Before World War II, the number of native Yiddish speakers was approximately 11 million people.
The project is as unique as the Jewish songs in Yiddish, which had been persecuted in various places that Jews had settled, and generally played only by small klezmer ensembles beforehand, were for the first time performed by a large symphony orchestra.
[2] At "The Golden Nine" annual ceremony, a ceremony that recognizes contributions made to all the spheres of Israeli society, Efim Alexandrov was awarded by Israel television channel Israel Plus the special prize of "The Golden Nine"[3] for his contribution to the world Jewish culture.
In 2001, the first night of The Songs of Jewish Shtetle was held at the Novaya Opera theatre in Moscow under the patronage of the International Charity Fund of Yuri Bashmet.
Efim Alexandrov recorded several CDs of songs from Jewish shtetles of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine.