Arts Editor

Remember when audiences would go wild for Frank Sinatra, storm the stage when Elvis would perform, cry during Beatles' concerts?

That spirit still exists ‹ albeit on a much smaller scale ‹ at Hy Wolfe's concerts, he says. Wolfe will sing, tell stories and perform monologues in his Yiddish of Greater Washington-sponsored show, Yiddish Songs for the Soul, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville.

"People get teary eyed when I sing 'Young at Heart' in Yiddish," says the New York-based singer/actor. "It brings back the incredible memories they had."

As for himself, he says he is able "to express myself in a Yiddish lyric in ways that I can't in English. There is a freedom that comes over me when I sing in Yiddish."

Wolfe, 49, grew up in a family of Holocaust survivors, speaking Yiddish with his parents as a child. His parents were observant Jews before the war, but less so afterward, plagued by the "Where was God at Auschwitz?" question. Nonetheless, he says, they tried to give him and his siblings a traditional upbringing, so his mother kept a kosher home and lit candles on Friday night.

Enchanted with the theater from an early age, after performing in school plays and in his school orchestra, Wolfe studied acting at the City University of New York and received a master's degree in acting and speech from Penn State University in the late 1970s.

After graduation, he returned to New York City to study acting, working in a series of jobs including busboy, waiter, carpenters assistant, painter, bartender and businessman, so he could continue his studies.

His acting credits range from small parts on TV's Law and Order to the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre.

In 1995, he and fellow Yiddish actress Shifra Lerer teamed up to do a video, No Shmaltz! ‹ in which they discuss and prepare low-fat Jewish dishes. The tape is in Yiddish with English subtitles.

Earlier this year, Wolfe made his first CD, Lider far der neshome-Yiddish for the soul.

For the past five years, he has been executive director of the Central Yiddish Culture Organization, one of the oldest publishing houses for Yiddish books, and since 2003, artistic director of the Yiddish National Theatre.

At his JCCGW show, Wolfe promises to do monologues from Yiddish theater, tell a couple of stories from Yiddish folklore and, of course, sing Yiddish songs.

Non-Yiddish speakers should come, he says, because they will enjoy the music. He also notes that he "pantomimes and throws in an English word here and there" and a few of the songs will be in "Yinglish," using words from both Yiddish and English.

"I try not to leave people behind," he says.

It is also important for them to hear the language. "It is who we are," Wolfe stresses. "The roots from where we came need to be tended so they can remain strong."

Tickets for the show, $15, $10 for JCC and YGW members, are available by calling 301-348-3872 .