28/05/2026
Friends, I have an important announcement and a couple of questions.
To start from the beginning: about 15 years ago, we launched a project called "King Arthur in Yiddish." Its goal was twofold: to reveal the lesser-known world of chivalric romances translated and adapted into Jewish languages between the XIII-XVI centuries, and to showcase the beauty of fencing.
I still think it was a wonderful idea, and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated. Looking back, however, I realize that without any prior experience in theater production, we took on a project that was a bit too ambitious.
Recently, Michael Morgul and I were discussing the upcoming "Knights of Jerusalem: Bobe-Mayse" festival, and we thought it would be great to seriously rework this performance and bring it back to the festival program.
This brings me to my first question: do you know a theater director who would be willing to bring this "chalomis" to life, or at least offer some professional consultation? We aren't looking at the next few months (which will be fully packed with festival preparations), but rather planning for the autumn and aiming for a premiere at the following festival.
The future production might turn out to be for children, which smoothly leads into my second question. I am planning to open a youth historical fencing school in Jerusalem, specifically around the Talpiot, Arnona, or Baka areas. Do you happen to know anyone I could talk to about renting a suitable training hall? The space needs to be spacious, as I also plan to run adult HEMA classes there focusing on Renaissance Italian longsword.
And finally, here is the promised big announcement. We have scheduled this year's "Knights of Jerusalem: Bobe-Mayse" festival for September 12th. We are giving you a heads-up early so you have plenty of time to prepare your costumes!
This year, the festival will be multi-era, featuring Rome and Judea, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and even XVII-century Jewish pirates. Your costume can match any of these periods. We will publish the detailed guidelines a bit later, but I can already tell you that we have prepared a large number of complimentary passes and discounted tickets. This contest will be exclusively for adults, as past experience has shown that it is simply impossible for us to objectively judge children's costumes.
The "Knights of Jerusalem: Bobe-Mayse" festival will take place on September 12th (the first day of Rosh Hashanah) at the Ein Yael Living Museum in Jerusalem. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Photographer: Gregory Ge**er
Post by Dennis Zlatopolsky
