For those of you who are new to SKIF or maybe just curious, you may be wondering, what is a kraize? The literal meaning for kraize is a circle, but we also use it to describe the age groups that the SKIFistn are split into. Each year there are 5-7 kraizen, half of which form the junior group, and the other half form the senior group. Each kraize gets a new name each year on Summer Camp, honouring a person of importance to either the movement, or one of its ideologies. Below is a list of the current kraize names, from juniors to seniors. The theme this year is Children, be it a child of importance, or a person who has surved to make make the world a better place by helping children in any possible way. The kraize names are in honour of those who are hero's in the eyes of SKIF. 2008 Yiddish Kraize Names - The Yiddish Theatre in Melbourne ~
Yasha Sher Yasha Sher (1912-95) arrived in Melbourne from Riga, Latvia in 1939. Within two days he was rehearsing a leading role in Rachel Holzer’s production of Froy Advocat. Having performed at school and studied drama in Riga and speaking a beautiful Yiddish, Yasha was eagerly sought after. He became well known to audiences as a character actor and master of ceremonies with a natural talent for humour. Actor, director, producer, administrator, Yasha breathed life and enthusiasm into the David Herman theatre and was dearly loved by fellow actors and audiences. His career with the David Herman Theatre spanned a fifty-three year period and he performed in its last production in 1992. Rochel Holzer Rochel Holzer was a widely acclaimed doyenne of Yiddish theatre in Melbourne, began her theatrical career in Cracow, the city where she was born. She was a leading actor in many pre-war Yiddish Theatre ensembles, including the renowned Vilna Troupe and toured her one-woman shows throughout Europe. While visiting Melbourne in 1939 she was stranded when war broke out in Poland. She performed many one-woman shows and acted in, and directed many plays with the David Herman Theatre. A powerful actor, and accomplished director, Holzer was one of the elite performers in the Yiddish theatre world.
Shia Tigel Shia Tigel (1920-1980) was born in Warsaw where he graduated from a Yiddish drama school. During the war years he directed a professional company in the Warsaw Ghetto and performed in the Czestochowa labour camp. After the war Tigel founded a Yiddish theatre in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany. In 1946 he founded and directed the Belgian ‘Tuskunft Studio’ and performed in the Belgian Folk Theatre with Israel Mansdorf. Tigel settled in Melbourne in 1950, and immediately joined the David Herman Theatre Group. Lead actor, stage manager, backdrop painter, director and administrator, Shia Tigel was one of the most talented all rounders to perform on Yiddish stage. Yankev Waislitz Yankev Waislitz (1892-1966) arrived in Melbourne in 1938 as part of a world tour. A renowned veteran of the Vilan Troupe, a pupil of David Herman and a director of Yiddish Theatre in Poland, Waislitz became stranded in Melbourne when war broke out in Europe. To honour the memory of his teacher and mentor, Waislitz transformed the Yiddishe Bineh and Kadimah ensemble into one strong company, and named it the David Herman Theatre. Waislitz directed and starred in many productions and continued to perform his solo ‘word concerts’ which he had toured throughout Poland and Europe in the inter-war years. Yankev Waislitz and Rachel Holzer formed the foundation of high quality Yiddish theatre in Melbourne and guided it through its golden era in the 1950’s.
Fay Mokotow Fay Mokotow (1945-1984) was born in Soviet Russia and as a young child moved around Europe until her family settled in Australia in 1951. Her fluency in Yiddish was nurtured at SKIF and the Sholem Aleichem School where she later became a teacher. Fay gave up teaching to pursue her acting career in 1971. She became well known on both the Yiddish and Melbourne stage. She also directed a Yiddish production performed by SKIF.
Moshe Potashinski Moshe Potashinski’s (1903-85) life-long love of theater began in his youth in Poland, where he studied drama with Dr Miklh Weichert and David Herman in the 1920s. He performed in Ida Kaminska’s theatre, in the Azazel and Ararat theatres, and with the Vilna Troupe, where he met Mila Waislitz. He spent the war years in Belgium and Auschwitz. After the war he toured Europe with his wife Mila. The couple arrived in Australia in 1947. Potashinski acted in, and directed, many productions with the David Herman Theatre in Melbourne. |