Elaine Hoff man Watts
Joseph Hoff man’s
klezmer book
Freda Egnal
“There is a lot of diversity here,
which I find very attractive.

The residents are friendly and
interesting.” Freda moved to Simpson House in February 2021.

She appreciates the support—from regular
housekeeping services, to transportation, to the
availability of medical care. “The activities and
programs...there’s too much to do!” Freda says.

“I don’t get much done in the apartment, with
all the music, exercise, art, movies, and book
groups to name a few. It’s very well done.”
Visit SimpsonHouse.org/GL-FE to
learn more about why Freda and
others have chosen Simpson House
for retirement living.

2101 Belmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131
SimpsonHouse.org/GL-FE • 215-452-5051
14 MAY 4, 2023
“I feel like klezmer music is my language.

I feel comfortable with it.

I feel at home with it.

It spiritually makes me alive.”
kid, one day I took out my father’s
trumpet and I just blew and it was like
this revelation. Oh my God, this is my
breath, this is my voice. And that was
the end of that. I fell in love and have
been in love ever since.

“I feel like klezmer music is my
language. I feel comfortable with it. I
feel at home with it. It spiritually makes
me alive.”
Watts grew up in Penn Wynne and
went to Saint Louis Conservatory of
Music and Temple University School
of Music. She returned to school at
age 48 and now practices as a clinical
social worker.

Watts still belongs to the Conservative
synagogue of her youth, Temple Beth
Hillel-Beth El.

She is married to Alan Lankin, a
THE GOOD LIFE
visual artist.

Jews will always feel at home with
klezmer music, she said. “It’s the music
from our temple. It’s the music from
our souls and our experiences and our
events. We dance to it. We marry to it.

We cry to it. We laugh to it. It’s every-
body’s, but it’s ours.”
She sees in her future growing as a
“composer, as an artist and a trumpet
player and a mensch. I constantly want
to be looking forward and looking for
opportunities to create a really special
place in the community for klezmer.”
For an evening of Jewish Eastern
European klezmer music, Watts’ new
band “Only Schmaltz” performs at 8 p.m.

May 28 at The Rotunda in Philadelphia. ■
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM