In Honor of Samuel Pisar

Ambassador Feinstein and Samuel Pisar

On September 1, Ambassador Feinstein hosted a reception in honor of Samuel Pisar, who was in Warsaw to perform his Kaddish: A Dialogue with God with Sinfonia Varsovia.

Mr. Pisar first performed this libretto, written for Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2003.  Since then, he has performed it in capital cities including Berlin, Paris, London, New York and Jerusalem.  His performance in Warsaw was part of the seventh annual Singer Festival of Jewish Culture. 

The reception included remarks from Ambassador Feinstein, President Kwasniewski and the guest of honor, Mr. Pisar.  The guests also enjoyed music provided by students of the Bednarska School and an exhibit about Mr. Pisar, composer Leonard Bernstein and the evolution of their collaborative work. 

Mr. Pisar was born in Poland, and survived Auschwitz, Majdanek and Dachau before being liberated by the U.S. Army at the age of sixteen. He was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust.  After the war, he earned doctorates from Harvard and the Sorbonne. An international lawyer in New York, Paris and London, he is also a renowned advocate for peace and human rights, whose books have been translated into twenty languages.