The provisions of every like contract was ruled by limits inside the (f)
The provisions of every like contract was ruled by limits inside the (f) In comparison, a customers you will commit to yet another borrowing limit towards package, although the arrangement couldn’t permit the creditor to after transform the financing restrict but of the a subsequent authored arrangement or perhaps in brand new issues discussed inside (f)(3)(vi) i. Believe that brand new step 1-month You.S. Dollar LIBOR index made use of within the plan keeps a property value 2% towards the , the brand new margin you to definitely put on the latest variable price instantaneously before the newest replacement of your LIBOR directory used under the package are 10%, as well as the apr based on you to LIBOR directory worthy of and private student loans no cosigner no credit check this margin was several%. Together with, assume that this new collector provides chosen the top index authored into the the brand new Wall surface Path Journal once the replacement for directory, therefore the value of the prime list try 5% for the . A collector would satisfy the requirements to make use of an alternative index worth ultimately with the , and you may replacement for margin that may create an annual percentage rate drastically just like the rate computed utilising the LIBOR index worth in affect , additionally the margin you to definitely put on the new changeable rates instantaneously prior for the substitute for of your own LIBOR directory put within the bundle, from the looking for good seven% replacement for margin. (The top list worth of 5% therefore the replacement for margin of eight% perform develop a performance out-of several%.) Therefore, when your creditor brings a difference-in-terms find below 1026.9(c)(1) for the , revealing the prime index while the replacement for index and you may an upgraded margin away from eight%, in which these types of alter becomes energetic into , the collector joins the requirement to have fun with an upgraded directory worth ultimately with the , and you will substitute for margin that develop an apr considerably much like the rate determined using the LIBOR value essentially towards the , as well as the margin you to definitely put on the newest varying rate instantly earlier for the replacement of your own LIBOR index utilized under the plan. This is exactly real even when the prime list worthy of or perhaps the LIBOR index well worth changes immediately following , together with apr calculated making use of the perfect list really worth and you may 7% , isnt substantially just as the rate computed making use of the LIBOR list value to your , or dramatically similar to the price calculated by using the LIBOR index value for the . Such as, a creditor may offer the consumer a choice of and then make straight down monthly obligations or you will definitely enhance the borrowing limit step 1. Transform by composed arrangement. A collector get alter the terms of an idea in case your individual explicitly agrees on paper towards alter during the time it is generated. Such as for example, a consumer and you will a collector you’ll consent in writing to change this new installment conditions off notice-simply payments in order to repayments you to reduce the prominent equilibrium. Such as for example, a shared arrangement cannot enable coming annual percentage rate change according to the direction of a list subject to the creditor or cancellation and you will velocity not as much as products except that the individuals specified regarding controls. dos. Created contract. The alteration need to be agreed...
Read MoreWhat’s the difference between a cost and you may desire-just home loan?
What’s the difference between a cost and you may desire-just home loan? This is how cost and you may desire-merely mortgage loans work with Ireland in addition to various ways to pay your home mortgage whether you are a first time consumer, buy-to-let trader or switcher. Installment financial: The sum of the you’ve borrowed, in addition to interest, try slowly repaid more than your chosen mortgage label into a month-to-month basis. Most home-based housebuyers pay off its mortgage like that. Interest-just mortgage: You can easily only pay the loan focus inside term in addition to financial support try paid down in a single lump sum at the end. Buy so that traders may favor this option and it’s either available to care about-developers for a finite several months. What is a cost mortgage? It’s a form of home loan for which you pay back the money you lent and you may people attract energized toward mortgage more than an effective put period. Payments are monthly and you may normally give anywhere between twenty-four and you will 30 years*, although this can be as absolutely nothing since 5 otherwise as often once the 35 ages. In the beginning of the label, a greater display of commission are desire, but not, should you get on the avoid of the home loan identity the brand new mortgage is repaid entirely and you will individual the house or property outright. Fees mortgage loans advantages and disadvantages Reduces your home loan harmony Way more collection of mortgages More straightforward to overpay So much more flexible High monthly obligations Less money to keep otherwise dedicate What is actually an appeal-just home loan? It’s a type of financial open to buy to let people inside Ireland. They have been not offered to residential individuals because they are regarded as also high-risk, no matter if care about-build mortgages shall be offered because notice-just for brand new generate months. That have interest-simply mortgages, your monthly payment discusses precisely the interest due into balance, maybe not the administrative centre lent. It means monthly obligations is straight down, but you’ll still have to pay-off the initial loan in the the end of the borrowed funds label. To repay the main city you’ll need to provides an intend to pay the bill at the end of the expression – this might be named a fees means which you can need certainly to remark occasionally. Interest-simply mortgage loans benefits and drawbacks Cheaper monthly premiums Sorts of repayment means In Ireland, you can find a way to pay off the main city you borrowed on the termination of the mortgage label should you choose an appeal-simply home loan. Property investment Of a lot landlords like an appeal-just financial since leasing income always talks about month-to-month appeal and get to allow properties is a long-term capital. An interest-just mortgage also means down overheads to have landlords who may need to keep up that otherwise of several features. Pick so that investors generally earn profits regarding domestic rate rises that is used to settle the main city owed, however, this is not secured and you may hinges on a wholesome homes markets. Endowment rules A keen endowment coverage is a type of money taken out having a term life insurance team. Money is paid with the coverage each month to have a-flat time frame, and therefore money is spent. The insurance policy pays away a lump sum at the end of your own identity and the finance are used to pay-off the fresh new an excellent mortgage balance. Yet not, the value of an enthusiastic...
Read Morestep 3. Household Guarantee Line of credit (HELOC)
step 3. Household Guarantee Line of credit (HELOC) The same as a fixed-rate financial, house equity fund try paid back which have consistent monthly premiums more multiple years. Might normally have a fixed rate of interest, and because he could be secured loans (definition your residence acts as security), you might be able to find a lesser rate of interest than just you can with a personal bank loan (on such when personal loans you look at the a bit). Nonetheless, interest rates on the domestic equity financing is higher than typical home loan rates – and you will shed money form the financial could potentially guess ownership away from your house. Knowing just how much you should borrow, like a predictable repayment agenda, and wish to tap into their home’s collateral than it is to help you taking right out a consumer loan, a home collateral financing is a sensible option for their repair. Regardless if Friend cannot currently render domestic guarantee fund, it may be a practical solution to go after for people who qualify and get at the very least fifteen to twenty% equity of your property Home equity credit lines (HELOCs) act like household security loans – they both let you make use of the house’s collateral, and also you constantly need at the very least 20% collateral to qualify. However, HELOCs works sometime in different ways and certainly will be much more versatile. Unlike bringing a-one-big date sum of cash, HELOCs let your house’s guarantee to do something as the a source of rotating borrowing that you can use should you want to – types of instance a charge card. That’s because you really have a great deal more autonomy to utilize the range regarding credit if you wish to, and you won’t need to shell out desire with the currency you don’t require HELOCs normally don’t have settlement costs including house security funds, but perform usually have variable rates of interest, while the payment plan is fairly more. The loan enjoys several stages: the fresh mark months and you can cost several months. The newest mark several months is sometimes a decade and you may have fun with your offered credit as required during this time period. For all the financing you use, you’ll be able to normally create appeal-only costs. Next, for the cost period (which may be as much as 15 to 20 age), you could potentially no more mark finance, along with your monthly payments include dominating and you can attract. When you’re taking up an extended-term or multiple-stage home recovery, a beneficial HELOC could well be the best choice. Just remember, due to the fact a guaranteed mortgage, HELOCs is supported by your house – thus any missed repayments can place your family susceptible to foreclosures. 4. Unsecured loan Or even want to make use of your own home’s security as security otherwise don’t have sufficient equity in your home to do this, you can think a personal loan for your home update enterprise. Personal loans are typically easy to find, as many banking companies, lenders, and you will credit unions bring her or him, and Ally. Therefore, you could potentially research rates for the best speed (and reduced fees). Signature loans commonly backed by your property or any other house, causing them to signature loans. Your own interest rate relies upon your credit score and you may records – the higher their rating, the higher opportunity you really have at the snagging less interest. But just such as home financing or any other higher loan, it is better...
Read MoreA short-term education loan forgiveness waiver stops in the future: Are you eligible?
A short-term education loan forgiveness waiver stops in the future: Are you eligible? (NEXSTAR) From the slip regarding 2021, anyone Provider Financing Forgiveness System is overhauled of the Biden administration. Ever since then, many borrowers have received $8.1 billion inside scholar debt relief. The public Services Mortgage Forgiveness program, otherwise PSLF, was created from inside the 2007 into aim of helping personnel that have nonprofit and bodies firms because of the forgiving the figuratively speaking immediately after ten many years of money (120 full payments). The entire approval rate certainly people might have been low merely 1 in 5 of 1.3 mil individuals searching for loans release courtesy PSLF were on the right track to see relief from the 2026, centered on a research regarding the Arizona Blog post. Inside the 2021, the brand new You.S. Agency out-of Knowledge revealed a change one to briefly waives certain PSLF requirements to offer individuals credit towards the mortgage termination no matter what its federal mortgage kind of or if perhaps they had already been signed up for good specific fee plan, if they consolidated the financial obligation until the end away from the latest waiver. Till the waiver, borrowers wanted to provides a certain federal loan a primary Financing so you can qualify for PSLF. Consumers you’ll consolidate the financial obligation into Direct Finance to have PSLF, but people money generated to your finance in advance of combination failed to amount on the required tally. So it waiver is currently set-to expire immediately following , definition eligible individuals just have regarding the five days leftover to utilize. Richard Cordray, your face off Federal Pupil Support, told you in the a meeting earlier this week that as he was moving into the PSLF waiver as prolonged, President Biden will get lack the executive authority to help you agree such as for instance a beneficial move. PSLF certification A current declaration regarding the Scholar Debtor Coverage Cardio found more 9 million public service workers probably be eligible for loans cancellation using the PSLF system, but have yet to file the latest documents to begin with the process. California, Colorado, Fl, and New york have the most public service pros which have scholar loan personal debt, according to SBPC. Since informed me significantly more than, PSLF is meant to render qualified public service employees debt forgiveness after a flat quantity of costs are available. Be reproduced because of the a beneficial You.S. federal, condition, regional otherwise tribal regulators or not-for-funds providers (federal provider comes with U.S. military solution) Work full-time for you to definitely service otherwise providers Enjoys Direct Finance (otherwise combine almost every other federal student loans towards the a primary Mortgage) Generate 120 being qualified repayments In latest PSLF waiver, qualified borrowers can be receive borrowing to own costs generated to the almost every other loan designs, not as much as people commission plan, before combination otherwise pursuing the deadline. People who obtained Professor Loan Forgiveness can put on that time regarding provider one to resulted in its qualification towards the PSLF, if they can approve PSLF a position for that several months. How-to determine if you be considered The initial step for the determining your own qualifications try visiting the FSA’s web site and you can signing into your membership. You are able to search your boss inside FSA’s database and you can add information about the a position. After you discover your employer, it is possible to determine whether they qualifies less than PSLF. Second, predicated on SBPC’s walkthrough guide, you will need to decide which particular government figuratively speaking...
Read MoreEscrow levels try founded from the bank on your behalf to keep tax and you may insurance rates financing
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-8596162781-5c804e22c9e77c0001f57d37.jpg)
Escrow levels try founded from the bank on your behalf to keep tax and you may insurance rates financing Discover a report on exactly what gets into your own mortgage payment in this post 5 Real world Coaching Provide Help for Earliest-Big date Homebuyers. With it, a part called Bradley measures up investing $1,700 inside month-to-month lease so you’re able to an apparently-comparable potential home loan. The guy discovers on the particular unforeseen extra will set you back, tipping the shape doing $dos,eight hundred monthly! When you are a self-beginning in the world of controlling money, dive to come and only download it 100 % free budgeting theme to help you start a practical budget. And you will, naturally, we should instead speak about the tip that each and every financial specialist recommends when it comes to property costs: Set just about twenty-five% of your own just take-family money towards houses can cost you. If it feels also challenging to start with the brand new free cost management theme, of several see it useful to search through our Funds Bundle electronic book first. What are My Property Costs? Some professionals were Utilities as part of houses will set you back, and others identify individually. We will get-off you to area your decision, but we will break down the 2 in the list above in detail below. Principal Percentage Their prominent harmony ‘s the overall buck level of the loan that you borrowed. A fraction of for each monthly mortgage repayment happens with the this. At the beginning of the phrase, you will never create of many increases thereon overall loan balance to amortization (on which below). That’s why while making an additional mortgage payment once annually or including a while on payment per month normally substantially perception what you have to pay complete. Notice Commission Appeal ‘s the charge you shell out in order to borrow cash out of your bank. Annual percentage rate (ount borrowed most of the dictate the monthly bit supposed with the focus payments. Moreover it relies on amortization times, a table installation of how much of your commission goes on the primary as well as how far to your desire since your mortgage years. In the beginning, so much more would go to notice. Case in point of one’s birth, middle, and you may stop of an enthusiastic amortization plan. Home loan Milestone: If the Principal’ part of the percentage becomes more than the Interest’ piece, get ready observe specific fast reduce step thereon financing equilibrium! ??This can happens as much as seasons several-sixteen of a 30 12 months financial, if you are making regular regular costs. For people who spend most, it will can be found earlier. Taxation Assets taxes try an integral part of their payment and you may they have been paid-in an alternative means (much more about this below.) Each other Fees and you can Insurance policies are generally funneled to the a keen escrow membership. After that, in the event that insurance rates and you will fees come due, they’re going to have fun with that money to spend the brand new expense. That is to ensure that you have the funds to have taxes and you can insurance when it comes time… aka automated cost management during your lender! This will together with apply to private financial insurance policies , which we are going to talk about some time afterwards. HOA If you buy West Simsbury loans a house inside a property owners Organization (HOA), they will has actually laws on precisely how to realize also monthly expenses...
Read MoreAbout Me
What’s Susan up to?
Penn State Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies will host me as I present a solo program of song and history focusing on the roots of Eastern European Jewish music and related songs.
I have the honor of presenting this year at the annual American Folklore Society's conference. A lecture on papercut arts around the world and a demonstration of my own work will take place during the conference on October 22, 2021!
ELEVEN languages and counting! Over the years, I've crafted ketubot that honor many cultures. In addition to the expected Aramaic, modern Hebrew, English, and even Yiddish, I have included Korean, Kannada, Latin, Arabic, and even the Telugu seen in the cropped image above! What a joy this has been!
What a wonderful experience I shared with the community of Las Cruces, NM and the Guild of American Papercutters when I presented an hour-long lecture on the worldwide history of papercut arts on March 16, 2021. This was in conjunction with the museum's show of Islamic papercut art. We looked at tools, traditions, and especially shared visual vocabularies from India to Mexico, from Persia to China and beyond!
February 18, 2018 - Susan will be hosted by the Sholem Aleichem Center in the Bronx for a concert. Come for a shmuez (a chat) and stay for the music!https://www.pineclubgolf.com/best-electrical-push-carts/
As part of the Sacred: Image, Text, Ritual exhibit at Lebanon Valley College, Susan will be presenting a lecture recital titled "Words as Homeland: Where Jewish Text, Art, and Song Converge to Express a Culture." Thursday, February 8, 2018, 5 pm at the Zimmerman Recital Hall.
A wonderful arts residency in Teaneck, NJ at Congregation Beth Sholom concluded with a full concert, accompanied by Adrian Banner on Piano. Enthusiasm and learning flowed back and forth the entire time. Fabulous community!
What a great night at the Jalopy in Brooklyn on June 16, 2016 as my new trio with Lauren Brody and Jake Shulman-Ment stepped out to strut our stuff! Many languages, many musical cultures, and great joy in blending our voices and instruments.
____
In the beautiful summer landscape of Rindge, New Hampshire, I was privileged to teach traditional Jewish papercut arts at the annual National Havurah Committee's Summer Institute. We turned a large, sunny room into an art studio, and the class burst into enthusiastic art creation. I love the celebratory greeting of everyone's creations as skills and appreciation deepen over four days of classes. I'll come to you! Just ask!
_____________________________
Back to the Catskills, this time teaching for HAZAK, a group under the umbrella of United Synagogue that offers among its programs an annual summer week of learning and camaraderie. I used my lecture/recital format to widen the world of Yiddish song for about 150 life-long learners as we studied, laughed, sang a bit, and grew to know one another in Kerhonkson, NY.
______________________
When Nancy Spielberg screened her film Above and Beyond in Harrisburg's Chisuk Emuna Congregation, I was tapped to create a papercut gift for her. I chose the color scheme of her promotional material and the Hebrew words which translate into "Be strong... and strengthen one another." The filmmaker and I are shown here. (photo by Josh Damrauer)
___________________
Each year the myriad of faith communities in the Harrisburg region come together to celebrate in song. Here's an image of my participation, sharing the beauty of Yiddish song at the Pine Street Presbyterian Church.
____________
One of three children's programs to wind up a hectic and marvelous Scholar in Residence program at Congregation Beth El in Fairfield, CT. Lectures, singing programs, explorations of Yiddishkayt - and a debut concert of the new Leviton/Brody duo in concert! I'll happily come to your community, too!
______________________
Yiddish Culture on St. Croix! I received the warmest welcome all across the island where I had the opportunities to teach a vocal arts class in a school, offer an adult papercutting workshop, lecture in the synagogue, and get the whole audience at the Reformed Church singing along in multiple languages! Cultural seeds planted and the smiles, voices, and hugs still linger in memory!
______________
The Judson Church off Washington Square was packed with well over 300 people on December 30, 2014, to honor the memory and brilliance of Adrienne Cooper, and to award Michael Wex with this year's Dreaming in Yiddish prize. Below is an image of the finale of the musical performance of the Kanonen song from Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera, translated from the German into Yiddish by Wex himself. An all-star band backed us as we belted out the Army Song and others, accompanied by the brilliant puppetry and staging of Great Small Works and Power Point translations which made the text a little less inscrutable! What a night! Singers below include Sarah Gordon, Eleanor Reissa, Tine Kindermann, Dan Kahn, myself, and others.
______________________
A whirlwind arts week in Caldwell, NJ at Congregation Agudath Israel allowed me to open Jewish folk arts to energetic groups from preschoolers through elders. The tots sang and acted out Yiddish songs with costumes and props, the school students (4 larger groups) explored paper arts and traditional papercutting, and adults were treated to a series of lecture recitals, everything taking place in a large space where I hung over 35 works of framed art. What a fabulous arts residency for all of us together!
_________
Nearly 100 people attended a lecture/recital stitching together I. B. Singer's writing and the artists who illustrated his books as Susan sang her way through the bookshelves, Sunday, November 16, at Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, PA. This was the second event in the year's programming under a grant from the Koster Foundation.
____________
I was guest lecturer at Dickinson College today, October 6, singing my way through a program on Jews and Food. Unlike the light weight singalongs I often do on this topic, the class took food songs into the framework of Hasia Diner's examination of the place of food in Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement through acculturation in America. 15 songs unpacked! A great eye-opening experience for all!
________
Heeding God's Call is a national organization working at a grassroots level to end gun violence and straw buying. On September 18, within days of two gun murders in Harrisburg, I participated in an interfaith program at the MLK Baptist Church in the heart of our city. We 'sang' Reisen's Dos Naye Lid together as the assembled crowd held colored cards with words in Yiddish and English.
_____________
A happy bride at the huppah with her papercut ketubah! 'Tis the season, and I've been busy with commissions of all sorts!
___________
A full week of learning and teaching at the Havurah Summer Institute was a welcome experience again this year. Located at Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, about 300 Havurahniks from infancy to elder sage-age filled days and nights with enthusiastic work, food, music, and exploration. I taught classes in Yiddish song and helped create a soundscape for Tisha B'Av this summer. Loved it!!!
_____________
A lovely way to begin the summer's KlezKamp's Wisconsin adventure was a solo concert at Chai Point in Milwaukee. Jill Gellerman and were welcomed to the beautiful facility and then I sang for and with a great crowd of elders, eager to be part of the action!
____________
Quite a surprise when I met the truck from Welch Signage in Maine, carrying the massive synagogue feature wall I had designed, to see a piece of my own artwork prominently displayed on both sides of the vehicle!
___________
I performed for over 100 people at beautiful Maris Grove in Pennsylvania's Delaware County on May 13. As part of the PA Humanities Council's program of Commonwealth Speakers, I was able to bring the sound of Yiddish to an audience largely unfamiliar with the language and culture. As always, common threads were immediately found!
_____________
Verrry busy these days creating a synagogue feature wall, but I took time last week to be interviewed for Ted Merwin's article "The Aesthetics of Judaism" in The New York Jewish Week. Here's a quote: "For Susan Leviton, a ketubah-maker, paper-cut artist and Yiddish folk song performer ..., it was during the 1960s and ’70s, when many Jews flocked back to their roots, that Jews... 'took Judaism back into their own hands' and began braiding challahs and tie-dying prayer shawls. Hiddur mitzvah 'alters us as we fulfill a mitzvah or perform a ritual,' she told me. A Midrash (Song of Songs Rabbah 1.15) suggests that observance of the commandments makes Jews beautiful, even as Jews glorify God through hiddur mitzvot."
_________
An outpouring of love and creativity filled the room as we honored the memory of Adrienne Cooper and saw Jenny Romaine accept the first Dreaming in Yiddish award for her visionary work. Here's Susan on stage with Alicia Svigals, Jake Shulman-Ment, Benjy Fox Rosen, Aaron Alexander, Michael Winograd, and Dan Blacksberg, 12/21/13. (Photo by Bob Blacksberg)
When Goucher College Hillel welcomed a gift of two Torah scrolls, I was honored to craft mantles and wimples. So much silk! Garnet polished to look like pomegranate seeds! Text and the visions of students to work with! A grand experience.
_____________________
A totally spectacular group of artists, writers, social activists, and even puppeteers joined me for a week of creative work as I served as Artist in Residence at the 2013 National Havurah Conference Summer Institute in Rindge, NH. In 4 days of intense collective learning and creating, we built a musical theater production in a box (a cranky) and shared the story of the plight of needleworkers, past and present, with 300 others in a rapt audience!
____________
It was a beautiful day in Baltimore as the Jewish Museum of Maryland presented its annual Risch Memorial Program. I was delighted to be the featured performer, following brief, powerful presentations by Andres Salguero, Ssuuna, and the DC Turkish Folk Music Group. It always touches me to rediscover the points of connection among immigrant communities, regardless of geographic homes, cultures, and reasons for relocation. A brilliant celebration of cultures!
________
Over 350 pieces of beautiful Youghiogheny Art Glass hand-cut, and now I'm on to wet-grinding the edges! It's a new skill that I'm happy to add to my resume as I take on the responsibility to create a soaring double wall of glass above the Torah ark for Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg, building anew after a destructive fire in 2009. Check back in mid-May for a look at the completed wall!
_________________
Getting closer to a new recording! Michael Winograd spent a day in the studio on March 28 with Frank London, Dan Blacksberg, Hadar Noiberg, and Alec Speigelman to lay down horn tracks for my as-yet-unnamed CD. Dan Kahn joined in as a special guest vocalist. Next will come strings and soon after that the mixing and mastering, printing and artwork, and OT AZOY! A new Yiddish recording!
__________________
A whirl of creative activity has sent me to the sewing machine to craft two Torah mantles for Goucher College Hillel. One of the scrolls is a rescued Torah from Czechoslovakia, so armed with a palette of palest greys, golds, silvers, and ivories, I headed to Chinatown in NYC on a rainy day to seek silks! What a delight to discover Belraf Fabrics, owned by an Uzbeki couple. A trip around the world in fabric! Take a peek here are the first days' construction.
___________________
I'll be guest lecturing at Dickinson College in Professor Ted Merwin's class during the week that we commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. My program on the fire in words and Yiddish song continues to grow as I learn, and to sadly resonate as we all ponder how little has changed in global workplace safely in the last century. See "Upcoming Events" for details.
_________
Each year as KlezKamp ends, I proclaim, "This was the best ever!" And every year I mean it. And this year I mean it more! The staff concert nearly lifted the roof off what had been, in its glory days The Granite Hotel in the Catskills. My classes (traditional papercutting and "Our Lives are in our Songs") were filled with curious, thoughtful participants who challenged one another to take each idea to a new level. What an experience. Do not miss this next December!! (sneak peek? Check out the KlezKamp post under Upcoming Events for a video clip!)
__________________
December 22, 2012. Kaye Theater in Manhattan. I soared on the energy of dozens of the finest performers of Yiddish song and Klezmer as we paid tribute to Adrienne Cooper's memory in a three-hour concert of the songs she most loved. What a thrill to sing 'Di Arbuzn' a cappella, in three parts with women performers including Alicia Svigals, Lauren Brody, Shura Lipovsky, and Marsha Gildin. It was both a humbling and energizing evening. Sing out!
_________
I've just been selected as one of ten 2013 Guild of American Papercutters/X-acto Masters. This means over the course of the coming year I will be testing tools and materials and interacting with other artists to hone our skills and increase interest in papercutting arts. Very exciting!
_______________
Are you aware of the Commonwealth Speakers program under the PA Humanities Commission? Every two years, a roster of artists, story-tellers, historians, and musicians selected by the PHC are able to travel the state offering specific programs at no cost to groups (schools, libraries, state parks, etc.!) other than a basic application fee. I just returned from Ohev Sholom in Williamsport and will head to Reading on Thursday to bring Women's Voices in Yiddish Song to the Federation's Friendship Circle there. Visit the website at www.pahumanities.org and check it out! Free programming! What are you waiting for???
________________
It's been a long time coming, but here I am, immersed in the joy of working in collaboration with brilliant musicians as I prepare a new recording! Production is in the fine hands of Michael Winograd, and the initial tracks have been laid down with David Licht, Jake Shulman-Ment, Carmen Staaf, Garth Stevenson, and Avi Fox-Rosen, with Lauren Brody and others joining in soon! Hmm... mostly Yiddish, with some surprises mixed in, and everything from spare acoustic accompaniment to over-the-top orchestrations. There'll be more and more about the project as it emerges from its infancy, so watch for news! Perhaps a concert or cd release party in your neighborhood down the line...
____
Kesher Zion Congregation in Reading, PA welcomed me as artist-in-residence for the weekend of November 9, 2012, as the congregation honored the memories of Dr. Robert Greenberg and Evelyn Blumberg. I was delighted to find myself in the company of the congregation's brilliant Rabbi Minna Bromberg and rooms full of enthusiastic people hungry to experience new 'takes' on Jewish culture. My programming included a presentation of Yiddish songs of spiritual yearning, a lecture on contemporary Jewish ritual art, and then a rollicking concert on Saturday night with the newly expanded Old World Folk Band! Be sure to check the "Upcoming Events" tab to see where else I'm scheduled to spread YIddish culture!
____________________
I can't say enough about the wonderful Tree of Life Congregation in MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, where I just spent a weekend as scholar in residence. If you go to my 'coming events' tab, you may see the whole arc of the weekend, but I want to focus here on the response to my "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" presentation on Saturday night, October 27. Among the folks in attendance were physicians, attorneys, and workplace safety experts who each added to a passionate conversation about the effects of completely unregulated natural gas extraction on West Virginians, coal miners' safety issues, and even the plight of disabled people in sheltered workshops who, like the needle workers of 100 years ago, are largely groups without a voice. 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' And yet we still find inspiration to act for social justice when we learn and sing the songs of our forebears. "Give us bread and give us roses!"
___________
A radio interview for a BALTIMORE station (WVIE 1370) allowed me to share some insights into the history of labor activism in the United States on September 2, 2012 - Labor Day weekend. So much more meaningful than running to sporting goods stores for sale items, this was a chance to engage listeners in anthemic Yiddish songs and their contexts. So many songs... so little time! But every time a Yiddish song is SUNG, it lives a new life.
__________________
It's late summer, so a trip to the BLOCK AND HEXTER VACATION CENTER in Poyntelle, PA came around on my calendar. My teaching schedule allowed me to alternate sessions with fellow presenter Saul Silas Fahti, as we worked to expand the artistic, musical, polititcal, and in Saul's case, even cosmological horizons of the elders who flocked to the Poconos to participate, learn, and (it's a Jewish camp!) eat 3 squares a day. Whether singing, lecturing, or engaging in issues, I always learn from interactions with program participants. One highlight this year was meeting two Hungarian-born sisters who offered me a macaronic (mixed language) song that alternates lines between Hungarian and German/Yiddish. Will it make the cut on my upcoming recording? Stay tuned!
______________________
A quick trip to MADISON, WISCONSIN as part of "A Bisele KlezKamp" on July 22 was a terrific bright spot in a busy summer season! Over 200 people buzzed around programming by some of the best teacher/artists in the Yiddish folk arts world as Michael Wex, Cookie Segelstein, Lauren Brody, Henry Sapoznik, Sherry Mayrent, Miriam Isaacs, David Spies, Sara Gordon, Kurt Bjorling, Steve Weintraub, and I managed to compress a week's worth of learning into one fabulous day. Keep up-to-date with U. OF WISCONSIN'S MAYRENT CENTER to find out what Yiddish programming will be offered throughout the year before our triumphant return next summer!
On Friday night prior to 'ABKK' I was hosted by Congregation Shaarei Shomayim where I presented an a cappella lecture/recital titled "Healing the World in Yiddish Song." Given the political upheavals and charged emotions in Madison these days, the program was a welcome one. The room was packed with people of all ages, and it was a special joy to me to be singing in a room within Frank Lloyd Wright's historic Unitarian Church, where the congregation meets regularly.
_______________________
Lauren Brody and I head to PITTSBURGH on June 3 for two concerts, a family event in the morning, and a full concert in the late afternoon at the JCC, in conjunction with the Jewish Museum's exhibit on the artists who illustrated the works of I.B. Singer. We're working up new material and are delighted that both PennPAT and the PA Humanities Council are supporting the program with generous grants. Come celebrate Yiddish culture!
__________________________
Healing the World in Yiddish - This lecture/recital program drew people from a wide variety of backgrounds and ages to a program sponsored but DICKINSON COLLEGE, the Literary Heritage Fund, Association for Jewish Studies, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg on April 24. With PowerPoint translations and even a visit from Dan Kahn and the Painted Bird on screen, we explored the drive for human rights that infuses Yiddish song, and the activism that the songs inspire. As part of a series titled "Telling Jewish Stories through the Arts," the evening's riches were obvious as participants lingered over tea and cake and shared the stories that bubbled up in response to the presentation. What a great night!
_______________________
________________________
On Sunday, April 1, the Jewish Federation of Greater DAYTON and the Lynda A. Cohen Yiddish Club welcomed Lauren Brody and me for a concert. It was the first time that Lauren and I had the opportunity to present a full concert and we felt like siblings on the stage, finding parallel expressions of meaning and intention in her accordion and my voice without even a nod or a word. Utilizing the full range of her instrument, Lauren crafted a unique setting for each song, and the 'whole cloth' was fantastic.
We're already warming up for an upcoming event in June, so stay tuned for details!!
_____________________________
MAURICE SENDAK! I write this on the day of Maurice Sendak's passing. (If you haven't heard both the recent Fresh Air interview and the hilarious pair of Colbert interviews with the incomparable Mr. Sendak, go find them NOW and come back here in an hour...) I am grateful and humbled to have had the opportunity to spend several months immersed in the life and work of Mr. Sendak, preparing for a program built around the Rosenbach's exhibit of the influences of his Jewish world on his life's work. So on Sunday, April 15, the Haverford Public Library swelled with the sounds of Klezmer as I took over the children's wing of the library to present "Yiddish in the Nutshell" with Ken Ulansey on clarinet and Heath Allen on keyboard. Sendak's early life in a Yiddish-speaking immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn, the awareness of evil in the world, and the fears and bravery of children shaped much of his life's work, and I blended his personal life into songs and stories for a rollicking hour. The program was interactive, with sing-alongs, props, costumes, and wild Sendakian tales abounding. It was a Yiddishe Vilde 'Rumpus' for everyone's inner child! Pick up a book by Maurice Sendak and look deeply into it. You may be changed!
________________________
LAFAYETTE COLLEGE Hillel hosted me on Tuesday night, March 20 for a program in song and story on the actual history of the Sarajevo Hagaddah. It was a real one-woman show as I demonstrated design, lettering, and gilding techniques of the centuries-old masterpiece, as well as recounted its improbable story interspersed with songs in the Sarajevo dialect of Judeo-Spanish, in Yiddish, and in Hebrew, along with a Moroccan chant - all related to the Hagaddah. The audience included students, college faculty, and local residents, and there was a lively Q and A at the conclusion of the program. Lafayette has a gorgeous old campus perched above the city of Easton at the confluence of the Delaware and Raritan rivers. I hope to return!
__________________________
LAUREN BRODY will join me in presenting a full concert in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, April 1 for the annual event honoring the memory of Lynda A. Cohen. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to share the stage and have been working up two terrific sets for the Yiddish club and expected gathered throngs!
_______________________________
A presentation of my concert "Women's Voices in Yiddish Song" at Penn State University in Middletown, PA on February 23 drew people from Lancaster, York, Lebanon, and the greater Harrisburg area. Having been interviewed for an upcoming article in a Dayton, Ohio paper the night before, I kept thinking during the concert of a particular question I was asked: "What do you want people to take away from your performance?" So I'll tell you: I want people to be so surprised and touched that they come away with a desire to dig a little deeper into Yiddish culture and discover something about themselves. The values and history that are packed into our songs go far in teaching us how to know ourselves if we just open our hearts a bit. That's why I sing. Oh, and also, I sing because I can't NOT sing!!
Only a week to go before Kerhonkson, NY becomes the temporary capital of Yiddishland! This year at KlezKamp I'll be teaching the hands-on papercutting course and a four-session a capella lecture/recital course.
I'm especially looking forward to the time I'll be carving out with fellow PennPAT artist SUSAN WATTS to work on some vocal duets and arrangements, and to begin taking concrete steps towards my NEW RECORDING, which will be produced by the amazing MICHAEL WINOGRAD! Check this website regularly for announcements, too, of a new duo in the works featuring MICHAEL WEX and Susan Leviton. Use your imagination for now - details to follow soon!
_________________________
On Sunday, November 20, 2011, I presented a "Conversation with the Artist" in conjunction with the "Making it Better: Folk Art in Pennsylvania Today" exhibit in which one of my papercuts is featured. I demonstrated the art of Jewish papercutting and shared insights into its history and contemporary expressions with about 30 museum-goers. On exhibit through April 29, 2012, Making It Better tells the stories of over 30 master artists whose works represent a wide array of traditions such as African dance, stone wall construction, Native American clay flutes, Pysanky eggs, contemporary blacksmith work, woodcarving, and Vietnamese funerary portraits. I'm honored to have been chosen to have my work represented among so many brilliant examples of folk arts.
_________________________
Groundbreaking for Chisuk Emuna Congregation's new synagogue took place in Harrisburg on Sunday, October 16, 2011, and over 350 people celebrated with a block party that featured kugel in a sukkah, carnival food, games and abundant crafts for children, and an afternoon of outstanding music: klezmer, jazz, and old-timey. Bands set up on a concrete pad at one end of the soon-to-be-a-shul property, and music filled the air! I had the pleasure of singing once again with the Old World Folk Band, which has recently welcomed several new musicians as regulars, and which added additional guest performers for the outdoor event.
The synagogue was destroyed by an accidental fire in 2009, and more recently was left homeless when The Flood of 2011 forced the congregation from temporary quarters in the JCC. The sense that the next plague was waiting in the wings was banished by the wonderful welcome to a new neighbrhood, and it looks like the block party may become an annual event!
___________________
A whirlwind few days at the 14th annual IAYC (International Association of Yiddish Clubs) conference in Novi, Michigan offered me the opportunity to perform and teach, and to meet people from all over the country who gathered to celebrate Yiddish culture. Highlights for me were presenting my powerful lecure/recital, "Rage Against the Sewing Machine" in this 100th anniversary year following the Triangle Fire, and joining Dan Kahn on the bandstand following my solo concert.
To see parts of one of my programs at the conference, please visit www.yiddishlives.com/susanleviton
_