Binyumen Schaechter

Binyumen (Ben) Schaechter (1963-) is a Yiddish composer and performer, as well as conductor of the Jewish People's Philharmonic Chorus (JPPC) and the Pripetshik Singers, an ensemble of native-Yiddish-speaking children. They have performed at Lincoln Center, Shea Stadium, Synagogues, and JCC's across the Northeast.

As a performer, he has traveled across North America and in Paris in his one-man show, "The Shtetl Comes To Life" and together with his daughter Reyna Schaechter in "From Kinahora To Kuni-Ayland", his musical revue about the Jewish experience in America.

Works

*"Naked Boys Singing"
*"Pets!" (Dramatic Publishing)
*"That's Life!" (Outer Critics Circle nomination)
*"Too Jewish?" (nominated: Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards)
*"Double Identity"
*"Dinner at Eight" (BMI's Jerry Bock Award)

He provided the translations for the first-ever DVD with Yiddish subtitles, "The Life And Times Of Hank Greenberg".

Family

Schaechter is a member of a leading family in Yiddish language and cultural studies. His father, Mordkhe Schaechter, was an influential linguist of the Yiddish language; his aunt, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman is a Yiddish poet and songwriter; his cousin, Itzik Gottesman, is an editor of The Yiddish Forward and the Tsukunft, and a scholar of Yiddish folklore. His sister Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath is a Yiddish poet, sister Rukhl Schaechter is a journalist with the Yiddish Forward, and sister Eydl Reznik teaches Yiddish among the ultra-Orthodox community in Tsfat, Israel. Schaechter and his sisters all maintain Yiddish-speaking homes.

References

* Pripetshik Singers [http://www.forward.com/articles/young-singers-adapt-old-traditions-for-a-new-gener/]
* JPPC [http://www.thejppc.org]
* Recordings [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/freedman/lookupartist?hr=&what=19164]