of the University of Michigan School
of Music and a former piano teacher
for 21 years, has accompanied cantors
appearing in concert at the synagogue
and other musical performers in vari-
ous programs.
"This will be my first time in the
Detroit area," says Mendelovitch,
whose first appearance in America was
at a venue in Miami Beach. "I've been
to Cleveland, Buffalo, Atlanta,
Minneapolis and many other cities. I
try to avoid doing what other Yiddish
entertainers do, so I pick musical
numbers which are rarely heard."
Mendelovitch was recruited into
the Yiddish theater when he was 8
years old. He was chosen after being
heard while singing in his synagogue
choir. The entertainer continued until
he was 14, when his voice started
changing. After a long break from act-
ing, which included military service,
he auditioned again.
"Some remembered me, and I
joined the company," he recalls. "I
worked 46 weeks each year, and
appeared with Yiddish actors and
actresses famous in America. I traveled
to Poland, Romania and Israel to
observe their theater programs.
Ultimately, I learned by studying my
betters and gaining experience.
"When the Yiddish theater ceased
to exist in England, I continued, first
with others and then alone. My career
seemed to snowball. I always will have
a love for Yiddish and the stage, which
I got from my father, who was a tailor.
I was one of six children and the only
one who was stage struck."
When he's taken time off from per-
forming, Mendelovitch has done some
teaching. Besides the private Yiddish
students, he has lectured and per-
formed at Oxford and Columbia uni-
versities.
The Yiddish language and theater
simply consume Mendelovitch's life.
Alone in his home, located two hours
outside London, the seasoned per-
former goes over the Yiddish books in
his personal library
"They absorb me very much," he
says. Fl

Bernard Mendelovitch performs

The World of Yiddish Theatre in
Story 6- Song 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,

Aug. 24, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. The
synagogue asks that people plan-
ning to attend the free concert
reserve seats in advance by call-
ing (248) 357-5544.

4

AmmamvAk.Kaw_awae,rhx.moxkmwmaoannmoseN

Cordially invites you to celebrate
with us our 60th year of business
serving the metropolitan (Detroit area.

Preserving
Yidd ishkeit

an honor of this event,

Despite the recent surge of interest
in the Yiddish language, the dan-
ger persists that as Yiddish speak-
ers become fewer, the loss of
Yiddish as a living language will
leave the Jewish people without a
direct link to their immediate past.
Who by the middle of the next
century, for example, will under-
stand Yiddish writer Sholom
Aleichem's intimate wordplay of
Yiddish, Hebrew and Slavic, or his
unique way of mixing and match-
ing folklore, history and language,
at their source?
That's why the Sholotn Aleichem
Memorial Foundation, based in
New York, is working to preserve
the legacy of probably the most
beloved Yiddish writer of all time.
The foundation has formed an
international team of scholars as the
editorial board of the Sham

will roll back our prices
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Ve

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eservations are suggested

(offer good only at our (Detroit location

Akichern Library in English
Transbtion, with Professor David G.

Roskies of the Jewish Theological
Seminary as editor in chief An
international conference of scholars
was held in April and a translation
contest was conducted to increase
the pool of available translators for
the anticipated 15 volumes of the
project. Expected to take more than
10 years, the plan is to make all of
the work of the distinguished
Yiddish writer available in English,
with all new translations.
The board includes Professors
Janet Hadda of UCLA, Abraham
Novershtern of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, Joseph
Sherman of the University of
Witwatersrand in South Africa,
Ruth Wisse of Harvard and Anita
Norich of the University of
Michigan.
Bel Kaufman, author (Up the
Down Staircase) and granddaugh-
ter of Sholorn Aleichem and the
only living family member who
knew him, is honorary chairman
of the Foundation.
He was "our Shakespeare, our
Ingrnar Bergman, our Philip Roth
and, yes, even our Steven
Spielberg, all rolled into one," says
Roskies of Aleichern, explaining
why so much effort and resources
are going toward a single writer.

YIDDISHICEIT on page 86

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Detroit Jewish News

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