Avshi Weinstein, third-generation luthier (maker of string instruments) and principal behind Violins of Hope and Pastor Chris Edmonds join us for a special brunch and lecture. Avshi will talk about the Violins of Hope exhibition and Pastor Edmonds speaks about his father, Master Sargent Roddie Edmonds, an upstander in WWII who saved 200 Jewish prisoners of war. There is an instrument in the Violins of Hope collection dedicated to him.
$15 per person
This program is sponsored by the JCC of Chicago.
Third-generation Israeli violin maker Avshalom (Avshi) Weinstein, was trained by his father, master violin-maker Amnon Weinstein. He began working with his father in their Tel Aviv atelier in 1998 as a violin-maker and restorer of violins, violas and cellos of the highest level.
He is trained in the tradition of the Italian Cremonese School of violin-makers and the French school of restoration. Since 1988, Avshi has joined his father in the Keshet Eilon Violin- and Bow-making atelier at Keshet Eilon Master Class for young violinists each summer. He was invited to join the CAKA Program (Cihat Askin and Kucuk Arkadaslari) in Turkey in 2006, and has been working on CAKA courses since then. Avshi opened his own workshop in Istanbul in 2009, where he continues the family tradition. Additionally, he has also been training with Master Bow-Maker Daniel Schmidt from Dresden in bow repairs since 2009.
Avshalom is the founder of Violin of Hope project together with his father. Violins of Hope refers to the Weinsteins’ collection of instruments with unique stories dating back to Jewish musical tradition and World War II. Both Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein collect these instruments and restore them with love and attention and bring them back to life as concert instruments.
Pastor Chris Edmonds is the son of WWII hero Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds, whose fearless bravery saved the lives of more than 200 Jewish American soldiers in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. Pastor Chris recently received Righteous Among the Nations on behalf of his father from the Nation of Israel and Yad Vashem, the World’s Holocaust Remembrance Authority. Righteous Among the Nations is the highest honor given by the Nation of Israel to non-Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds died in 1985. He was the fifth American to be recognized by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations. In 2016, The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous reunited Pastor Edmonds with four of the Jewish GIs who were saved by Master Sgt. Edmonds in a documentary entitled Following the Footsteps of My Father. The film won four Telly awards. In November 2016, JFR honored Master Sgt. Edmonds with the Yehi Or Award – “Let There Be Light” and recognized Jewish GIs saved by Master Sgt. Edmonds.
