New York Sings Yiddish – 17 September 2026

Jewish joy has been hard to come by for me lately. I have been bogged down in my own fears and worries. As I got ready to leave my apartment to go to New York Sings Yiddish, I fully expected it to be an important night where we would all sing “Zog Nit Keynmol” and sit in the weight of this moment in history, lament its cyclical nature, worry about the languishing of the Yiddish language, and find yet another moment during the High Holidays in which we reflected on the solemnity of being Jewish.

I was met with something else entirely, something that truly delighted and amazed me. I was met with a full evening of unapologetic Jewish joy.

This year, the theme for the evening was New Sings Yiddish, Passing the Torch to a New Generation. The featured performers were young, starry-eyed, and hopeful, each a unique kind of treasure that kept the energy high and the atmosphere hopeful. Curated by the National Yiddish Folksbiene Theatre with support from The Workers Circle, the night as a whole provided a much-needed reminder that Jewish art can bring joy, not just history lessons, and that, alongside everything we’ve been through we still deserve a moment to smile, a moment to laugh, a moment to dance, and a moment to sing. The performers were gleefully excited to be at the beginnings of their professional careers and their Jewish journeys, and they reminded an intergenerational audience how important it is to hold on to triumphant, celebratory moments when we’re able to have them– especially in the midst of a chaotic world (and the ten days of repentance).

Whether you spoke Yiddish or not, the evening brilliantly invoked the uniqueness of Jewish culture and how, even though we have embedded elements of our culture into our home city, Jews are inherently distinct from other New Yorkers– not just in the weight we carry but also in our music, our creation of traditions, and our willingness to learn and grow as we go.

The event was hosted by YidLife Crisis at SummerStage in Central Park, and featured Daniella Rabbani, The Mamales, Yosef Kogan, Margot Weintrab, and Riki Rose, all under the musical generation of Yiddish music giant Zalmen Mlotek. Despite the young ages of the performers, the concert was of very high caliber, and the accompanying klezmer band, Frank London and the Klezmer Allstars, played beautiful arrangements of a full spectrum of traditional and contemporary selections. Riki Rose’s original song “Utem Arein, Utem Arois” was among my favorites, as was Yosef Kogan’s rendition of a “Fiddler on the Roof” medley orchestrated by John Williams. These performers all have bright futures, and I look forward to when they become stars.

We didn’t sing “Zog Nit Keynmol.” We didn’t laugh in the face of death. Just this once, we gave ourselves permission just to live– to shmeykhlen, to lakhn, to tantsnt, and to zingen.

I attended this performance on a press pass from Shira Dicker Media International.