Emmett Leader’s “Slonim Revisited” is an installation that is a window into the world of Judaism and the Jewish Diaspora. It weaves two stories, one dealing with his youth in rural Vermont, and
 the other based upon the pre-World War II Eastern European Jewish shtetls of his grandparents and their ancestors. This installation is a visual feast made up of a wooden shelter with earthenware panels on the walls, a large pair of doors, clay ritual objects on wall pedestals and various clay and found items on mantles. The artwork uses a folk, vernacular style and the overall effect is of a barn shrine; a holy space within a rural setting.

Come print a Yiddish postcard on a historic tabletop printing press throughout the day Friday and Saturday. Letterpress printing is an art and practice of (re)production - so print 2 or 3 or even more, and send them to friends old and new as we build our own landsmanshaftn at KlezCummington 2025.

Join us in community Art Build as we prepare for the KlezCummington Landsmanshaft Banquet! Join us to build lanterns, sing Yiddish anthems, learn klezmer processional music, print a Yiddish flyer on a historic press, and more – all of which will become a part of the culminating Landsmanshaft Mutual Aid Banquet on the evening of Saturday, July 5th. This will be a rolling station throughout the afternoon – no previous experience or commitment required! All ages welcome! 

In this workshop, folks will get hands on experience making comics. Using prompting questions for guidance attendees will use drawing and narrative to express personal and/or collective experiences in flux through time. We will also have reference comics spanning a rich history of American Jewish (and yiddish) comic history.

Singing nigunim (known as ‘wordless melodies’) has been one way that folks have cultivated spiritual nourishment and communal connection from generation to generation. We will sing nigunim that are old and new, joyful, yearning, and capture feelings we can’t find the words to explain. If singing long, winding nigunim freaks you out– zorg nisht and don't worry! We will be breaking them down into sections, and will absorb the melodies by singing them over and over. This will be a space for us to experiment with blending our voices with the intention of entering a meditative state individually and collectively.

Join Ozzy and Ben for a hands-on exploration of Ashkenazi Jewish food history! We’ll be exploring the ways in which diaspora, halakha, borders, neighbors, and immigration shape what appears on the table. Come ready to shape bagels, chop, salt, pickle, and brine! The food we make will be served as part of the bagel deli lunch!

All ages, levels, and instruments welcome! This jam will be an accessible jam geared towards klezmer beginners, but anyone is welcome. Tunes will be played slowly, and sheet music/charts will be provided. Bring a tune to play and share, or come to learn!

In this workshop we’ll spend time with oral history clips from the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project to root ourselves in stories from landsmanshaftn across the Ashkenazi diaspora in the early-mid 20th century. Then we’ll learn some oral history methods for documenting stories of mutual aid and collective care in our communities today.

We warmly welcome you into our living room with a little glass of tea from the samovar!

A Glezele Tey (Yiddish for “a little glass of tea”) invites you into their living room for a little glass of tea from the samovar, bringing audiences into an intimate and enthralling world of klezmer, Yiddish folk song, and tkhines (traditional Ashkenazi prayers centering the experiences of women, trans, and gender non-conforming people, set to new melodies). Drawing from old recordings and contemporary culture rooted in the Eastern European Jewish diaspora, A Glezele Tey’s music is an act of deep care—rooted in community gathering, lineage, and ritual, we lift our collective voices to move through grief, inspire action, and build a frayer velt (a freer world). ​

A Glezele Tey is comprised of acclaimed klezmer musicians and composers Ariel Shapiro, Rachel Leader, and Richie Barshay. Learn more: aglezeletey.com

We've inherited a richly potent tradition of Yiddish anthems, written by poets and activists engaged in many of the struggles that shaped our current moment. These songs give voice to tactics and strategies as well as the power of our relationships to one another. How does it feel to sing these songs, and what do they help us understand about what songs and struggles we need now?

Playing Kiselgof 2025:  “Northern” Tunes in the KMDMP Corpus — Exploring the Simple Tricks That Keep You Playing and Dancing 

Ever wonder what makes the best klezmer tunes so compellingly danceable? Over the past year I’ve been working through a bunch of “northern” dance tunes in the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky (KMDMP) corpus. These are tunes that seem to come from what Walter Zev Feldman describes as the klezmer “north,” which includes Belarus, where dance tunes are sometimes called redl or karahod, but also Litvak Hasidic niggunei simcha (nigunim for celebrations). Simple-looking on the page, these tunes make deft use of subtle techniques that infuse the melodies with danceability. In this workshop we’ll learn some new tunes from this region and look out for markers that can help identify  “northern” tunes. We’ll work together to identify the embedded musical “tricks” that make these tunes so hard to stop playing! All instruments & levels welcome!

The Tortoise & the Hare aren’t the only ones who can’t agree on whether slow or fast is best. In this musical puppet show, alternating between songs and stories, you’ll meet that famously plodding turtle and his accelerated rabbit competitor as well as several other puppet duos with conflicts around optimum speed. In our fast-paced culture, it’s never too soon to introduce the concept of radical rest to our young people, and that connects beautifully to the ancestral practice of Shabbat as a day of rest. Brought to you by local woman-owned puppet company, Talking Hands Theatre. More info at talkinghandstheatre.com.

Lend a hand! Join us as we prepare for the Landmanshaft Mutual Aid Banquet –  Hanging lanterns and decorations, setting placemats, arranging tables & chairs, & more!

Join Caleb Sher for a part-hands on demonstration in setting and printing with Yiddish type on a simple home printing press, part history lesson on the lives and labours of Yiddish and Hebrew printers past. Learn why printing was such an important and respected trade amongst Yiddish speakers, and dip your toe into the practice of printing yourself!