Did you know that Der Nister is the name of a Yiddish writer and mystic? Read his work and many others in the original Yiddish with the Der Nister Leyenkrayz, or Yiddish Reading Group. We'll go around reading and translating great works of Yiddish art and culture, compiled into zines with vocabulary guides by our teacher Iris (Malke) Morrell and Aaron White.

Our second meeting is Wednesday night, May 1st at 7 pm at Der Nister, where we'll be reading Der Nister's story "A mayse mit a nazer un mit a tsigele" or "A Story of a Hermit and a Little Goat."

Register to sign up. There is no reading required in advance.

On the last day of Passover, as soon as the sun set and leavened bread was once again permitted, the Jews in Morocco would invite their Muslim neighbors to celebrate the first breaking of bread together. Mimouna, which means luck and good fortune, was celebrated with sweets, music and alcohol.

Join us for our first ever annual Mimouna party! There will be the live making of Mufletot (Moroccan crepes rolled with butter and honey,) Moroccan sweets, Moroccan music and dance and of course lots of wine. Come dressed in your favorite Kaftan! The party is free of charge. Register here.

Rabbi David Kasher and Julia Knobloch invite you to an evening of Torah study and poetry performances.

This evening at Der Nister is hosted by Hadar West Coast and Der Nister.

Sign up here.

Singer-songwriters Gidon Shikler, Duvid Swirsky, Chloe Pourmorady and Shep Rosenman perform songs they've written connected to Passover, plus some songs you already know!

It will take place Thursday, April 18th. Doors open at 7:30 pm. Refreshments will be served. Donations at the door suggested.

Park either on Spring by the LA Cafe, or on Hill.

Tickets here

Cabaret New Moon is back with a Purim celebration you won’t want to miss.

Our Klezmer Jazz band Shiri and the Shiribims featuring Dan Cantell is back with Purim songs and other tunes in Yiddish, Hebrew and English!

Also featuring:

Ventriloquism!! by Helen Day.

Emcee and Purin Shpiel by Josh Mann.

Burlesque! by Prix de Beaute.

Belly Dancing by Elizabeth Strong.

We’ll have Hamantaschen! and as always, lot’s of wine….

Tickets here

Accordionist and world-class Yiddish singer Jordan Wax @stopgolus will be joining us Sunday, March 10 at 7 pm at Der Nister for a special night of his original compositions in Yiddish. These songs come from his upcoming album.

Wax (דזשאָרדען װאַקס) is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and traditional musician based in New Mexico. For the past twenty years he has studied intergenerational music traditions with elders from a variety of cultural lineages in the Missouri Ozarks, Central Mexico, Northern New Mexico, and Greater Yiddishland.

Tickets are $18.

Park either on Spring near Der Nister or on Hill.

Doors open at 6:30 pm, Performance at 7 pm on Sunday, March 10

Register

Please join IPF Atid LA and Der Nister Book Club as we come together and expand our knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and current events. We will be discussing "Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai" by Matti Friedman. In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men, and women at the worst moments of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience.

Date: Sunday, March 10, 2024

Time: 1-3pm

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Join us for an intimate experience which will begin with an inspiring service led by Rabbi Rosenfeld and musicians Shiri Goldsmith and Dan Cantrell.

The guests will then be invited to the dinner table where we will all enjoy a fully catered Shabbat meal provided by Holy Grill.

While we enjoy dessert, an inclusive conversation will be led around the table in which we will explore aspect of Buber philosophy and offer our own thoughts and ideas.

Seats are very limited. Be among the first to join us.

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Traditions and rituals can give our lives meaning or drive us crazy. Join us for an innovative performance of professional storytelling and song that explores why we find comfort in repetition, struggle with bad habits and find magic by living life through the ticking of a clock. 

Brought to you by The Braid's NEXT Emerging Artists Fellowship. At Der Nister, Sunday Feb. 25, for its Downtown performance of their world premiere.

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Join Henry and Zach for a traditional, egalitarian Shabbat service. Make the minyan and enjoy the beautiful, contemplative prayer space.

A multi-media meditation on S. Ansky and his “Dybbuk” as it relates to the genre of Jewish art dance and the interplay between the weight of the past and its artistic expression in the present.

Karen Goodman is an LA teacher, Yiddish dance scholar, filmmaker and critically acclaimed modern dancer/choreographer. She produced/directed/wrote the documentary Come Let Us Dance on Yiddish folk dance, authored biographies on Bella Lewitzky and Margalit Oved for Encyclopaedia Judaica, and on Benjamin Zemach for University of Southern California's annual journal, Experiment, and speaks on the intersection of Jewish identity and modern dance. Website

Produced by California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language, co-sponsored by UJA Toronto Committee for Yiddish and Der Nister.

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This Tu BiShvat, we're celebrating the Der Nister way: with tea, yiddish electronica, Jewish history, spirituality and exploring Downtown LA.

Chloe Resler will begin the festivities by sharing with us about the spiritual meaning of this New Year for the Trees, and Elizabeth Buttita will walk us through a presentation of the trees of Downtown LA as we enjoy our holiday-appropriate fruits and nuts.

Our Henry Hollander will tell us about the history of Jews in the tea trade, which will lead us to Jesse of the renowned Jesse's Teahouse showing us how Chinese Gongfu Cha tea is brewed.

With a cup in hand, Chaia, Rachel Leader and Maddie Russell will play Yiddish electronica — Kleztronica.

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What is a creative act of prayer? What are the rituals we need today to guide us into surrender, awe, praise, silence? What if a bunch of artists contemplated and wrestled with a single line from the traditional Jewish prayer book and shared their discoveries in a unique laboratory of performance and workshop? Join us for a visionary experiment in collaboration between the words of our predecessors and the longings of our souls in the present.

Reserve your spot

Adam Mansbach is going to speak at Der Nister, in what might be the most perfect setting for this, about his new book, which features a golem in modern day America learning from Jewish history.

Doors open at 7 pm, and the talk will begin at 7:30. Be sure to park around Hill or Olive as parking with be difficult on a Saturday night. Attendance is free, and you can prepurchase The Golem of Brooklyn for 18 dollars with your reservation. There will be a signing and a shmooze after the talk.

This event is supported by Rebooting.

Tickets

Join us on the roof for an evening in the Der Nister sukkah, complete with food, relaxation, and a refreshing discussion of the existential questions in the Book of Ecclesiastes with Rabbi Ye’ela Rosenfeld.

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