May 16-18, 2025: Seattle's Festival of Yiddish Music, Art & Culture!
Celebrate Yiddish Music,
Art & Culture!
Bringing the world’s leading performers and instructors of Ashkenazi art and culture to Seattle!
Seattle Yiddish Fest is a weekend of immersion in the music and culture of Yiddish speaking Jews and a celebration of the community that has blossomed in Seattle and around the world to honor and continue this culture.
Overview of this year's festival:
After an incredibly packed festival last year, we have decided to make this year's festival a little simpler and more focused, celebrating our culture and community with events to build unity and inclusiveness.
Workshops will meet from 12-4pm as one large group, and our evening events consist of the following:
-
Friday Night Tish @ Cafe Ibex Ethiopian Restaurant 3219 Martin Luther King Jr Way S
-
Our usual Friday night Shabes gathering will be on May 16, but instead of a potluck, we'll enjoy some delicious ethiopian food in the back room of Cafe Ibex. As usual the event will be free and include shmoozing, singing, jamming and more with this year's featured artists.
-
Saturday Eveniing Concert @ Russsian Community Center of Seattle 704 19th Ave E
-
The concert will feature The Klezmatics' Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg, as well as Lori Goldston, Jessica Lurie, plus Craig & Keith Judelman. Tickets available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seattle-yiddish-fest-25-concert-feat-frank-london-lorin-sklamberg-more-tickets-1334797498249?aff=oddtdtcreator
-
Sunday Evening Theater Performance @ Woodlawn Hall 7400 Woodlawn Ave NE
-
While not officially a part of the program, we are thrilled to have our friends The Magid Ensemble in town to perform their incredible Cranky show with original live music, "Shterna & the Lost Voice", a new Ashkenazi folk tale performance. Tickets and more info HERE
-
Workshops @ Vermillion Gallery 1508 11th Ave
-
Workshops will meet in one large group learning songs, tunes history and context of Yiddish music. More details coming soon, register for workshops separately from evening events HERE.
Festival director:
Craig Judelman
Cultures never exist in a vacuum and Jewish cultures have always been 'embedded' in the fabric of their neighbors.
While traditionally made by Eastern European Jews, we believe this culture is for everyone who appreciates it and we strive to create a space where everyone is welcome to find what resonates with them!
COVID19 SAFETY
Like all community events, we are dedicated to balancing the needs and desires of all members of our community and working together to have a safe and succesful event given our limited resources. While we cannot satisfy everyone's visions of a safe festival, we have consulted with both medical professionals and community members to create guidelines to keep our festival safe. We trust our community to take care of each other and each individual to know their limits and participate in ways that feel safe for them.
-
We ask everybody to test within 24 hours before coming to the workshops at SYF.
-
Please avoid any events if you are testing positive.
-
Workshop attendees are encouraged to wear masks at all times however we are not requiring masking this year.
-
We will do our best to ensure air filtering and good ventilation at our event locations.
