Connect with us

RSS

A Yiddish musical about life in Jewish ghettos during WWII carries new resonance since Oct. 7

(New York Jewish Week) – “Humanity’s most true history is written only in blood. How Jews died, the entire world already knows.” So says Broadway star Steven Skybell at the beginning of “Amid Falling Walls,” a new musical from the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene. “But how Jews resisted against and fought the murderers, we know far, far less.” 

The musical, which opened Monday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and runs through Dec. 10, aims to portray “the indomitable Jewish spirit during the Holocaust through Yiddish song.” Drawing upon the poetry, diaries and songs created by Jews who were confined to ghettos during the Nazi era, the musical weaves together 30 vignettes that detail everyday life in the Jewish ghettos of Lodz, Warsaw, Vilna and elsewhere.

Created by Yiddishist father-son duo Zalmen Mlotek and Avram Mlotek and drawing upon works created in the 1940s, “Amid Falling Walls” has been two years in the making. But after Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7, given the violence, the ensuing war and rising antisemitism across the globe, the production’s messaging has become all the more relevant.

“Obviously, we could never have anticipated such a horrific episode transpiring,” Avram Mlotek, who is also a rabbi, a cantor and a social worker, told the New York Jewish Week. “It just puts the work into a whole different kind of perspective; the idea that the arts and music and song can be these means of spiritual resistance and of nourishing the soul.” 

In one scene, a child asks her mother why Jews are barred from certain streets, parks and areas of town. “The mother gently responds, saying, ‘the Jew haters wish that we don’t have any humanity,’” said Mlotek, 36. “The mere idea that an 11-year-old was able to put that into words is already boggling for me, but of course takes on a special kind of light given the undermining of the Jewish people’s humanity in the wake of this assault.”

“It’s a reminder that that type of undermining hatred is unfortunately nothing new,” he added.  “Every moment is unique, and every human life is infinitely precious, but we have spiritual tools in our people’s toolkit to face these types of traumas. Song and music are at the forefront of that.”

Mlotek, who is credited as a writer and curator, pulled many of the songs and poems that appear in the show from the anthology “Songs of the Ghettos and Camps” collected by Lithuanian poet and partisan Shmerke Kaczerginski after World War II. (Skybell’s opening line is a translation from a Yiddish recording of Kaczerginski speaking about his work.) Another source was the archives curated by his grandparents, Yosl and Chana Mlotek, whose work was digitized by the Workers Circle earlier this year. 

Avram’s father, Zalmen — Yosl and Chana’s son — arranged the music and is also credited as a curator. He has been the artistic director of the Folksbiene for more than two decades and has also produced three albums of Yiddish wartime music.  

The musical weaves together vignettes that portray how life for Europe’s Jews is getting worse — first they are forced to live in ghettos, then sent to work camps. Then, as rumors abound about the war and the Holocaust, resistance groups are formed. The songs’ lyrics address ghetto cabaret performances, of parents leaving their child with a gentile family, of dreams that the world would return to normal. Like every Folksbiene production, English and Russian translations are projected above the stage.

Despite that, the story isn’t necessarily a depressing one — the Jewish people of the ghettos, as portrayed by a cast of eight, fall in love, dance, write poetry and celebrate as much as they mourn. They also built resistance movements, most famously resulting in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943, from which the famous “Partisans’ Hymn” emerged — the show gets its name, “Amid Falling Walls,” from a line in the poem.

“Every song is a world; every song is a window, not just into the authors and the composers but into that experience that it reflects of the Jews and other people who sang those songs,” Avram Mlotek said. “There’s an idea that we are part of ‘the golden chain’ that connects us with our ancestors and with future generations. I’m humbly aware of that connection, not just in my own family, but with a lot of the creators of this material whose shoulders this work is built upon.” 

At a preview production on Thursday night, the atmosphere in the theater was one of delight and hope. “This is something that every Jew should see, especially now,” said Paul Jeser, a Los Angeles resident who came with his wife, Fay. “First of all, the timing of the show, with what’s going on in the world, couldn’t be more relevant. But the show itself is beyond belief — the history, the music, the acting was outstanding, the voices were outstanding.”

Other audience members had similar reactions. “It’s very powerful,” said Judy Gottlieb, a cousin of the Mloteks who came to support the family. “I would have had the same reaction prior [to Oct. 7] because I’ve grown up with a lot of this material, but the recent events makes this even more important.”

“I hope people will see this piece and ultimately derive some chizuk — some strength — from it,” Mlotek said. “Obviously the subject matter is heavy and intense, but there’s real hope in these writers and artists’ words and in the idea that the Jewish people have been here before.”


The post A Yiddish musical about life in Jewish ghettos during WWII carries new resonance since Oct. 7 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Continue Reading

RSS

After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

Continue Reading

RSS

Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

Continue Reading

RSS

Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2017 - 2023 Jewish Post & News