Wednesday evening saw presentations discussing very different aspects of Yiddish culture and klezmer music.
The afternoon forshpayz was a fascinating discussion of our theme, Hasidish Yiddish, by the vibrant young editor of the Algemeiner Journal, the major Yiddish weekly of the Hasidic community, Yosef Yitzkhok Jacobson. Jacobson gave a bilingual Yiddish-English talk before a large group of rapt KlezKampers tracing his own recent history as the new editor of his newspaper and his effort to incorporate and, indeed, introduce its readers to the richness of Yiddish literature.
It is the Algemeiner Journal that is reprinting great works by writers, such as Peretz and Mendele (as well as new writing by important contemporary Yiddish cultural figures from the secular world) in its pages and on its website. He encouraged KlezKampers to contribute to the literary and political dialogues which are found in its pages and, by his presence and by his words, did much to build the bridge between worlds of Yiddish lovers that need not be estranged. Y.Y. Jacobson is a charming and charismatic man who has the will, the position and the ability to be a truly transformative, historic figure in the world of Yiddish. We who heard him speak could not help but be inspired to work together with him in service of our mutual love of Yiddish language and all parts of its culture. We were honored to have Y.Y. Jacobson at KlezKamp and look forward to working together with him well into the future.
It is the Algemeiner Journal that is reprinting great works by writers, such as Peretz and Mendele (as well as new writing by important contemporary Yiddish cultural figures from the secular world) in its pages and on its website. He encouraged KlezKampers to contribute to the literary and political dialogues which are found in its pages and, by his presence and by his words, did much to build the bridge between worlds of Yiddish lovers that need not be estranged. Y.Y. Jacobson is a charming and charismatic man who has the will, the position and the ability to be a truly transformative, historic figure in the world of Yiddish. We who heard him speak could not help but be inspired to work together with him in service of our mutual love of Yiddish language and all parts of its culture. We were honored to have Y.Y. Jacobson at KlezKamp and look forward to working together with him well into the future. 
Y.Y. Jacobson (2nd from right) continues the discussion with KlezKampers after his talk on Wednesday evening.After dinner , there was a vigorous and animated nokhshpayz discussion on the theme of Klezmer in Germany, led by Heiko Lehmann. Staff and KlezKampers from Germany, joined by American KlezKamp faculty who have lived and played in Germany, described their experiences playing in Germany, their personal experiences and motivations and answered the "unspoken" questions that were finally articulated from the audience. The session was punctuated and illustrated by wonderful performances from Sanne Moricke and Christian Dawid and by singer/accordionist Katherina Muether.
These presentations started discussions that went on well into the night and which are certain to continue through to the next KlezKamp and beyond. KlezKamp....it's not just music, that's for sure.
