Shabbat Service and Cultural Program
Our Shabbat service.
Cultural program:
Woody Guthrie in New York
When most people think of Woody Guthrie, the image coming to mind is the hard-traveling Okie who crisscrossed the country during the Great Depression. But for most of the second half of his life, Woody lived in numerous locations in New York City. This program, presented by TCC member Deb Freeman, will highlight some of the places that were significant to his life and work.
Woody wrote his most famous song, This Land is Your Land, while staying at a fleabag hotel in midtown Manhattan. He attempted – with little success – to live in a commune in Greenwich Village with Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers. He spent a number of years raising his children on Mermaid Avenue in Brooklyn’s Coney Island.
Woody’s second wife, Marjorie Mazia, was Jewish, and he learned a lot about Judaism from her and from her mother, the Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt. The program will relate some stories about his collaborations with his mother-in-law, about Arlo Guthrie’s hootenanny bar mitzvah in the East Village, and about a second life for Woody’s music when groups like Wilco and the Klezmatics composed melodies to lyrics he had written but never recorded.
Deborah Freeman is a long-time member of the City Congregation. After retiring from the Environmental Protection Agency, she turned in new directions and became a producer for the Leonard Lopate radio show at WBAI. She is also a docent at the Morgan Library and Museum which will present a major exhibit on Woody Guthrie from Feb 18th through May 22nd, 2022.
Join us on Zoom or
watch live on our youtube channel.
Important!
For events taking place at NYFA, visitors are required to complete the one-time waiver below.
Please review, complete, and bring this document with you the first time you attend an event at NYFA.
We will also have copies to be completed at check-in.
NYFA COVID restrictions
NYFA visitor waiver
In person RSVP
The City Congregation is a volunteer led organization, much of our programming relies directly on our members.
To suggest a cultural program, click here.
To donate and help support us financially, click here.