Competitive distinctive line of the mortgage insufficiency by lending company otherwise a following purchaser of the loans is quite probably
Competitive distinctive line of the mortgage insufficiency by lending company otherwise a following purchaser of the loans is quite probably Chapter 7 to ascertain a fresh initiate and ensure zero judge otherwise personal debt immediately after a foreclosures selling. Chapter 7 try a whole personal debt removing program. Of the processing, you will get peace of mind that you are capable generate a flush break from the mortgage company if a foreclosure gets unavoidable. Within an excellent 4 -5 few days schedule you’d be free from un-secured debts particularly as: Playing cards Scientific bills Unsecured loans Legal actions, judgments together with most of the home loan relevant financial obligation. Post-Foreclosures Financing Deficit Financial obligation Am i going to Owe Currency? Having mortgage companies start to promote its post-property foreclosure mortgage deficiencies so you can debt collectors or go after stuff because of regional law firms (we.age. Trott Recuperation Attributes was a part out-of Trott & Trott the most significant local organization hired by financial businesses to-do the new foreclosures processes), home owners can no longer manage to assume that once the house forecloses they are in a position to leave in place of monetary impact. Of a lot consumers are lulled into the a false feeling of security you to the fresh deficit are not pursued because often takes decades on financial for taking competitive step. That it misperception is actually perpetuated by the reports regarding results-totally free stroll aways. Exacerbating this new misinformation ‘s the behavior of the mortgage brokers from showing financial associated bills since an effective charge off on a great borrower’s credit history. Consumers will incorrectly believe this means your debt will not or can not be gathered. Billed of financial obligation remains practical, collectible obligations which will be only a bookkeeping routine getting creditors. The mortgage industry is easily adjusting their practices to make certain limitation data recovery to have loan inadequacies. The key to maximizing insufficiency judgments will be based upon the fresh new property foreclosure deals bidding process.Historically, mortgage brokers perform head the regional lawyer to execute an excellent full financial obligation quote on their behalf at the foreclosures profit. Carrying out the fresh new complete financial obligation bid create make certain term towards the assets would revert to your lender within conclusion of the legal redemption period. not, particularly a bid manage get rid of the likelihood of a lack responsibility given that financial obligation was came across within sale, albeit from the lender. The fresh new complete loans quote enjoys largely fallen out from like with lenders while the property viewpoints possess plummeted. Rather, lenders was getting good brokers price thoughts (BPO, dollars value guess of the property computed of the watching the exterior from a home and looking at various comparable sales) and you can accepting offers as little as 80% of your own BPO. The explanation of one’s financial is because they commonly invest 20% of worthy of securing, maintaining, and you may sale the house or property on the market. As such, acknowledging a quote regarding 80% of one’s BPO worth places him or her in the same status given that getting the assets to own one hundred% of your own worth otherwise make payment on quantity of a full personal debt and later promoting it. The most important outcome of it property foreclosure putting in a bid/rates routine would be the fact, compared to an effective full financial obligation bid here repeatedly will stay a substantial loan deficit. Brand new insufficiency amount try represented by the full balance from the the new borrower without the acknowledged...
Read MoreHELOC closing costs happened to be between dos% and you can 5% of your own complete amount borrowed
HELOC closing costs happened to be between dos% and you can 5% of your own complete amount borrowed Those prices are a percentage out-of HELOC, perhaps not the main. HELOC closing costs are typically cheaper than dollars-aside refinancing. For many who HELOC toward an investment property, you may not produce from attract money unless brand new fund go on the improving one assets. Only a few loan providers bring repaired-price HELOCs, but this can be an effective way to view your own home’s equity that have a far more secure cost plan. An interest-merely HELOC is just demands attention repayments inside the mark months. While the mark ends up, you’ll need to pay-off both prominent and you may attract. The fresh new FHA Improve refi is a superb opportunity for licensed people so you can lock in even more good financing terms The brand new Internal revenue service contours certain advice having whenever HELOC appeal is income tax-deductible. Residents can usually deduct after they utilize the mortgage and then make home improvements. Choose between other Arm, a predetermined-price home loan, and you may a profit-out refinance Home owners is refinance HELOCs into mortgage payments in some suggests: transfer it to a home collateral loan, pull out a unique HELOC, or choose an earnings-away refinance. Never assume all mortgage lenders are made equivalent. Pick these types of red-colored and you can green flags when comparing an informed cash-away refinance loan providers offered. Cash-away refinance closing costs can also be equivalent 2-6% of one’s loan’s worth. Particular closing costs, read the full info here including the software, origination, and you may underwriting, try negotiable. Property owners which have nice equity accumulated can use a profit-away re-finance to order the next domestic. Such fund may go toward the down payment and you can settlement costs. Qualifying having an FHA dollars-aside refinance is very the same as qualifying for your totally new FHA home loan. You prefer at least 20% security home so you’re able to qualify. This new Company regarding Veteran Situations enables Va financing bucks-aside refinancing. Qualified experts gain access to doing 100% of the residence’s current appraised well worth. Using a great HELOC getting debt consolidation may help individuals cure notice and you can pay off bills less. Just remember evaluate interest levels to possess current finance. Leveraging collateral to the a primary domestic will be an effective way to fund one minute family pick. But, after you HELOC to have advance payment requires, invest strategically. Choosing a good HELOC to own do it yourself financing can cause an effective great return on investment. Using a line of credit might help homeowners safety continual costs. Using a beneficial HELOC to own worry about-operating explanations should be an intelligent idea. But not, self-working borrowers is at the mercy of an alternative selection of financing official certification. When you have a future enterprise otherwise expense, you could thought a great HELOC to have economic speed and you will support. A house collateral line of credit is a wonderful technique for property owners to access cash in accordance with the value of their house. Off the new down repayments and you may debt consolidation to help you home solutions and you may renovations, HELOCs provides endless software. Bringing a money-aside refinance Va mortgage is a wonderful chance of pros so you’re able to improve their homes and you will accumulate riches. Verify for folks who be considered now. The optimal debt-to-money proportion to possess HELOC qualification is approximately 36%, however, for each and every situation is exclusive. Find out for many who qualify...
Read MoreFree Slot: The Ultimate Overview to Playing and Winning
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Read Moreeight Approaches for How to Repay Student education loans
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Read MoreI know of numerous gay, bi, trans and straight partners that strong, enjoying monogamous relationships
I know of numerous gay, bi, trans and straight partners that strong, enjoying monogamous relationships That it guide encourages folks, besides you gay men, when planning on taking a evaluate that formidable organization and begin to inquire of particular huge, significant concerns, like: MOC: Yes, you emphasize throughout your guide there is no one way to possess good age sex relationship How will you y or an unbarred relationship? What will happen otherwise get active support for your relationship out of some one close to you, extremely important individuals, such as your household members, household members and you can people? While married, how will you along with your mate must do parenting? These are besides issues to own gay lovers, he is inquiries for everybody couples: my personal polyamorous upright clients are dealing with the exact same blogs. It isn’t simply all of us, my brothers, all people will benefit because of the questioning brand new underpinnings away from wedding and you will tinkering with their design. I remember surviving in Paris, in the early 1980’s, and seeing exactly how heterosexuals regarding the upper kinds generally speaking had a wife (or husband) and you may a lover. So it wasn’t strange; in many groups, it had been standard. We once requested an amazingly smart and good-looking man, which have which I got an untamed and you may romantic affair, as to the reasons he was nonetheless ericans are incredibly traditional, you imagine to enjoy monogamy, but, on your heart, you’d love the opportunity to live as we perform. Well, one pretty much closed me personally right up for a long time. We kept asking me, Is he correct? Due to the fact some one out-of a small town inside Ohio, I happened to be maybe not elevated into mores out-of my married French partner, which means this are some an excellent jolt for me personally. From the taking extremely protective that have Michel (as I will label him here) and you can claiming, Oh, you French somebody, you usually suppose https://kissbridesdate.com/asiame-review/ you realize everything and try everything a lot better than other people. Over come on your own, Mr. Know-It-Most of the. It’s removed me on 30-5 years to help you techniques the questions one Michel presented to me in his pleasant apartment to your Rue Winner Hugo, while you are their spouse was in the usa,” in Atlanta. In an exceedingly a lot of time and you will wandering roadway, which publication is a result of my personal talks that have your. Merci, Michel. Once i felt non-monogamy important to mention inside book, I additionally is actually precise that we didn’t have to denigrate or void monogamous dating. To appear off through to all of them would be foolish and you may naive. There is absolutely no you to version of wedding that’s an informed. Let’s feel clear about that. For this reason this book talks about each other discover and you may monogamous relationship: for every single features its own book gift suggestions and you can demands for people. Neither is advisable. And so thus, not all marriage ceremonies could easily be contained nicely inside categories out-of “open” or “monogamous,” right? To phrase it differently, even if several chooses to discuss differences from sexual transparency-fluidly, inside particular indicates to have specific time period–their needs and you may concerns and you can behavior changes, and you will expand because somebody throughout the pair grow. Should they communicate efficiently. And you get ready the person very well to possess instance communications. Providing self reflective questions regarding the sexual choices...
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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