This article appeared in the Sept. 6, 2013 North Shore edition of the Jewish Advocate.

Lillian Bivetsky, Elizabeth Beraha and Gertrude Freedman of Congregation Ansha Sholom sell traditional Jewish baked goods

Randolph native Henry Lappen entertains youthful audience

Jewish Labor Committee (Director Marsha Axner in green)

International String Trio

Tradition in full flavor at Bread & Roses Festival

by Susie Davidson

Special to the Advocate

The sweet smell of ruggelah, mun (poppy seed) cookies, homentashen, mandel bread and the like filled a booth in a walkway of Campagnone Common in Lawrence at Monday's 29th Annual Labor Day Bread and Roses Festival. Lovingly purveyed by members of Congregation Ansha Sholum of Lawrence, the Jewish delicacies were selling at a brisk pace.

The synagogue, which holds services with a minyan every Saturday and is celebrating its 95th year, is part and parcel of the famed 1912 strike the fest commemorates, according to shul member, local historian, andBread & Roses Heritage Committee President Linda Siegenthaler. “Jewish involvement in the 1912 strike was extensive, with several Jewish children testifying before Congress in 1912,” she said. “One child was linked to Congregation Ansha Sholum. and a very active local branch of the Workmen’s Circle founded before the strike,” she said.

Siegenthaler has also been encouraging synagogue members to participate in “Lawrence History Live at the Festival,” a speaker program that began in 2008 and features historians, labor leaders and union representatives as well as artists, writers, and relatives of families linked to strikers. The series of talks, which takes place in a large central tent throughout the day and includes audience participation, brings the unique history of Lawrence in the American labor and immigration movements to festival-goers, and also covers current issues and events concerning workers in Lawrence and across the country.

Jews have played no small role in the American labor movement; figures that spring to mind include Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), who founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL); Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient David Dubinsky (1892-1982), who, as president of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) helped found of the Committee of Industrial Organizations; Saul Alinsky (1909-1972), who pioneered the concept of community organizing and influenced leaders who include Cesar Chavez and President Barack Obama; labor and social activist and orator Emma Goldman, who founded Mother Earth magazine; and labor activist Rose Schneiderman, who helped shape New Deal legislation, and coined the phrase "Bread and Roses,” which was taken from a line in her 1912 speech, in which she said, “The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.” The phrase has been set to music by varied performers who include Mimi Farina, Judy Collins and John Denver.

Not far from the fest, a building hearkened the more modern legacy of another prominent Jewish labor leader with deep Lawrence ties. Aaron Feuerstein's famed Malden Mills building (now operated by Polartec, LLC of Penn.) continues to churn out truckloads of over 400 different styles of Polartec and Polarfleece apparel. Feuerstein gained national notice in 1995, when, following a fire at the Lawrence plant, he continued to pay all of his 3000 workers. Citing Talmudic ethics, he said to Parade Magazine at the time, "I have a responsibility to the worker, both blue-collar and white-collar. I have an equal responsibility to the community. It would have been unconscionable to put 3000 people on the streets and deliver a deathblow to the cities of Lawrence and Methuen.” Feuerstein, a Brookline resident and Young Israel of Brookline member who was featured on television shows including CBS' 60 Minutes, was also a special guest at President Bill Clinton's 1996 State of the Union address. He received the Courage of Conscience Award from the Sherborn-based Peace Abbey on March 13, 1998.

“Jewish activism in the labor movement and social justice continues today with the involvement of the New England Jewish Labor Committee, which advocates for workers and social justice, and Workmen’s Circle,” said Siegenthaler. “And the 2013 Bread & Roses Festival again has several Jewish performers whose work relates to Jewish culture.” Down the pathway from the Info Tent, where Siegenthaler handed out programs, Jewish Labor Committee Regional Director Marya Axner and staff engaged festival attendees at their table.

Catching the Jewish-themed artists, who all performed in prime time, necessitated some rapid schlepping from stage to stage, but it was well worth the effort. At 2 p.m. on the Main Stage, emma's revolution, named for Goldman, featured Maryland-based, activist folk singer/songwriters Sandy O and Pat Humphries.
"I grew up going to a Jewish day school and learning about the history of the persecution of Jews. What that taught me is that no one should be persecuted," said Sandy O. "Pat and I both know that our work in singing out has to be both powerful and joyful. That's why we took special inspiration - and our band name - from Emma Goldman. When Emma was dancing at a party, she was chastised by a young colleague who thought her behavior unbefitting a leader of her stature. Her actual words to him were, 'Everyone has the right to free expression, to beautiful radiant things,' but it came down in history as her having said, 'If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.'"

During the same 2-2:45 p.m. time frame, the International String Trio, a group of Berklee School of Music graduates led by Slava Tolstoy, played global rhythms on guitar, bass and violin. Among their selections was the Klezmer tune "Yossel, Yossel." Tolstoy said he is “Russian-Russian, not Russian-Jewish, unlike most of my very best friends," but said that his group is very influenced by the Jewish experience. "I and my group feel a very deep connection to Jewish culture, music and the struggle of Jewish people. That is one of the reasons why we love playing a wide spectrum of Jewish music - from upbeat Klezmer to beautiful Israeli songs such as 'Jerusalem of Gold,' 'Erev Shel Shoshanim,' and others," he said.

At 3:05 Ten Tumbao, led by Brookline High School Spanish teacher and alum Kenny Kozol, took to the Carmela Teoli Stage. According to the program, Tumbao is a Cuban word meaning rhythm, flavor, style and flair. The group's name, which translates to "Have Tumbao," invites audiences of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy and dance to the vibrant Latin American sounds.

“Ten Tumbao is a Latin band,” said Kozol. “We don't play Jewish-themed music, but the director of the band (me) and one of the other members are Jewish.” (That would be bassist Jason Davis.) “We are also the only two non-Latino members of the group,” he said. “The other members are Manolo Mairena from Costa Rica on timbales and vocals, Vicente Lebron from the Dominican Republic on bongos and vocals, Wilson Vera from Ecuador on cuatro, which is a guitar-like instrument, and vocals, and Edmar Colon from Puerto Rico on saxophone and vocals.” Kozol plays congas and sings.

“Latin music has attracted many Jewish musicians over the years, the most famous of which being the salsa star Larry Harlow, affectionately called 'el Judio Maravilloso,' the Marvelous Jew!” he told the Advocate. The Brookline Education Foundation recently awarded Kozol a grant to write a series of 12 lessons in Spanish on Latin American music.

At another stage, Randolph native and Jewish entertainer Henry Lappen, who now lives in Amherst, held a large group of kids in rapt attention as he juggled myriad items including crutches, rings, balls, clubs, and fiery torches.

Back at the Ansha Sholum booth, the synagogue ladies continued purveying their sweets as they promoted their shul and gave out flyers listing a full slate of upcoming High Holiday services. All the women present had been part of a joint, adult bat mitzvah ceremony six years prior.

Barry Friedman, who serves as cantor, revealed that he is a child Holocaust survivor originally from Poland. Traveling through Siberia, Uzbekistan, Khazikstan and British Palestine, he made his way to Derry, New Hampshire, where he established a leather business and studied to be a cantor under renowned cantor Gregor Shelkan of Mishkan Tefilah and other teachers. He served for 17 years as High Holiday cantor at Agudas Achim in Malden, among other area synagogues.

"I will date myself now," he cautioned, and spoke of his time as cantor at the Fessenden Street Synagogue in Mattapan, where he served as cantor to Grand Rabbi Samuel Korff. Today, he lives in West Roxbury with wife and Ansha Sholum congregant Joan. "I got out of New Hampshire when I began talking to the trees, and they started answering me," he said with a chuckle, returning to the bustling festival booth, where Jewish pastries added a little sweetness to the committed themes of the day.

Siegenthaler sat at the Info Tent, taking it all in and hopefully feeling a sense of pride in the fruits of her own hard work. “Since becoming involved in the Bread & Roses Festival in 2005, my goals have been to strengthen the diversity of the Board, emphasize social justice through history of the 1912 textile strike now called the Bread & Roses Strike, and engage the present day community in the Festival,” she said.