28 April 11 • 2019
jn

Comedian Nate Fridson will be 
supporting a cause close to his 
heart when he performs at the 
annual Send a Kid to Tamarack 
(SK2T) event April 28 at the 
Berman Center for Performing 
Arts. 
Fridson was a Tamarack camper 
from the late 1990s into the 2000s 
and then a counselor at Camp Maas 
after that. A Huntington Woods 
native, Fridson is a rising star 
from the Detroit comedy scene. 
Aside from playing clubs in New 
York, Atlanta, Baton Rouge and 
elsewhere, he recently traveled 
to Japan to perform for the U.S. 
troops stationed on Okinawa. 
“This means a lot to me to 
perform at SK2T this year,” he said. 
“I don’
t get back to camp much, 
so it’
s nice to be able to connect 
with the organization in a different 
way. SK2T is a very important 
program in that it helps kids share 

in the life-shaping experiences that 
Tamarack provides. 
“At camp, I fell in the mud, 
learned how to make a candle and 
even got to see a bear one time. 
Some of these stories might come 
out at the show — who knows?”
He’
s also pleased to be working 
with some old friends organizing 
the event, which begins at 6:30 p.m. 
SK2T will include a silent 
auction, small plates and 
entertainment. For tickets, go to 
tamarackcamps.com/sk2tevent. 
All proceeds help support the 
Send a Kid to Tamarack Annual 
Campaign and Tamarack’
s mission 
of providing enriching Jewish 
camping experiences for children 
and families respectful of financial 
ability. ■

Comedian Fridson
To Headline 
Tamarack Camps’
Annual Fundraiser

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in 
the

Thanks to our 
paramedics, the 
only empty chair 
at his Seder table 
will be Elijah’s.

As we celebrate our freedom this Passover holiday, 
please consider a gift that will make Israel stronger too. 

Israel’s emergency medical services organization, 
 
more than 8.8 million people. 

Save a life in Israel this Passover with a gift to support 

Magen David Adom. 

Donate on AFMDA.org/passover or call 888.674.4871.

Saving lives. It’s in our blood – and in yours too.

afmda.org

This coming fall, the Frankel 
Institute for Advanced Judaic 
Studies will bring together a group 
of Yiddish scholars, poets, transla-
tors, language teachers and cultural 
leaders to discuss and research 
around the theme of “Yiddish 
Matters.” 
The University of Michigan has 
emerged as one of the world’
s lead-
ing centers for Yiddish studies, so it 
is fitting that the Frankel Institute 
will be a site for fresh explorations 
of the linguistic, literary, historical, 
political and social significance of 
the language and the varying cul-
tures it has engendered and contin-
ues to animate. 
“I am absolutely thrilled to be 
working with a group of schol-
ars and intellectuals with such 
wide-ranging expertise and experi-
ence,” says Julian Levinson, the head 
fellow of this year’
s group. “Yiddish 
studies has become an incredibly 
dynamic field, and we’
ll have folks 

from history, anthropology, linguis-
tics and literary studies, as well as 
translators working on new projects. 
I look forward to sharing our col-
lective work with the broader com-
munity, within the university and 
beyond.”
The 2019-2020 fellows include 
scholars from Israel, America and 
Poland. Some are just beginning 
their careers, having studied the 
language at summer programs and 
in graduate school. Others were 
born into Yiddish-speaking families, 
and, having studied disparate topics 
during their graduate years, subse-
quently returned to their mother 
tongue to emerge as the world’
s 
leading scholars of Yiddish language 
and culture. They work on a wide 
range of topics, including Yiddish 
space, food, poetry, and fiction in 
the Americas, Europe and Israel. 
Several scholars examine Yiddish 
as a language of catastrophe; others 
celebrate the joy of Yiddish life. ■

Frankel Institute Fellows
To Focus on Yiddish