YI Remembers... Announces World-Premiere Play Reading Of Yale Strom's THE EDUCATION OF HERSCHEL GRYNSZPAN

The highlight event of YI Remembers. . . Krystallnacht on November 9, 2021 will be the world-premiere play reading of The Education of Herschel Grynszpan by acclaimed author, film maker and Klezmer musician Yale Strom, which will be presented by YI Love Jewish (Yiddishkayt Initiative) in conjunction with the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center, Temple Beth Orr, and the University of Miami's Miller Center and Feldenkreis Program for Contemporary Judaic Studies.

The Education of Herschel Grynszpan, based on true historic accounts, is a story about two passengers sharing a train from Krakow to Warsaw on November 1, 1938. Meyshke Labushnik (Avi Hoffman) says he is a Klezmer violinist. His trainmate is young Herschel Grynszpan (Alex Gabriel Perez), a Jewish teenager who is about to enter university.

On Nov. 7th 1938, Herschel Gyrnszpan entered the German Embassy in Paris and mortally wounded Third Secretary Ernst vom Rath. On Nov. 9th, in response to the shooting in Paris, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels gave an inflammatory speech which triggered Krystallnacht (NIght of Broken Glass). Holocaust Education Week - The New State of Florida Mandate Last year, the Florida State Legislature passed legislation that adds to the existing Holocaust Mandate. The new legislation designates the second week in November as Holocaust Education Week.

This week was chosen to commemorate Krystallnacht, also called "Night of Broken Glass," as windows of thousands of Jewish places of business were smashed and over 1,000 synagogues were burned to the ground in Germany and Austria. Many Jews were murdered, and others were sent to concentration camps where they had to endure hard labor.

The play is written by Yale Strom who is one of the world's leading ethnographer-artists of Klezmer and Roma music and history. His research findings were instrumental in forming the repertoire of his Klezmer band, Hot Pstromi, based in New York and San Diego. Since organizing his band in 1981, he has composed original New Jewish music that combines Klezmer with Khasidic melodies, as well as Romani jazz, Classical, Bluegrass, Balkan, Arabic and Sephardic motifs. His 15 CDs are on the Naxos, Transcontinental Music and ARC UK labels. Strom's research has also resulted in photo documentary books, documentary films, as well as CD recordings.

He is the author of The Book of Klezmer: The History, The Music, The Folklore ( 2002) history with archival photos and sheet music gathered by Strom during his seventy-five plus ethnographic trips to Central, Eastern Europe and the Balkans. He has directed nine award-winning documentary films (At the Crossroads, The Last Klezmer, and Carpati: 50 miles, 50 Years. L'Chaim Comrade Stalin!, Klezmer on Fish Street, A Man From Munkacs: Gypsy Klezmer, A Great Day on Eldridge Street, A Letter to Wedgwood: The Life of Gabriella Hartstein Auspitz) and his most recent American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs. He has composed music for countless others.

The reading stars YI Love Jewish founder Avi Hoffman and features Alex Gabriel Perez, Sean Birkett, and Troy Stanley. The presentation will also include music selections played by the young violinist phenomenon Steven Avi and Russian musician Peter Sadkhin on accordion. The reading and video presentation will be directed by Tara Weidenfeller and filmed by Mark Ahrens of Heritage Films.

To RSVP to the free viewing at 7pm EST November 9, 2021 please click the link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/174372251097