Join us for the Gefilthy Fish Cabaret, the closing event of Klezmer on Ice 2025! Hosted by the Bagel Sisters (Or Levinson and rafa kern), this cabaret is a celebration of Yiddishkayt in the Twin Cities - from traditional Yiddish folksongs and klezmer melodies to experimental new works, comedy, burlesque, and beyond. This is a space of free expression, where performers draw on their unique perspectives, artistic processes, and relationships with the complexities of Yiddish culture.
Tickets at the door, $10-20 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of funds)
A Word About Gathering as a Community
This will be an open and uncensored cabaret. All of the artists you will see tonight speak for themselves and only themselves. There may be political commentary. There may be keffiyehs. There may be puppets. There may be tits. Come knowing you are welcome, but come prepared to be uncomfortable if any of these things make you uncomfortable. This cabaret is a space to celebrate creativity, explore nuance, and support the artists who are carrying the traditions of Yiddish art and culture forward.
Featuring music by visiting artists Zoë Aqua & Ira Temple
Courtesy © Lloyd Wolf / www.lloydwolf.com
As a performing duo, Zoë Aqua (fiddle) and Ira Khonen Temple (vocals/accordion) reimagine klezmer music for today and beyond. Ira’s original songs, including new singable translations, serve as a doorway between past, present, and possible futures, crafting a politically fresh, relevant, and un-nostalgic vision of Jewish culture. Zoë’s compositions draw on influences from klezmer, Transylvanian music, Hasidic melodies, and lautarească, offering a meditative exploration of the dialogue between Jewish and non-Jewish musical traditions in Eastern Europe. Together, they create a soundscape that is deeply rooted yet innovative, celebrating the evolving nature of this rich cultural heritage.
About the Hosts
The Bagel Sisters were born to host the Klezmer on Ice cabaret. Literally. That was the initial mandate of this performance duo, but they had such a good time working together they decided to keep going. They’ve since performed at the Jewish Comedy Festival of the Twin Cities, BONK, and KlezKanada. They’re working on their first film.
Or (Laura) Levinson (they/them), is a Minneapolis-based dancer and performance artist blending elements of original choreography with live music, participatory ritual and song. Their most recent project, DOIKAYT: gedenktentz, was an interactive outdoor performance featuring klezmer music, Yiddish folk dance, and themes of Jewish diaspora and the search for home, belonging, and solidarity on Dakota land. Past workshops and performances have included DUMPSTER FIRE: An Evening of Queer and Trans Performance at Franconia Sculpture Park; DOIKAYT: a performance-ritual of the diaspora at Minnehaha Creek; and Swimming Home, a workshop co-created with Palestinian-American choreographer Leila Awadallah and following the threads of diaspora, ancestry, and body-as-homeland.
rafa kern (he/him, pronounced HAH-fah with a soft H like in human) is a Brazilian Ashkenazi Jew who calls Minneapolis home forever for now. He is a producer, director and performer who has done all kinds of weird things in São Paulo, Jerusalem, New York, New Haven, and the SF Bay area, in addition to the Twin Cities. He is currently producing the Bagel Sisters' first movie and working on his first novel. On the side, he is completing his PhD in Education and Jewish Studies at Stanford, where he studies the religious experiences of progressive Jews studying traditional texts.