Maintaining a minimal DTI ratio helps you safe mortgage approval
Maintaining a minimal DTI ratio helps you safe mortgage approval Pigly’s Idea! Read the money restriction in your part by the being able to access brand new USDA income restrictions page. At the time of , the standard money restrict so that you can four-representative home into the You.S. areas is $90,300. Meanwhile, money constraints for 5 to 8-member property is set at the $119,two hundred. Debt-to-Income Ratio Individuals need certainly to match the called for loans-to-income ratio (DTI). DTI is a percentage one tips the total month-to-month loans costs along with your overall monthly earnings. Pay attention to the one or two main variety of DTI ratios: Front-stop DTI This is basically the portion of your earnings that purchase every mortgage-associated can cost you. It includes monthly obligations, assets taxes, relationship dues, homeowner’s insurance rates, etc. To possess USDA fund, your front side-avoid DTI must not surpass 31 per cent. Back-prevent DTI Here is the part of your income you to definitely buy home loan expenses together with your other bills. It gives your car financing, credit card debt, personal loans, an such like. So you’re able to qualify for good USDA financing, your back-stop DTI shouldn’t be more than 41 %. DTI conditions to have USDA fund seem to be similar to traditional mortgages. That it sign assists loan providers assess while a decreased-chance borrower. A reduced DTI proportion form lower danger of defaulting on the mortgage, and therefore increases the possibility for loan acceptance. Yet not, sometimes, a good USDA financial may accept a higher DTI ratio if for example the credit rating exceeds 680. Just how much do you obtain? It will confidence the total amount you can qualify for. This is according to monetary factors just like your paycheck, expense, and your credit rating. USDA money dont impose mortgage restrictions. At exactly the same time, most other bodies-recognized mortgage loans like FHA finance enforce specific mortgage limitations for every urban area. USDA Ensure Commission USDA borrowers must pay mortgage insurance coverage known as ensure payment. This is certainly required if you make virtually no down payment on your own mortgage. This new guarantee fee is actually repaid each other given that an initial fee and a yearly make certain percentage that’s rolled into your monthly premiums. The newest initial verify fee is actually 1% of your own amount borrowed, once the annual be sure payment are 0.35% of your dominating mortgage balance. As an example, if for example the financing was $3 hundred,100000, the fresh initial make sure fee is $step 3,000. For your own annual be certain that fee, should your prominent harmony try less so you’re able to $280,000, it would be $980 ($ a month). Consequently as your prominent balance minimizes, your yearly verify fee as well as minimizes. Yet not, bear in mind that yearly ensure percentage is needed into the expereince of living of your own financing. In lieu of conventional mortgage loans, mortgage insurance policy is simply you’ll need for a finite time period. USDA mortgage insurance coverage was all the way down as compared to other government-recognized mortgages, instance FHA money (step 1.75 per cent to have initial fee). The lower insurance coverage were implemented into ent. Before the new costs, the fresh new USDA upfront be certain that commission try dos.75 percent, once the annual verify fee is 0.50 Byers loans %. Data files getting Software or other Will cost you Same as conventional finance, USDA individuals need certainly to yield to borrowing from the bank inspections till the loan are approved. Expect you’ll tell you...
Read MoreFour Methods to adopt When Comparing Financial Forbearance
Four Methods to adopt When Comparing Financial Forbearance Regarding the wake of your own monetary chaos and highest jobless profile produced by the fresh new COVID-19 pandemic, lenders sought after a means to assist customers weather the instant violent storm. Advice originated in the brand new Coronavirus Support, Rescue, and you can Financial Safety (CARES) Work, and that composed extremely important defenses for financial consumers. If for example the mortgage was backed by a government entity particularly Federal national mortgage association, Freddie Mac computer, HUD, USDA, or the Veterans Management and you’re sense adversity on account of brand new pandemic, you’ll be able to consult doing 12 months-several 180-big date attacks-off home loan forbearance. Going for forbearance fundamentally makes you pause repayments to possess an occasion of energy. If the home loan is not authorities-backed, the bank may offer relief choice toward an incident-by-circumstances base if the earnings might have been inspired. Five Measures to take on Whenever Evaluating Financial Forbearance Shop around When considering mortgage rescue choice, understanding the terminology and processes is crucial. Forbearance enables you to end to make costs to have a period of big date as opposed to penalty, but it is perhaps not forgiveness. You still owe the main, attention, escrow, and other elements of the loan adopting the forbearance period was over. Forbearance is even not deferment, where in actuality the paused money try set in the termination of brand new loan’s name, no matter if that can easily be you to option for a fees plan shortly after your own forbearance months ends up. Whenever you can build partial or full money for the forbearance period, that will help you slow down the matter you borrowed if the period is more than. Five Steps to adopt Whenever Contrasting Financial Forbearance Improve request Forbearance isnt automated. You should request it. Of several financial institutions was handling a formidable number of requests, so it’s a good idea to play with on the web devices preferably. You will likely not have to provide all other documents. Within the CARES Act, government-recognized money need an initial forbearance age 180 months. So you can consult a supplementary 180 weeks, you should make a second request until the very first 180-day several months ends. Five Tips to take on When Comparing Mortgage Forbearance Include debt really-are Forbearance can help you defeat quick-label monetary setbacks, such as a short-term occupations loss or a reduction in occasions, and keep maintaining your house in place of adversely affecting your credit history. Their mortgage lender won’t fees late costs and other penalties through the new forbearance several months. Those people that was indeed analyzed to own missed money in front of you entering for the forbearance and never but really paid back will continue to remain on the fresh account. Most of the time, in the event the home insurance and you may a home taxation are part of the mortgage, they will be state-of-the-art by your servicer when you’re into the forbearance. If they’re perhaps not integrated, try to keep spending your home insurance while you’re in forbearance and make contact with your local government in the work deadlines and options for your own income tax repayments. Four Methods to consider When Comparing Mortgage Forbearance Package your following procedures Just before their forbearance months ends, your lender work along with you to determine your absolute best second steps. Your options range between a good: Mortgage loan modification- This could include an extension towards prevent of your own mortgage otherwise a modification on rate and you can identity to pay the...
Read MoreReliable Rates The bottom FICO analysis criteria is based on the home financing
Reliable Rates The bottom FICO analysis criteria is based on the home financing Consumers Beneficiaries can put on online or one on one any kind of time of its locations. Visitors assistance is obtainable Saturday-Tuesday, 0: 0 CST, and 2 was CST on the Saturdays. (Top ten Greatest Mortgage lenders) Reputable rates render home loans for the several people and you may refinancers. The tool offering includes fixed and you may movable rates agreements (ARM), normal and type-measurements of contracts, FHA, USDA, and you can Virtual assistant enhances, in addition to money just mortgage brokers. 7. LoanDepot LoanDepot is just one of the most significant non-lender deal moneylenders in the usa, within more than 150 twigs and you can a robust net-situated presence. Their things utilize traditional home loans, government-upheld credit, and you can rescheduling. Members just who incorporate NDR’s Melo SmartLoon online innovation can also be disappear their prevent big date from the 17 weeks by the diminishing desk work and you may very carefully associating and confirming resources, pay, and you will interfacing. Additionally, Melo SmartLone can cautiously manage title clearances, that is occasionally among big date-escalated stages in the latest encouraging program. An added benefit http://cashadvanceamerica.net/2000-dollar-payday-loan of so it advancement would be the fact it determines in the event that specific borrowers’ beneficiaries can also be delay new research requirement, which can save time and you will a few hundred dollars away from your home financing can cost you. Debtor candidates can use on the web otherwise during the in excess of 150 components of the latest U.S. Progress Prevent. You will find currently focuses of originating in Arizona, Tennessee, as well as 2 California, as they are at this time subscribed during the 50 claims. London clients can apply on the web having a mortgage. Whenever they keeps shown its software, a cards manager often consult that they glance at the adopting the amounts, and additionally distribution pay suggestions and you can personal recognizable research. (Top 10 Most readily useful Lenders) Toward low-weekend days, buyer support minutes is responsibly flexible, Monday owing to Monday and Tuesday off eleven good.m. in order to ten p.yards. LoanDepot’s financial pre-endorsement time needs to 20 minutes to have supporters who are in need of in order to promote a lot more study. (Top 10 Better Lenders) Beneficiaries just who incorporate its Melo SmartLoan innovation, that is believed to decrease the level of table really works candidates fill in and you may, occasionally actually wipe out the requirement getting a home assessment, normally abbreviate the past communications of the as long as 17 months. Normal and you can Va home enhances require a base FICO rating out of 620, the conventional needs for some banking companies. To own FHA agreements, the credit requirement are quicker significant, which have 580 at the least plungings. Finally, gigantic individuals beneficiaries need to have a base FICO get regarding 700. 8. PenFed Borrowing Partnership Weeks to close: 31 to help you forty days to own get closings, albeit the bank is also oblige far more short-time symptoms if necessary Established in 1935, PenFed is amongst the most significant pieces-had credit contacts in the united kingdom. Penfed has actually an open contract, hence implies zero tactical endorsement needs.Going additionally, you want to open and maintain an offer (financial support account) with in any feel $ 5. It’s not a registration expenses, its a good part’s arms share, plus the requirements are no different for every single area. Price individuals have to pay no expenditures; He is only responsible to possess outsider charges, such, valuation, label,...
Read MoreHow can i qualify for a mortgage?
How can i qualify for a mortgage? Be it your first domestic or you may be a professional experienced inside the the real estate markets, the house mortgage techniques seems like a frightening task to deal with, nevertheless doesn’t have to be tough or confusing. Knowing the procedures and you may conditions of the house financing procedure will make it much easier for you. step one. Qualifying Step one yourself mortgage process try qualifying to possess financing. Whenever being qualified to have a mortgage, there are some things loan providers take into consideration whenever determining just how far currency they may be able manage to provide you. Many people keep a myth that the merely situation loan providers consider can be your credit rating, and therefore a poor credit get mode you will not qualify for a great, affordable mortgage. While you are your credit rating and you will record is actually examined, other factors as well as change the amount of cash possible be eligible for inside home financing. Among the many bigger issues when qualifying for a mortgage try money stability. Loan providers want to know that you’re and make adequate money to blow straight back your loan, and that your earnings are steady and you will uniform. In place of proof of earnings stability, loan providers will not feel at ease offering you a life threatening financial. Close to earnings balance, your financial obligation is factored towards the picture. Even with steady, uniform money, if your number of debt your debt is superb, they ount you would like. The next important aspect for the being qualified to have home financing is their borrowing from the bank. Your credit rating and your credit history could well be drawn on the account to determine if home financing are possible for one another on your own and your lender. The higher your credit rating, the greater a loan provider have a tendency to feel at ease credit your, and the top interest levels your loan will carry. Fico scores become since the a surprise for many of us; many imagine their credit rating was lower than it really is. not, even with a less-than-prime credit rating or credit rating, apps come in place to let some body improve their credit ratings and also have the house funds they want. Your credit score will establish the type of home loan you to shall be accessible to you. The third basis believed ‘s the loan really worth pertaining to new worth of our house. Depending on the sorts of loan you are offered, there can be a fixed minimal necessary because a down-payment. Your own downpayment could well be computed in line with the value of our home as well as the style of financing you are receiving since the a result of your credit score. Just how much can i qualify for? Before applying to possess a mortgage, you can ponder how much you could be eligible for. Will, extent a loan provider commonly meet the requirements your having try much better than it is possible to feel safe paying into a different loan. When the number have decided, loan providers essentially show the most you are eligible to discovered considering your income, credit history and you may background, therefore the worth of the house. Once understanding what you are able qualify for, you can works your path down seriously to online payday loans Bark Ranch CO that loan you to definitely you then become more comfortable expenses. Including, i assist you to talk about your financial budget and arrange...
Read MoreHouse Repair Money Revision the worth of Your residence
House Repair Money Revision the worth of Your residence It is hard to trust we are nearly halfway as a consequence of summer. Yes, into extended pandemic, the sense of energy is actually altered. Like other Ontario homeowners, enough time might have crept up-and try pushing one to understand what must be done to your residence in order to change and improve one nagging troubles unaddressed in the level of your own pandemic. Maybe you’ve already been thinking about finishing off the basements to put for the a home work environment. With and a lot more home owners working at home and you may companies thinking about cutting inside-office hours, the necessity for property place of work is more than previously. Maybe the lawn contains the possibility to landscaping and you can modernize. Your kitchen can certainly be looking for a makeover. No matter what repairs and you can domestic renovations a resident can be thinking about truth be told there remains a standard motif that can not eliminated. Just how do you realy fund a house repair? For these property owners that can has less than perfect credit, practical question along with comes up on how tend to loan recognition works to pay for any house repair will cost you? By experiencing present equity on the possessions, you can find house recovery second mortgages that shelter this new required rates with it. Less than perfect credit consumers can also turn-to individual loan providers (C loan providers) so you can negotiate private mortgage selection. An exclusive domestic recovery loan will help to defense the expenses of every condition and you may home improvements from the along with being able to access available equity of your home. Ontario Lending products to aid Fix the expenses You can rest assured one to considering the time and money, a renovation will eventually enhance the property value your property. Predicated on Genworth Canada, the area of your home that can offer the most readily useful financing return and ultimately help the appraised value of your house includes: New basement The kitchen One bathrooms you could check here This means that, for those who dedicate state 10,100000 within the renovation costs to upgrade your cooking area might generate straight back this number for the security and much more when your house is appraised for the current market worthy of. Yes, the original upfront cost will there be, although not, the possibility to increase the general worth of your home is most likely. Of these homeowners one to understand the worth of household renovations but may feel out-of less than perfect credit, financial loans are present to offer the ways to buy people required home improvements. Inside Ontario, the borrowed funds business will identify loan providers for the about three wide classes: A lenders B Lenders C Lenders The first sounding loan providers consists of the big banking institutions. Bank mortgages need exemplary credit, an inclination for easy-to-estimate annual income, adequate most financial property, and you will a reduced loans ratio. Loan providers regularly lay home owners/borrowers as a consequence of rigorous financial be concerned evaluating which have been tightened up actually next at the time of . Next category of loan providers includes faith enterprises and credit unions. Regardless if much more easy regarding credit standards than simply the A good financial competitors, these lenders create however wanted a credit score with a minimum of 550 and you may favor effortless-to-estimate family earnings and additionally any additional financial property. Individual lenders make up the third group of C loan providers. For those that might...
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.
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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!
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
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A happy bride at the huppah with her papercut ketubah! 'Tis the season, and I've been busy with commissions of all sorts!
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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!!!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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."
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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!)
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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!
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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!
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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???
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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...
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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!
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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!"
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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!!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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
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