 1, 2023.

Performers & Honorees

A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus

A Better World – is proud to be a voice for justice. This vibrant 80-member intergenerational community chorus weaves the heartache and irrepressible idealism of Yiddish music into a vision of justice and humanity for the 21st century. From haunting melodies to workers’ anthems, the songs come alive with multi-layered harmonies and allow us to express Jewishness and social justice in the same breath–it’s called radical Yiddishkayt!

The repertoire of A Besere Velt grew out of the shtetls, the sweatshops and union meetings, the camps and ghettos. These songs contain the sounds of the history, the culture, and the progressive values to inspire us to action today.

Special guest Daniel Kahn

A singer/songwriter, translator, accordionist, and troubadour, Daniel combines English, Yiddish, German, and Russian in a radical combination of Eastern European Klezmer, lyrical folk ballads, dark cabaret, and political punk. Born in Detroit, he studied theater and poetry at U-Michigan. After living in New Orleans and New York he moved to Berlin in 2005 and founded The Painted Bird, which has toured the world and won several awards with their 5 albums. Now based in Hamburg, he works as a theater director, actor, composer, and playwright. In 2016, the Ashkenaz Foundation named him the inaugural Theo Bikel Artist-in-Residence. He is an original member of Earthwork Music, where he released four albums.

honoree Nadav David

Nadav (he/him) is a multiethnic Jewish organizer who’s lived in Boston for 10+ years. His organizing journey has been shaped by weaving together cultural traditions and histories from his Mizrahi (Iraq) and Ashkenazi (Poland/Belarus) families. As a young person with class privilege, he works as the New England Regional Organizer for Resource Generation, a multiracial membership community of young people with access to wealth and/or class privilege committed to the equitable distribution of wealth, land, and power. Nadav also organizes with local and national groups to strengthen the Jewish Left, build communities of Mizrahi organizers, and to bring solidarity economies and worlds beyond policing and prisons to life. We are grateful to honor Nadav’s many contributions to Boston's Jewish and movement communities.

honorees Linda Gritz & Mike Katz

Linda Gritz and Mike Katz have played key leadership roles in the Boston Workers Circle, A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus, and in the broader Yiddish world both locally and nationally for nearly four decades. Seeing a need for secular progressive Yiddish community and cultural work, Mike and Linda were among a core group of people who helped rejuvenate Boston Workers Circle in the 1980s. The first activities were their Yiddish conversation group and monthly Yiddish Sing, which continue today. These activities have expanded into the now vibrant, intergenerational local Yiddish community we see today. Through Yiddish Sing and as founding members of A Besere Velt, Mike and Linda have brought their love of Yiddish song out into the world. We are excited to honor Mike and Linda’s commitment to creating community and to radical Yiddishkayt, and their ability to bring others in through their steady and engaging leadership.

honorees Jessica Wender-Shubow &
the Brookline Educators Union

We are proud to honor Brookline Educators Union president Jessica Wender-Shubow, and all BEU educators, for their courage and commitment to justice and workers' rights. Affiliated with the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Brookline Educators Union represents over 1000 educators in Brookline and advocates for excellent public education for every child, while advancing the interests of public employees. After three years of fighting for wage increases, support for retaining educators of color, and more preparation time for Brookline’s hard-working educators, the BEU went on strike in the spring of 2022. The strike led to the union winning their demands, ending a cycle of disrespect for teachers, and inspiring fellow educators to take action across the state. We honor these leaders in our Brookline community for building solidarity and for taking action.

A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus

Derek David, Music Director

A Besere Velt – A Better World – is proud to be a voice for justice. This vibrant 80-member intergenerational community chorus weaves the heartache and irrepressible idealism of Yiddish music into a vision of justice and humanity for the 21st century. From haunting melodies to workers’ anthems, the songs come alive with multi-layered harmonies and allow us to express Jewishness and social justice in the same breath–it’s called radical Yiddishkayt!

The repertoire of A Besere Velt grew out of the shtetls, the sweatshops and union meetings, the camps and ghettos. These songs contain the sounds of the history, the culture, and the progressive values to inspire us to action today.

Founded in 1997, A Besere Velt has performed throughout New England and New York, from conferences to picket lines, from temples to interfaith rallies, from universities to senior centers, and released its debut CD in 2006.

23_Diasporas And Dreams_053019_LARGE_DSD_2684_©2019 Derek Kouyoumjian

A Besere Velt has performed with world-renowned Yiddish musicians, including Theodore Bikel, The Klezmatics, Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Polina Shepherd, and Lorin Sklamberg. Cross-cultural collaborations include The National Spiritual Ensemble, Robbie O’Connell, Odaiko New England, The Guy Mendilow Ensemble, and Noor Ensemble.

A Besere Velt was the subject of Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler's dissertation, Yiddish Songs and Jewish Futures: A Besere Velt, Partisan Music, and Modern Performance.  You can read a version of her article here. This is a penultimate draft of the article appearing in Jewish Folklore & Ethnography, Volume 1, pp. 186-209. The published version can be found here. Please cite published version.

Derek (1)

Derek David

(He/Him)
Music Director
Since 2018, Dr. Derek David has been music director of A Besere Velt. An accomplished composer, conductor, and music educator based in Boston, Derek’s music has been performed in Europe and throughout the United States. Prior to his work with A Besere Velt, he was choir conductor for the men’s and women’s choirs at Walden School (2015-2017). With degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory, he is currently Lecturer in Music at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Listen to A Besere Velt

A Besere Velt YouTube Channel

To order CDs, send $18 per CD plus $3 for mailing costs (with $1 postage for each additional CD) to Boston Workers Circle, 6 Webster Street, Brookline, MA 02446.

Or stop by the office—please call ahead (617-566-6281) to ensure a staff member will be available to assist you.

For more information, including booking A Besere Velt, contact abv@circleboston.org.

Join A Besere Velt!

If you enjoy singing in a spirited and harmonious multi-generational 80-person chorus, A Besere Velt is a great place to give it a try!

We encourage membership in Boston Workers Circle and have lower rates for Boston Workers Circle members, recognize multiple members from a single family, and offer a special young adult rate.

In a time of so much economic uncertainty, we are committed to making participation accessible to everyone. Please don't let cost be a barrier to joining. If you can't afford the listed dues, contact the ABV treasurer, finance@circleboston.org. For those who can afford to make an additional donation, that will certainly help both ABV and BWC.
First Adult - $270 First Adult - $365
Second Adult** - $230 Second Adult - $330
Young Adult (<35) - $90 Young Adult (<35) - $120
Current Members Pay Dues Here

For more information, or to join, contact abv@circleboston.org.

Looking for additional opportunities to sing Yiddish songs?

Check out our monthly Yiddish Sings!

Calendar

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recognizing our donors

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston
Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

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