Musical Showcase: Lea Koenig, Shtisel Grandmother, Sings "My Way" in Yiddish

Lea Koenig was born in 1929 in Łódź, Poland, to a secular Jewish family of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her parents were the Yiddish actors Dina and Józef Kamień. She spent her childhood in Poland, then in Tashkent, in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. Her father was murdered in the Holocaust. 

In the end of the 1940s, Lea Koenig and her mother emigrated to Romania, where she began studying at National University of Arts in Bucharest and debuted at Jewish Theatre.  In 1961, she emigrated to Israel.

Primarily acting in Hebrew, Koenig performs in Israel and all over the world also in Yiddish theaters.She speaks English, Hebrew, German, Polish, Romanian, Russian and Yiddish.

Koenig, now 95 years old and nicknamed the First Lady of Israeli Theatre, had an important role in the popular Israeli TV series Shtisel, where she played Bubbe Malka, Shulem Shtisel's mother.

In this video she sings My Way in Yiddish, with the original English lyrics that Paul Anka wrote and gave to Frank Sinatra translated to Yiddish by Zvi Stolper. The clip was produced with the kind support of The National Authority for Yiddish culture.

Enjoy!

Chassidic Singer Shulem Lemmer Sings Frank Sinatra's Hit "My Way" in Tel Aviv

We've become big fans of Shulem Lemmer after spending a Shabbat with him in Delray Beach a couple of years ago when he was the star of a concert at Anshei Emuna Congregation.

Shulem Lemmer, known professionally simply as "Shulem," is an American Belz Hasidic singer from Borough Park, Brooklyn, in New York City. He is the first born-and-raised Haredi Jew to sign a major record contract with a leading label, Universal Music Group, under its classical music Decca Gold imprint.

Before becoming a full-time singer, Lemmer was marketing director at a technology firm start-up based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He also works as a cantor during the High Holidays at Congregation Ahavath Torah, a Modern Orthodox synagogue in Englewood, New Jersey.

Shulem Lemmer is the most recent rising star of the Jewish musical tradition that has been intertwined in the life, faith, and culture of the Jewish people throughout their history. Whether it's prayers, psalms, or contemporary classics, this youthful Brooklyn tenor finds in music something rich and affirming, an endeavor that makes the soul soar and the spirit rise and speaks to the human condition. 

Shulem is as comfortable with popular music and Broadway show tunes as he is with Chassidic music. Today we're sharing a performance by Shulem of Frank Sinatra's hit My Way at Magen David Adom's annual event at the Heichal Hatarbut in Tel Aviv in June 2023.

Enjoy!