The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

This week, Cantor Herschel Fox, long-time chazzan at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Los Angeles and veteran of the Cantorial world as well as the Yiddish stage, and even Yiddish radio. The interview is filled with stories and anecdotes covering many aspects of his life and his illustrious career, including close working relationships with such legends as Molly Picon, Cantor Dovid Koussevitzky, and many others. He also treats us to many insights into Yiddish song and khazones, with many demonstrations featuring his still-strong voice, with wonderful musical phrasing and beautiful Yiddish and Hebrew diction.

The interview was recorded at the home of Herschel and Judy Fox on Mar. 21, 2024. Special thanks to Judy Fox for audio technical assistance.

Links related to Cantor Fox:

Music:

Air Date: April 10, 2024

Happy Purim !!אַ פֿריילעכן פּורים

Part 1: Jokes and humor for Purim told by Libby Pollak, Sholem Beinfeld, Sheila (Sheyndl) Lieberman-Reich, Sheldon (Shulem) Londner, and Hy Wolfe.

Part 2: Arele Schaechter Viswanath discusses his Google Doc "אַ בלעטל פּורים־מאַטעריאַלן", which the פֿאָרווערטס/Forverts/Yiddish Forward described as "Lively Yiddish Purim materials for teachers, students and parents".

All guests were recorded, by phone or Zoom, Mar. 19-20, 2024.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Music:

Air date: March 20, 2024

This week, interview with Holocaust survivor Nathan Gipsman, originally from Będzin (Bendin), who recently celebrated his 99th birthday; Alona Bach and Sarah Biskowitz cover Farbindungen 2024, the third annual Farbindungen Yiddish Studies Conference, taking place online from February 18 – 19th, 2024; Kolya Borodulin announces the Yiddish classes offered by Workers Circle/Arbeter Ring, starting next week; and a little -ליבע (love-) related music in honor of Valentin-Tog (Valentine's Day).

Important links mentioned in this episode:

Music:

Air date: February 14, 2024

Last week, we learned the sad news that David (Dovid) Lenga has died at the age of 96. He was buried in Los Angeles on Jan. 28, 2024. Los Angeles survivor and community leader Harry Davids said of him, "David was a survivor of Dachau and Auschwitz. He frequently spoke at the museums, synagogues and schools, and his presentations were known for their oratory and inspirational style."In his memory, we're airing his interview recorded and originally aired on Jan. 4, 2023. Link to original podcast. כּבֿוד זײַן אַנדענק!‬

Music:

Air date: February 7, 2024

In observance of International Holocaust Rememberance Day (Jan. 27) we're listening to and discussing Silent Tears: The Last Yiddish Tango, the acclaimed 2023 CD with new music and songs based on poetry and other writing by several women who are, or were, Holocaust survivors in Toronto. These songs recall their terrible and traumatic experiences during the Holocaust, including sexual abuse and torture. Some of the songs were collected and adapted by Dr. Paula David, a social worker, from a group of survivors in the Terrace Holocaust Survivors Group at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto who wrote poetry together to deal with their trauma. Others were adapted from the diary of Molly Applebaum, a Holocaust survivor in Toronto. The music, which is mostly new for this CD, is performed by Toronto's Payadora Tango Ensemble along with several soloists. Our guest to discuss Silent Tears is Vicky Ash-Shifris. She lives in Jerusalem and works as a Yiddish teacher and translator. She translated four of the songs on the CD into Yiddish. For additional info on Silent Tears, visit Executive Producer Dan Rosenberg's website: https://danrosenberg.net/silent_tears_the_last_yiddish_tango_info_and_press or, to audition and purchase the CD, visit its Six Degrees Records album page: https://payadoratangoensemble.bandcamp.com/album/silent-tears-the-last-yiddish-tango

Music:

Air date: January 24, 2024

Last week, we received via Facebook the sad news that Avrohom Fuchs has died at the age of 99. He was buried in Jerusalem on Jan. 15, 2024. In his memory, we're airing part of an interview recorded in Jerusalem on Jan. 2, 2015, and originally aired Jan. 21, 2015. Fuchs, who survived the Holocaust, including Auschwitz and Ebensee, was a scholar of the Jewish history of the Carpathian Mountains, as well as a travel agent and guide who led over 35 tours to the Carpathians for former residents and their descendents. He wrote a book on the city of Chust (now Khust, Ukraine) and surrounding towns, as well as a book on his hometown Shandriff (now Oleksandrivka, Ukraine) and numerous articles. ‫כּבֿוד זײַן אַנדענק!‬

From our archives: Miriam Libenson Z"L: a talk in honor of the holiday Tu Bishvat, the holiday of the trees, originally broadcast in 1994.

Music:

Air date: January 17, 2024

Highlights:

Air Date: December 28, 2023

Highlights:

Air Date: December 21, 2023

Interview with Berele Messinger, an Israeli member of ZAKA who was on the scene in Kibbutz Be'eri the day after the October 7 massacre. We reached him by WhatsApp on Nov. 29, 2023.

Music:

Air Date: November 29, 2023

Highlights of this week's show:

Interview with freygl gertsovski, who founded Queer Yiddish Camp, on the upcoming cabaret fundraiser to benefit Queer Yiddish Camp taking place Sun., Dec. 3, 2023, 2 PM Eastern, on Zoom. Info and tickets online here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/radyiddish/1025964 We spoke via Whatsapp on Nov. 6, 2023.

Interviews with four Holocaust survivors about Israel and antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attack and the current war in Israel.

All happened to be born in Subcarpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslovakia before WWII. We spoke with them all by phone on Nov. 8, 2023.

The interviews are interspersed with Yiddish song recordings from and mostly about Israel from various performers. (See credits below.)

Music/recordings:

Air date: November 8, 2023

‫מיר טרויערן נאָך די מער ווי 1,400 מענטשן שוידערלעך אומגעבראַכט פֿון דער טעראָר-גרופּע כאַמאַס אין ישׂראל דעם 7טן אַקטאָבער 2023. מיר זאָרגן זיך זייער וועגן די פֿאַרוווּנדעטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע האָבן אַ רפֿואה־שלמה, ווי אויך וועגן די פֿאַרכאַפּטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע צוריקקומען אַהיים בשלום.‬‬

‫ ‫הערט אינטערוויוען מיט ישׂראלים וועגן דער טעראַר-אַטאַקע און דער איצטיקער מלחמה אין ישׂראל:‬

We mourn the more than 1,400 people horribly murdered by the terror group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. We are deeply concerned for the wounded -- may they all be restored to health, and the captives -- may they all get home safely.

Hear interviews with Israelis about the terror attack and the current war in Israel.

Music:

Air date: November 1, 2023

‫מיר טרויערן נאָך די מער ווי 1,400 מענטשן שוידערלעך אומגעבראַכט פֿון דער טעראָר-גרופּע כאַמאַס אין ישׂראל דעם 7טן אַקטאָבער 2023. מיר זאָרגן זיך זייער וועגן די פֿאַרוווּנדעטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע האָבן אַ רפֿואה־שלמה, ווי אויך וועגן די פֿאַרכאַפּטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע צוריקקומען אַהיים בשלום.‬‬

‫ ‫הערט אַן אינטערוויו מיט דניאל גלאי וועגן דער טעראַר-אַטאַקע און דער איצטיקער מלחמה אין ישׂראל. גלאי איז אַ קאָמפּאָזיטאָר, דראַמאַטורג,כּלל-טוער פֿאַר ייִדיש, ייִדיש-פּעדאַגאָג און -שרײַבער, און פֿאָרזיצער פֿון לייוויק-הויז אין תּל-אָבֿיבֿ. ווײַטערדיקע אינֿאָ אָנלײַן:‬ https://www.leyvik.com Leyvik House on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leyvikmail/ FORUM 21 On behalf of the Ashkenazi Heritage and Identity - English

‫רעקאָרדירט דורך טעלעפֿאָן און וואָטסאַפּ דעם 25סטן אָקט׳ 2023.‬

We mourn the more than 1,400 people horribly murdered by the terror group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. We are deeply concerned for the wounded -- may they all be restored to health, and the captives -- may they all get home safely.

Hear an interview with Daniel Galay about the terror attack and the current war in Israel. Galay is a composer, playwright, Yiddish activist, educator, and writer, and Chairman of Leyvik House Yiddish Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. Additional info online: https://www.leyvik.com Leyvik House on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leyvikmail/ FORUM 21 On behalf of the Ashkenazi Heritage and Identity - English

Recorded via phone and Whatsapp on Oct. 25, 2023.

The interview is interspersed with Yiddish recordings from and mostly about Israel from various performers. (See credits below.)

Music/recordings:

Air date: October 25, 2023

‫מיר טרויערן נאָך די מער ווי 1,200 מענטשן שוידערלעך אומגעבראַכט פֿון דער טעראָר-גרופּע כאַמאַס אין ישׂראל דעם 7טן אַקטאָבער 2023. מיר זאָרגן זיך זייער וועגן די פֿאַרוווּנדעטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע האָבן אַ רפֿואה־שלמה, ווי אויך וועגן די פֿאַרכאַפּטע, זאָלן זיי אַלע צוריקקומען אַהיים בשלום.‬

‫ הערט אַ קאַמענטאַר פֿונעם היסטאָריקער פּראָפֿ׳ שלום ביינפֿעלד, אַ באַריכט פֿון ישׂראל פֿונעם ייִדיש-ראַדיאָ פּרעזענטירער אבֿרהמי זאַקס און אַ דיסקוסיע וועגן דער טעראַר-אַטאַקע און דער איצטיקער מלחמה אין ישׂראל.‬

We mourn the more than 1,200 people horribly murdered by the terror group Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023. We are deeply concerned for the wounded -- may they all be restored to health, and the captives -- may they all get home safely.

Hear commentary by historian Sholem Beinfeld, a report from Israel by Yiddish radio presenter Avremi Zaks, and a discussion about the terror attack and the current war in Israel.

Music:

Air date: October 11, 2023

אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער

אַ גוט קוויטל און אַ גמר חתימה טובֿה

Highlights:

Greetings from Judy Altmann, Holocaust survivor originally from Jasina, Czechoslovakia. Greetings from Leyzer Maimon, Holocaust survivor originally from Bilgoray, Poland, and leader of Young Israel of Mill Basin (Brooklyn, NY). Featured Vort for Chol Hamoed Succos by Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, Kiryas Joel, NY, also known as the Pshisker Rebbe. Dovid Lenga, Holocaust survivor originally from Lodz, Poland. Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich, Joyce Levin, Rosalie Reszelbach, and Janet Stein (President). Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA (from 2009). Featured interview with Kolya Borodulin, discussing the latest Arbeter-Ring Yiddish classes, starting soon. Info here: circle.org/yiddish. Featured interview with Hy Wolfe, discussing latest happenings at Yiddish organizations he's involved with, namely, Hebrew Actors Foundation, Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center (Bronx), and CYCO Yiddish Books, not to mention his own career as a singer and actor in both Yiddish and English.

Music:

Air date: October 4, 2023

This week, greetings for גמר חתימה טובֿה (Gmar Chassima Toyve, a good final sealing) from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with an excellent "Best of Succos" program from our archive (2019) with various presenters and lots of Succos music.

אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער

אַ גוט קוויטל און אַ גמר חתימה טובֿה

Highlights:

Greetings from Judy Altmann, Holocaust survivor originally from Jasina, Czechoslovakia. Greetings from Leyzer Maimon, Holocaust survivor originally from Bilgoray, Poland, and leader of Young Israel of Mill Basin (Brooklyn, NY). Greetings from Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, Kiryas Joel, NY, also known as the Pshisker Rebbe. Dovid Lenga, Holocaust survivor originally from Lodz, Poland. Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich, Joyce Levin, Rosalie Reszelbach, and Janet Stein (President). Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA (from 2009). Best of Succos (2019) - highlights our archive of past Succos programs with various guests, including Miriam Libenson, Myer Loketch, and Izchak Kin, and music.

Music:

Air date: September 27, 2023

This week, greetings for Rosh Hashona from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with an excellent interview from our archive with Rabbi Moshe Kesselman (2022).

אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער

אַ גוט קוויטל און אַ לײַכטן תּענית - גמר חתימה טובֿה

Highlights:

Greetings from Judy Altmann, Holocaust survivor originally from Jasina, Czechoslovakia. Greetings from Leyzer Maimon, Holocaust survivor originally from Bilgoray, Poland, and leader of Young Israel of Mill Basin (Brooklyn, NY). Greetings from Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, Kiryas Joel, NY, also known as the Pshisker Rebbe. Dovid Lenga, Holocaust survivor originally from Lodz, Poland. Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich, Joyce Levin, Rosalie Reszelbach, and Janet Stein (President). Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA (from 2009). Greetings from Leah Shporer-Leavitt, co-host. Greeting from Sholem Beinfeld, co-host. Interview with Rabbi Moshe Kesselman, spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Tefila of Los Angeles. From our archive: originally aired September 21, 2022.

Music:

Air date: September 20, 2023

This week, greetings for Rosh Hashona from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with an exciting new interviews with Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein as well as an encore presentation on the High Holidays by Miriam Libenson ז״ל from the archive of our predecessor show די ייִדישע שעה from 1992.

אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער לשנה טובֿה

Highlights:

Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich, Joyce Levin, Rosalie Reszelbach, and Janet Stein (President). Interview with Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein, director of Mehadrin Kashrus and spiritual leader of Kehal Minchas Chinuch, both in Manhattan. Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Greetings from Leah Shporer-Leavitt, co-host. Greeting from Sholem Beinfeld, co-host. Miriam Libenson ז״ל: Rosh Hashona/Yom Kippur - from the archive of our predecessor show די ייִדישע שעה. Originally recorded and aired on WBRS 100.1 FM (Waltham, MA) in 1992.

Music:

Air date: September 13, 2023

This week, greetings for Rosh Hashona from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with exciting new interviews with Rabbi Mordechai-Tzvi Solomon and Eli Grodko!

אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער לשנה טובֿה

Highlights:

Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich, Joyce Levin, Rosalie Reszelbach, and Janet Stein (President). Interview with Eli Grodko, son-in-law of host/producer Mark David, talks about his path to Yiddish, intertwined with his former search for a wife, and shares advice for single people searching for a life partner. Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Greetings from Leah Shporer-Leavitt, co-host. Greeting from Sholem Beinfeld, co-host. Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Interview with Rabbi Mordechai-Tzvi Solomon, world-renouned mohel, on the institution of Bris Millah. Info: http://brityy.org

Music:

Air date: September 6, 2023

Interview with Lily (ליליע) Weitzman and Jonah (יונה) Sidman, who recently led a workshop to teach songs created by them and others active in Yiddish language and culture activities around the Boston Workers Circle. The Yiddish Voice was on hand to record four songs sung by participants in the workshop they led, titled נײַע לידער פֿון באָסטאָן (New Songs from Boston), presented at the 2023 Yidish-Vokh, which took place earlier in August in Copake, NY, and was sponsored by the organization Yugntruf-Youth for Yiddish. These songs, as well as selected highlights from the workshop, were presented on this show. The four songs are (1) Levone-Mol by Lily Weitzmann; (2) In Hartsn Zol Undz Akhdes Zayn, Yiddish lyrics by Jonah Sidman, a translation of Let Union Be in All Our Hearts (traditional); (3) A Bletele Vert a Bletl by Adah Hetko; and (4) Eyn Kol, Yiddish lyrics by Linda Gritz, based on One Voice by Ruth Moody of The Wailin' Jennys. Weitzman and Sidman's creative Yiddish activities are an outgrowth of Di Nest, an incubator for Yiddish creative projects. For more information, visit https://circleboston.org/yiddish-community-informal-learning/#dinest.

Music:

Air date: August 30, 2023

This week, interviews with Nick Underwood and Dovid Braun!

Interview with Nick Underwood on Yiddish Paris and Nick's book Yiddish Paris: Staging Nation and Community in Interwar France (Indiana University Press, 2022), which describes the rich Yiddish-speaking culture of emigrants from Eastern Europe in Paris during the interwar years. The interviewer is Sholem Beinfeld, cohost of The Yiddish Voice, co-chief editor of Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis.

Interview with Dovid Braun, Academic Advisor in Yiddish Language, Pedagogy, and Linguistics at the Max Weinreich Center at Yivo and academic director of YIVO’s summer program, who gives an update on recent and upcoming opportunities for Yiddish studies at YIVO. See YIVO.org's website for classes starting in early September, 2023.

Music:

Air Date: August 23, 2023

This week, interviews with Yelena Shmulenson and Boris Sandler in memory of the August 12, 1952 tragedy known as Night of the Murdered Poets, when thirteen Soviet Jews, all leading intellectuals, five of whom were top Yiddish writers, were executed in the Lubianka Prison in Moscow on false charges of spying and treason. The charges were reexamined and admitted to have "no substance" by the Soviet authorities less than four years later. For more information on August 12 1952 and the history and tradition of its memorialization, see Rokhl Kafrissen's excellent 2019 article in Tablet Night of the Murdered Poets.

Yelena Shmulenson discusses her theater piece "Night of the Murdered Poets", being presented in New York City on Thursday, August 10, 2023, sponsored by https://congressforjewishculture.org/, and how it relates to the tragedy of August 12, 1952, a/k/a the Night of the Murdered Poets

Boris Sandler discusses his personal connection to the tragic events of August 12, 1952, as well as his main project, the monthly Yiddish journal Yiddish Branzhe. Links two of Sandler's books discussed in the interview:

דער ענין נומער 5390: (פון די ק.ג.ב. ארכיוון)

With a Mission to Moscow (Yiddish Edition)

Music:

Air Date: August 9, 2023

from our archive: Nathan Kasdan (נחום קאָזשדאַן), who died one year ago (JULY 14, 2022), gave us an extraordinary interview in 2013, which we've previously aired in 2013 and 2014 as well as in 2015. We recently learned that Nathan passed away, about a year ago. Considering Nathan's yahrtzeit, as well as the fact that it's erev Tisha B'Ov, we're re-airing our interview with Nathan again.

from our archive: Miriam Libenson, our late-great resident poet and Yiddish presenter extraordinaire, discusses Tisha B'Ov, which occurs next week, as we're now in the 9 days from the beginning of the month of Ov.

Music:

Air Date: July 19, 2023

This week, Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath and Rabbi Izchak Kin.

Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath is chairperson of the League for Yiddish. She discusses the League for Yiddish's Words of the Week, specifically the recent week devoted to the armed uprising in Russia. We reached her by Zoom on June 9, 2023.

Rabbi Izchak Kin talks about various memories of his personal life, starting with memories of Pesach in his childhood. Rav Kin is a Modzitzer chossid who now lives in Los Angeles but grew up in Israel. This previously unaired recording was made when we recorded Rav Kin's presentation for Pesach 2023.

Air Date: June 12, 2023

This week, Sholem Beinfeld discusses the recent uprising in Russia, and Avremi Zak and Meyer Hirshman discuss Israeli society and politics. Sholem Beinfeld was recorded on the day of broadcast (July 5, 2023). The first interview with Avremi Zak was by The Yiddish Voice on April 26, 2023. The second interview of Meyer Hirshman by Avremi Zak was by Kan Yiddish and originally aired on Israeli radio on June 30, 2023 -- thanks to Kan Yiddish, Avremi Zak, and Meyer Hirshman for this interview.

Air Date: June 5, 2023

The Yiddish Voice was in Israel earlier in June 2023 and had the opportunity to interview Avrom Novershtern, who is professor emeritus from the Yiddish Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and currently serves as the director of Beit Sholem Aleichem in Tel Aviv, a cultural center devoted to Yiddish and the Eastern European Jewish Heritage

Topics discussed:

About Beys Sholem Aleykhem - history, accomplishments, current activities (בית שלום עליכם) (Find on Facebook; Find on the Web). Yiddish writer Chaim Grade - an introduction. Women Writers Controversy - in 2021, Novershtern gave two lectures for YIVO, which resulted in some controversy with two online discussions in response. See links below. Novershtern's early home life in Argentina, and what brought him to Israel.

Novershtern - Women Writers Controversy - Timeline and Links:

Music and Comedy Recordings, mostly in honor of July 4th, America's Independence Day:

Air Date: June 28, 2023

Highlights:

interview with Kolya Borodulin, Director of Yiddish Programming at Arbeter Ring (circle.org), talking about the Summer 2023 Yiddish course offerings currently starting or about to start online now.

interview, part 2, with Mary Ehrlich, a Boston-area Holocaust survivor originally from Gedrevitsh (Giedraiciai in Lithuanian), a shtetl near Vilna (and closer to the Vilkomir). In Mary Ehrlich's first interview she talked about her childhood years up through the arrival of the Germans in 1941. In this, her second, interview Mary spoke of her later life, starting with the German takeover of Lithuania, including the lifesaving role played by a Lithuanian mother and her children, who hid Mary and her parents for most of the war, saving their lives. About ten years ago, Mary reunited with two of these children whose mother had saved her life, which was widely covered in the press. Here's a NY Post article: https://nypost.com/2011/11/24/holocaust-survivor-reunites-with-lost-friends-at-jfk/ Here's a Jerusalem Post article: https://www.jpost.com/jewish-world/jewish-features/holocaust-survivor-to-be-reunited-with-her-saviors For this interview we reached Mary by phone at her home in the Boston area on June 20, 2023.

Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Outro instrumental music: Itzhak Perlman, Dov Seltzer, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym

Air Date: June 21, 2023

Encore from our archive, from 2019, but enhanced for 2023 with Fathers Day music at the end.

See original show notes here:

https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/nechama-netali-gonen

Air date: June 14, 2023

interview with Daniel Galay (דניאל גלאי), an Israeli composor, musician, translator, writer, educator, and Yiddish community leader and activist. He is chairman of Leyvik House, which publishes and sells books, in Yiddish and other languages, and serves as a Yiddish cultural center in Tel Aviv, housing Israel's Yiddish Writers Union. Born in Argentina in 1945 and raised in a Yiddish speaking home, Galay moved to Israel in 1965. In this interview, he talks about many of his life experiences and achievements as well as current interests and projects, including his recent Yiddish Intonation Youtube series, teaching Yiddish intonation for English-speaking Yiddish students, and about the "Ashkenazi Identity movement" he promotes in Israel and online. He also discusses Yiddish in Israel and offers comments on the recent book Yiddish in Israel, whose author, Rachel Rojanski, discussed the book on The Yiddish Voice/דאָס ייִדישע קול in 2021. This interview took place in Tel Aviv on June 4, 2023

Music:

Air Date: June 7, 2023

Encore from our archive, from 2019, but enhanced for 2023 with an announcement from our sponsor Boston Workers Circle: Boston Workers Circle presents FREEDOM IS A VERB: 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: A Besere Velt Chorus with special guest Daniel Kahn. June 10, 2023, 7:30 PM ET - virtual and in person. Details at: circleboston.org/arts/

See original show notes here:

https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/esia-friedman-part-2

Air date: May 31, 2023

Encore from our archive, from 2017, but enhanced for 2023 with an announcement from our sponsor Boston Workers Circle: Boston Workers Circle presents FREEDOM IS A VERB: 25TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT: A Besere Velt Chorus with special guest Daniel Kahn. June 10, 2023, 7:30 PM ET - virtual and in person. Details at: circleboston.org/arts/

See original show notes here:

https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/itzchak-kin-shvues-yom-yerusholayim-shulman-and-cycowicz-trump-in-israel

Air date: May 24, 2023

Interview with Elena Luchina (עלענאַ לוטשינאַ), who is the Yiddish instructor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, discussing her interesting background and current career at one of the leading Yiddish-language and Jewish-studies programs in the United States. Originally from Moscow, Yelena received her PhD in linguistics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has taught Yiddish at U. Mich. since 2019. For more info, see Elena's U. Mich. faculty page or follow Elena's Instagram, @SimpleYiddish. The interview took place over Zoom on May 9, 2023, and was led by Sholem Beinfeld, regular contributor to The Yiddish Voice, co-Editor in Chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University in St. Louis.

From our archive: Miriam Libenson ז״ל discusses the upcoming holiday Shvues. Recorded and originally aired on The Yiddish Voice in the 1990's.

Music:

Air date: May 17, 2023

We observe יום העצמאותּ Yom Haatsmaut with Avremi Zaks, whom we reached in Jerusalem, Israel, today:

Air date: April 26 2023

Air Date: April 19, 2023

Featured speakers:

Music:

Podcast release date: April 11, 2023

Air Date: April 12, 2023

Featured speakers:

Music:

Podcast release dates: April 3 and 4, 2023

Air Date: April 5, 2023

Air Date: March 29, 2023

Air date: March 22, 2023

Air date: March 15, 2023

Highlights:

Air Date: March 1, 2023

Tonight's show aired just a couple of days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We present our second interview with Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch, an Auschwitz survivor. The interview was recorded at his home in July, 2022. The previous interview is available here: https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/naftali-deutsch-auschwitz-survivor-for-yom-hashoah Naftali Deutsch was born in 1931 in the Carpathian mountain village Kimyat, Czechoslovakia, which is now in Ukraine. He is the author of A Holocaust Survivor: In The Footsteps Of His Past [Amazon link], his auto-biography. See also Naftali "Tuli" Deutsch, his page at Yad Vashem.

Songs of the Holocaust, Partizans, and Ghettos to close:

Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air Date: January 25, 2023

Our featured interview this week is with David (Dovid) Lenga, who recently turned 95, is originally from Łódź, Poland (לאָדזש), and now lives in Los Angeles. He survived the Lodz Ghetto as well as Auschwitz. He recently wrote an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times on anti-semitism: As a Holocaust survivor, the most important thing I can do is share my story He frequently talks about his history as a survivor of the Holocaust at Holocaust Museum LA and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. We spent a time talking about these activities, as well as about many aspects of his very long and very interesting life.

Music:

Air date: January 4, 2023

Interview with Jeffrey Shandler, discussing his book Yiddish: Biography of a Language (Oxford University Press, 2020), which describes Yiddish from its origins to the present. Shandler is Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers and holds a PhD from Columbia University. He has had a big influence on Jewish studies, particularly for his concept of Yiddish as a "post-vernacular language", that is, despite the fact that Yiddish is no longer the everyday language of large numbers of Jews, except for certain Chassidic groups, it's widely taught, studied, and translated, and is generally the object of lively interest and affection. For further info on Shandler's book Yiddish: Biography of a Language at Oxford University Press: https://academic.oup.com/book/33481 For Shandler's academic home page at Rutgers: https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/people/core-faculty/jeffrey-shandler The interview took place over Zoom on November 4, 2022, and was led by Sholem Beinfeld, regular contributor to The Yiddish Voice, co-Editor in Chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University in St. Louis.

Music:

Air date: December 7, 2022

Our second interview with Gennady Estraikh (first interview aired in March, 2022) discussing the war in Ukraine. Estraikh, who was born in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is a professor at NYU who specializes in Jewish intellectual history, Yiddish language and literature, and Soviet Jewish history. He has written numerous books, academic papers, and journal and newspaper articles in English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish, notably for the Yiddish Forverts. He served as managing editor of the famed Yiddish literary journal Sovetish Heymland from 1988 to 1991. His books include Yiddish Culture in Ukraine (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2016, in Ukrainian) and Transatlantic Russian Jewishness: Ideological Voyages of the Yiddish Daily Forverts in the First Half of the Twentieth Century (Academic Studies Press, 2020). The interview took place over Zoom on Wednesday, November 23, 2022.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday we present Interview with the Turkey, a monologue by Boston's late, great Yiddish radio host Ben Gailing, originally aired on his show Der Freylekher Kabtsen in the 1980's. Thanks to Hankus Netsky, Ben's producer and co-host, for supplying this recording.

Music:

Air date: November 23, 2022

Prof. Cecile (Tsirl) Kuznitz talks about the upcoming "Schaechter Conference", which she is chairing, sponsored by the League for Yiddish, JTS, and Columbia University. Info: League for Yiddish

Rokhl Zicherman, a survivor of Auschwitz who grew up in Tybava, a small village in the Carpathian Mountains which was in Czechoslovakia before WWII, part of Hungary during the war, and is now in Ukraine, discusses her early life as well as deportation and survival in Auschwitz. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband, also a Holocaust survivor.

Music:

Air Date: October 26, 2022

אַ גוטן מועד Happy Succos! For Chol Hamoed Succos, we present two very special guests:

We also share, for the last time this season, greetings from our friends and sponsors:

Music:

Air date: October 12, 2022

Happy New Year! אַ גמר טובֿ! אַ גוט יאָר

Greetings from our friends and sponsors

Music:

Air date: September 28, 2022

Happy New Year! אַ גוט יאָר

Greetings from our friends and sponsors

Music:

Air date: September 21, 2022

Happy New Year! אַ גוט יאָר

Greetings from our friends and sponsors

From our archive: Rosh Hashona remarks by our late Yiddish Voice contributors:

Music:

Air date: September 14, 2022

Part 1: Last July 13 we aired a quick interview with Gitu Cycowics just hours after her meeting with President Biden at Yad Vashem to get her first impressions, and she made us promise to let her come back to look back when she was not so tired and had time to think about things. We reached her by phone at her home in Jerusalem on Aug. 25, 2022.. Gitu -- a/k/a Giselle (Gita) Cycowicz (née Friedman) -- who was born in 1927 in the town of Chust in the Carpathian Mountains, then part of Czechoslovakia, survived Auschwitz and other camps, later starting a new life in the USA, and eventually getting her PhD in psychology. In her later years, she moved to Israel and then worked for decades for AMCHA (https://amcha.org), helping with the psychological needs of her fellow survivors. On Weds., Jul. 13, 2022, she was one of two Holocaust survivors invited to meet President Joseph Biden at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Here is a YouTube from the live stream of Gitu meeting Biden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q96DZT4qMXs&t=731s Here is Gitu's page at Yad Vashem: https://www.yadvashem.org/blog/i-have-to-tell-my-story-giselle-cycowicz.html

Part 2: Judy Altmann, born and raised in Jasina, Czechoslovakia, fondly recalls her home and family life in her town at the eastern edge of Karpatorus, which belonged to Czechoslovakia from 1918 to 1939, Hungary during WWII, and now Ukraine. She worked in her family's general store, which served the lumber industry workers from the tiny surrounding villages. She recounts her mother's cooking talents and describes the dish known locally in Yiddish as ריפּינייִק Ripinyik, probably closest to Potatonik. (She sometimes refers to potatoes as ריבלעך (riblekh).) At the end, she summarizes her Holocaust experiences. In 1944, she and her parents and practically all Jews of the town were taken to Auschwitz. In her family's case, they were first made to stay for several days without shelter in the Jewish cemetery. From there they were taken to a ghetto in Mateszalca (Hungary ) for several weeks. Finally, they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She survived, but her parents and most of her family were killed. We reached Judy by phone at her home in Stamford, CT, on Aug. 31, 2022.

Air date: August 31, 2022

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געזונט יאָר

Please patronize our sponsors! Enjoy these vintage greetings from our sponsors:

The interview is conducted by Yiddish Voice co-host Lillian Shporer-Leavitt, a daughter of Shoah survivors who grew up speaking Yiddish and graduated from the Boston Workmen's Circle Yiddish Shule. A former computer business analyst and software trainer, she is an experienced Yiddish teacher and translator, having taught at the Workmen's Circle, Gann Academy of Greater Boston, Boston University Hillel, and Brandeis University. In addition, she has subtitled Yiddish films for the National Center for Jewish Film and translated Yizkor (memorial) books for the Jewish Genealogical Society.

Air date: August 17, 2022

We continue our summer rerun season with a panel discussion of the tragic events of August 12, 1952, in Moscow, with Gennady Estraikh, Jana Mazurkiewicz Meisarosh, and Sholem Beinfeld, which was originally aired August 12, 2020.

Air date: July 27, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcast in our archive:

https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/estraikh-mazurkiewicz-meisarosh-beinfeld-august-12-1952

Part 1: We took a temporary break from our summer rerun season to bring our dear listeners breaking news, of a sort, from the real world: we reached friend of the show Gitu Cycowics hours after her meeting with President Biden at Yad Vashem to get her first impressions. Gitu -- a/k/a Giselle (Gita) Cycowicz (née Friedman) -- who was born in 1927 in the town of Chust in the Carpathian Mountains, then part of Czechoslovakia, survived Auschwitz and other camps, later starting a new life in the USA, and eventually getting her PhD in psychology. In her later years, she moved to Israel and then worked for decades for AMCHA (https://amcha.org), helping with the psychological needs of her fellow survivors. Today (Weds., Jul. 13, 2022) she was one of two Holocaust survivors invited to meet President Joseph Biden at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. We are thankful for sharing with us her first impressions of that experience hours after it took place. Here is a YouTube from the live stream of Gitu meeting Biden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q96DZT4qMXs&t=731s Here is Gitu's page at Yad Vashem: https://www.yadvashem.org/blog/i-have-to-tell-my-story-giselle-cycowicz.html

Part 2: We continue our summer rerun season with an interview of Diego Rotman, interviewed by Sholem Beinfeld, discussing the famed Yiddish actors and comics Shimon Dzigan and Yisroel Schumacher. The interview was originally aired in March, 2022.

Air date: July 13, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcast containing the Diego Rotman interview aired on Mar. 2, 2022, in our archive:

https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/diego-rotman-dzigan-schumacher

This week we listen back to our February 2018 interview with Zvi Gitelman, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan, author and editor of numerous books, including A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present (2001) and The New Jewish Diaspora: Russian-speaking Immigrants in the United States, Israel and Germany (2016), speaking with Sholem Beinfeld.

Air date: July 6, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcast containing this interview aired on Feb. 7, 2018, in our archive:

https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/zvi-gitelman

This week we listen back to our March 2020 interview with Elissa Bemporad, author of the book Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets (Oxford University Press, 2019), interviewed by Sholem Beinfeld. Today we're re-airing the entire interview. It was originally aired in two parts in amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and may have gotten a bit lost in the shuffle. But in case you missed it or just want to relisten, it's still as interesting and relevant today, if not more so, considering today's war between Russia and Ukraine in the news.

Air date: June 29, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcasts containing this interview aired on Mar. 18 and Mar. 25, 2020, in our archive:

Part 1: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/covid-19-with-berger-schaechter-plus-author-elissa-bemporad

Part 2: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/covid-19-avremi-zak-author-elissa-bemporad-cont-eli-rosen-unorthodox-s-yiddish-consultant

This week, we're listening back to a favorite Yiddish Voice interview from the past: our interview with famed American-Israeli actor and singer Mike Burstyn, discussing the streamed production Megillah Cycle as well as many aspects of Yiddish theater and his history with it, originally aired in February 2021.

Air date: June 22, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcast containing this interview, and the original podcast with part 2 of this interview, in our archive:

Part 1: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/the-megillah-and-mike-burstyn

Part 2: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/the-megillah-and-mike-burstyn-part-2

This week, we're listening back to a favorite Yiddish Voice interview from the past: our interview with Rachel Rojanski, author of Yiddish in Israel: A History. This is part 1 of the interview, originally aired in May, 2021. This podcast includes a current (June 2022) announcement:

Event announcement: Linda (Libe) Gritz announces the forthcomingBostoner Arbeter Ring Chorus concert, featuring Lorin Sklamberg and Paulina Shepherd. Info: https://circleboston.org/peace-freedom A Besere Velt Yiddish Chorus: Singing For Peace & Freedom Concert: June 18, 2022

It removes a dated interview and adds as a bonus several fantastic Yiddish-in-Israel-realated commercial recordings at the end that you won't want to miss. Enjoy!

Air date: June 15, 2022

PS: you can still find the original podcast containing this interview and some other dated stuff, and the original podcast with part 2 in our archive:

Part 1: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/rachel-rojanski-yiddish-in-israel-part-1-dovid-braun-yivo-summer-program-2021

Part 2: https://the-yiddish-voice-podcast.zencast.website/episodes/rachel-rojanski-yiddish-in-israel-part-2-and-comprehensive-english-yiddish-dictionary

Air Date: June 8, 2022

Dr. Sheva Zucker presents her new bilingual audio album The Golden Peacock: The Voice of the Yiddish Writer, which she edited and produced. It was originally published in 2001 in an all-Yiddish CD format. In 2021, it was released as a revised bilingual edition, making it available either as MP3 files or as two audio CDs. The set now includes the voices of twelve Yiddish writers and a 138-page book that contains the work of each writer in Yiddish with parallel text in English, a biography of each writer in English and Yiddish as well as notes in English about each selection. Hear the voices of Celia Dropkin, Yankev Glatshteyn, Rokhl Korn, Aron Glanz-Leyeles, H. Leivick, Kadya Molodowsky, Itzik Manger, Avrom Sutzkever, Sholem-Aleichem, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Yekhiel Shraibman and Elie Wiesel. English is read by Sheva Zucker and Trudie Kessler, Professor Emeritus of Voice and Acting at The Theatre School/DePaul University, Chicago. Sheva Zucker served as the executive director of the League for Yiddish and editor-in-chief of its publication Afn Shvel from 2005-2020. She is the author of the textbooks Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture, Vols. I & II, and has taught Yiddish language and literature for over two decades in the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. For more info: https://shevazucker.com

The interviewer, Lillian ("Leah") Shporer-Leavitt, is a frequent cohost of The Yiddish Voice and an experienced Yiddish translator and teacher. She has taught Yiddish for many years at various institutions in the Boston area, including Workers Circle and Gann Academy.

Music:

Air date: May 25, 2022

Joseph Alexander, a 99-year-old Holocaust survivor now living in Los Angeles, originally from Kowal, Poland, talks about his Holocaust experiences. We recorded this interview with him via Zoom on May 17, 2022.

Miriam Libenson ז״ל: Lag B'Omer (from our archive, originally recorded and aired in the 1990's)

Music:

Air Date: May 18, 2022

Tonight's show aired on the night after Yom HaZikaron and on the eve of Yom HaAtsmaut. We present a new interview with Yehuda Neufeld, an Israeli war veteran, now living in Los Angeles, who was wounded in Israel's war with Egypt arising out of the Suez Crisis of October 1956.

We also heard from our archives: Hasia Segal ז״ל on the Boston Zionist hero Dewey Stone.

We also heard music related to Israel and mothers, in honor of Mother's Day, which falls the following Sunday.

Air Date: May 4, 2022

Tonight's show aired on the eve of Yom HaShoah. We present a new interview with Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch, an Auschwitz survivor, as well as recordings of three others from past years. They are Al (Zoli) Langer, Rokhl Zicherman, and Matele Friedman ז״ל. All of these survivors were born in Carpathian Ruthenia, then in Czechoslovakia, now known as Zakarpatska Oblast, in the western part of Ukraine.

Naftali Deutsch is the author of A Holocaust Survivor: In The Footsteps Of His Past, his auto-biography. Info here: https://holocaustsurvivorbook.com

Announcement: The American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston invites you to Boston's 2022 Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Sunday, May 1, 2022, at 2:00PM Eastern. Info and registration here: https://www.jcrcboston.org/yh2022/

Air Date: April 27, 2022

Happy Passover! ‫אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח און אַ גוטן מועד!‬

Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show:

Featured Interview: Pinchas Gutter, Warsaw ghetto & Majdanek survivor; author: MEMORIES IN FOCUS; USC Shoah Foundation hologram witness (https://iwitness.usc.edu/dit/pinchas). For additional info see Shoah Foundation's info page on Pinchas Gutter: https://sfi.usc.edu/survivor/pinchas-gutter and Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinchas_Gutter

Music:

Air Date: April 20, 2022

Happy Passover! ‫אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח!‬

Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show:

Featured Interview: Dov-Ber Kerler, writer and poet, professor at Indiana University, co-director of the AHEYM project, with his thoughts on the war in Ukraine. He also read out a short poem of his, a kind of response to the Hebrew poem They Say There's A Land (אומרים ישנה ארץ) by Shaul Tchernichovsky. Kerler frequently publishes his poetry under the pen name Boris Karloff (באָריס קאַראַוו) here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/berkale For more info on Kerler and AHEYM: https://aheym.com/contact/

Music:

Air Date: April 13, 2022

Happy Passover! ‫אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח!‬

Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show:

Featured Interview: Hy Wolfe, executive director of CYCO Yiddish Bookstore and Publishing House, talks about the organization's campaign to survive and thrive as New York City's last secular Yiddish book store, helped by Friends of CYCO Books, a new organization and web site, and thanks to recent publicity such as the New York Review of Books article The Joy of Yiddish Books. Besides heading up CYCO, Wolfe is a veteran actor, director, and singer, both in English and Yiddish. More info at HyWolfe.com.

Music:

Air Date: April 6, 2022

Air Date: March 30, 2022

Hear all about the upcoming 2022 YIVO Summer Program from Dovid Braun, the summer program's academic director. There's still time to register, for in person or online classes. For more info, check out their web site: https://summerprogram.yivo.org

Hear an interview with Lilly Segelstein, an Auschwitz survivor who was born in Klitsherkes (קליטשערקעס), then in Czechoslovakia, and today's Kliucharky, a village in Ukraine, near Mukacheve in Zakarpattia Oblast. Lilly is the mother of Cookie Segelstein, who assists her mother on this interview. Cookie is the acclaimed Klezmer violinist of Veretski Pass, whose music is featured in the latter part of the show.

Hear greetings for Pesach from sponsors and friends!

Music:

Air Date: March 23, 2022

Interview with Gennady Estraikh discussing the war in Ukraine. Estraikh, who was born in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is a professor at NYU who specializes in Jewish intellectual history, Yiddish language and literature, and Soviet Jewish history. He has written numerous books, academic papers, and journal and newspaper articles in English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish, notably for the Yiddish Forverts. He served as managing editor of the famed Yiddish literary journal Sovetish Heymland from 1988 to 1991. His books include Yiddish Culture in Ukraine (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2016, in Ukrainian) and Transatlantic Russian Jewishness: Ideological Voyages of the Yiddish Daily Forverts in the First Half of the Twentieth Century (Academic Studies Press, 2020). The interview took place over Zoom on Friday March 4, 2022, and was led by Sholem Beinfeld, regular contributor to The Yiddish Voice, co-Editor in Chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University in St. Louis.

Music:

Air date: March 9, 2022

Music:

Air Date: March 2, 2022

The show presents an interview with Eddie (Avrum) Hoffman, who survived Auschwitz, slave labor at a Krupp factory in Breslau (Wrocław), a death march, and the last days at Ebensee, the brutal Mathausen subcamp.Eddie Hoffman was born in February, 1929, in Sevluš, Czechoslovakia, one of three brothers. The town was in the Subcarpathian Ruthenia part of Czechoslovakia and was also known in Yiddish as Seylesh (סעליש) and in Hungarian as Nagyszőlős. It is now called Vynohradiv and is in Ukraine. His father ran a small shoe manufacturing business, and his mother ran a small general store. In 1944 his father left the family to join the partisans fighting against the Nazis, never to be heard from again, and he and his mother and brothers were deported to Auschwitz. He was the only immediate family member to survive the Holocaust. He eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he owned and managed several bars and restaurants. He now resides with his wife in Orange County, near Los Angeles. The interview took place at his home in October, 2021.

The interview with Eddie is dedicated to the memory of Arthur Machlovitz ע״ה, also an Auschwitz survivor from Subcarpathian Ruthenia, from the town of Iza. He was long-time friends and a former business partner with Eddie and was friendly with Yiddish Voice host Meyer Dovid, and so he introduced them in a way: they met at Arthur's funeral in the summer of 2021.

Also on this show we sadly announced the passing of Mrs. Margaret (Matele) Friedman ע״ה, who died just two days earlier (Feb. 21, 2022). She was friends with Yiddish Voice host Meyer Dovid, had been featured on several of our broadcasts over the years, and was known in the community for her wonderful singing ability, especially in Yiddish. Also an Auschwitz survivor from Subcarpathian Ruthenia, after the way she returned to the area and married and started a family in Seylesh, and lived there for more than twenty-five years under the Soviets, before the family moved to the US in the 1970's. ‮געבענטשט זאָל זײַן איר אָנדענק!‬

Music:

Extended episode: this episode is slightly longer than 1 hr 23 minutes. Thanks to the generosity of our radio station WUNR 1600 AM (Brookline, MA) for allowing us to exceed our usual one-hour time slot.

Air Date: February 23, 2022

This show features an interview with Efraim (Froyim) Kessler, who, at age 105, is the oldest person ever interviewed on The Yiddish Voice. In the interview Kessler, who was born in Bilgoray, Poland, in 1916, recalls various aspects of his youth, including encounters with the Nobel Prize-winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer and Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, the Belzer Rebbe. He also recalls surviving the Spanish flu. (We learned after the interview that he also survived Covid-19.)

Efraim Kieslowicz was born and raised in Bilgoray (Polish spelling: Biłgoraj) on July 27, 1916, one of nine siblings. His father was a rabbi and also ran a grain mill and grocery store. He became an electrician in prewar Poland. He spent the war years in various places in the Soviet Union, including Chukotka in the Russian Far East and Samarkand and Tashkent in Uzbekistan. After the war, he spent several years in a DP camp in Ebensee, Austria. He arrived in the USA in 1952, spending several years in New York and elsewhere before arriving in Los Angeles, where he has lived until now. Along the way, he anglicized his name to be Fred Kessler. In 1960, he started his own electrical contracting business, Fred Kessler Electric, later called Robert Kessler Electric when his son took over the business. He was for decades a member of the shtibl known as "Rabbi Moskovitz's shul" on Fairfax St. in Los Angeles, and has been a member of Young Israel of Los Angeles for over 40 years. He now resides with his son Michael in Los Angeles. The interview took place in September 2021.

Also on tonight's show, Kolya Borodulin, director of Yiddish Programming at Workers Circle in New York, talks about the upcoming virtual program, Vinter in Yidishland. We'll also hear the Yiddish Voice debut of a new Yiddish version of the Dolly Parton song Jolene, performed by the Israeli singer and actress Ronit Asheri. Finally, to observe Tu Bishvat, which fell two days ago, from our archives: Miriam Libenson Z"L: a talk in honor of the holiday Tu Bishvat, the holiday of the trees, originally broadcast in 1994, followed by music related to Tu Bishvat and/or to trees, generally.

Air date: January 19, 2022

This show is a special Shloyshim program in memory of Israel (Izzy) Arbeiter ז״ל, Holocaust survivor and founder and former long-time president of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston, who passed away Oct. 29, 2021, at the age of 96. This show is sponsored by The American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston and Descendants.

The first part features remarks in memory of Izzy, while the second contains excerpts of his recordings for The Yiddish Voice.

Remarks:

Janet Stein Calm, President The American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston and Descendants (with remarks read in Yiddish by Dovid Braun);

Tania Lefman, Holocaust survivor, long-time friend of Arbeiter's, and treasurer of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston;

Rabbi Moshe Waldoks of Temple Beth Zion, Boston, who officiated at Arbeiter's funeral; and

Dovid Braun, a co-host of The Yiddish Voice and director of the YIVO Yiddish Summer Program

Recordings of Izzy Arbeiter for The Yiddish Voice:

Music:

Air date: December 8, 2021

The Yiddish Voice/דאָס ייִדישע קול lost a great friend. Izzy Arbeiter passed away this past Friday, Oct 29 2021, at the age of 96. To mark this sad loss, we are replaying our 2005 interview that was led by our late cohost Iosif Lakhman.

See also:

Music:

Sosye Fox (Sandy Fox) of Vaybertaytsh interviews Meyer Dovid (Mark David), host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קון, and vice versa. Thanks to In Geveb for putting this together. See also/related:

Music:

Air date: October 13, 2021

Recorded at Yugntruf's Yidish-Vokh in Copake, NY, in August 2021: Ruth Kohn, Libby Pollak and Dovid Braun telling jokes in Yiddish

Best of Rosh Hashona - Announcements and well-wishes for the new year from sponsors and friends and a High Holidays mix of recent and past audio highlights. Enjoy!

Music:

Air Date: September 1, 2021

Highlights:

Zelda Polofsky, a Holocaust survivor from a shtetl near Vilna, interviewed by Dovid Braun, discussing her early life, both before and during the Holocaust.

Announcements and well-wishes for the new year (Rosh Hashona) from sponsors and friends.

Music:

Air date: August 25, 2021

Listen to the Yiddish Voice recorded live at the annual Yiddish Week (Yidish-Vokh) in Copake, NY, in the foothills of the Berkshire mountains. There, every year, the organization Yugntruf - Youth for Yiddish creates summer colony, where Yiddish-speaking people from all parts of the world gather each year to enjoy a week of summer vacation entirely in Yiddish. We played a game show-type game, listened to jokes told by Ruth Kohn, and heard a musical performance by the famed Schaechter-Tekhter duo (sisters Reyna and Temma Schaechter), accompanied on piano by their dad, the highly accomplished musical director and composer Ben (Binyumen) Schaechter. Guests on the show, in approximate order of appearance: Eli Grodko, Dovid Braun, Christa Whitney, Ruth Kohn, Yankl-Peretz Blum, Perl Teitelbaum, Meylekh Viswanath, Reyna Schaechter, Temma Schaechter, Binyumen Schaechter (piano), Isaac Bleaman.

In addition, we heard many announcements and well-wishes for the new year (Rosh Hashona) as well as some holiday music.

Special thanks to Yugntruf: visit yugntruf.org

Recording date: August 15, 2021 Air date: August 18, 2021

Interview with Hershl Hartman, discussing his work as a Yiddish journalist, an educator in secular Yiddish-oriented schools, and a translator from Yiddish to English. Hershl Hartman was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. He has been a leader at the Sholem Community in Los Angeles for more than fifty years, serving as Education Director/Vegvayzer since 1967. Between 1967 and 1985, he was also the school’s principal. Hartman holds degrees in Secular Jewish education and in Yiddish journalism. As a younger man, he became the first American-born Yiddish newspaper reporter, having written for the Morgen Freiheit when it was a New York City daily with a print run in the thousands. In recent years, he has worked as a professional translator from English to Yiddish, translating both literary works, including poetry, and personal documents and correspondence. His literary translation work has appeared in the online Yiddish studies journal In Geveb (https://ingeveb.org/people/hershl-hartman), and he contributed to the translation of the book The Jews of Felshtin (https://felshtin.org/). The interview was recorded via Zoom on July 9, 2021.

Air Date: July 28, 2021

From our archive: The Yiddish Voice from July 24 2013, with Gitu Cycowitz (Jerusalem) and Rabbi Shmuel Posner (Boston).

Air Date: July 21 2021 (originally aired July 24 2013)

Interview with Irene Zisblatt, who was one of the participants in the film The Last Days, released in 1998, about the Holocaust in Hungary. The Yiddish Voice spoke to Irene recently (late June 2021) via Zoom. Irene was born in Polena, Czechoslovakia, which was in Hungary during WWII and is now in Ukraine. Irene survived the Holocaust, including Auschwitz, as she describes in the film and to some degree in the interview. The film The Last Days, was originally released on DVD in 1998. It was rereleased in 2021 in a restored print on Blu-Ray disk and also through Netflix. Info:

From our archive: 2015 interview with Dovid Mermelstein, who died the previous day (Tuesday, July 6, 2021). The Yiddish Voice spoke to Dovid in Miami, FL, in August 2015 and aired the interview shortly thereafter. Dovid was born in Kivjazd, Czechoslovakia, which was in Hungary during WWII and is now in Ukraine. He survived the Holocaust, including Auschwitz and Ebensee. In recent decades, he was a leader of the survivors in the Miami, FL, area and an internationally known activist on behalf of survivors in order to get restitution from the US government for property looted from Hungarian Jews during the war, as well as serving as a vocal critic of the Claims Conference on behalf of his fellow survivors. Info:

Air Date: June 7, 2021

Most of this week's show was taken up with the second part of our interview with Rachel Rojanski, discussing her book Yiddish in Israel: A History, published in English by Indiana University Press in 2020. The discussion is in Yiddish. Last week's show (May 26 2021) presented the first part of the discussion. The second part aired this week on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Rachel Rojanski is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brown University. She is author of Conflicting Identities: Labor Zionism in North America 1905-1931 (in Hebrew) as well as many articles on political and cultural history of East European Jewish immigrants in the U.S. and Israel. About the book (blurb):

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. (Additional publisher info here: https://iupress.org/9780253045140/yiddish-in-israel/)

The interview was led by Sholem Beinfeld, professor of history emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, and co-chief editor of theComprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary.

Also, from our archive we heard an excerpt of our 2016 interview with Gitl Shaechter-Viswanath and Hershl Glasser, editors of Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary. (Interviewed by Dovid Braun and Iosif Lakhman ז״ל) Additional info here: https://englishyiddishdictionary.com

To close, we aired a series of songs with words by the late poet Itzik Manger, whose 120th birthday was observed by lovers of Yiddish literature the world over this past Sunday, performed by various singers and musicians.

Music:

Air Date: June 3, 2021

Most of this week's show was taken up with the first part of our interview with Rachel Rojanski, discussing her book Yiddish in Israel: A History, published in English by Indiana University Press in 2020. The discussion is in Yiddish. This week's show (May 26 2021) presented the first part of the discussion, with the second part set to air the following Wednesday, June 2, 2021 (and later be made available via podcast). Rachel Rojanski is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brown University. She is author of Conflicting Identities: Labor Zionism in North America 1905-1931 (in Hebrew) as well as many articles on political and cultural history of East European Jewish immigrants in the U.S. and Israel. About the book (blurb):

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. (Additional publisher info here: https://iupress.org/9780253045140/yiddish-in-israel/)

The interview was led by Sholem Beinfeld, professor of history emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, and co-chief editor of theComprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary.

Also, we heard from Dovid Braun, Summer Program Academic Director at the Yivo Institute, giving an overview of the upcoming 2021 incarnation of the venerable Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture. Info online here: https://summerprogram.yivo.org/

Music:

Air Date: May 26, 2021

Air Date: May 12, 2021

Interview with developers of the Yiddish course on the language-learning app Duolingo: Meena Viswanath, brothers Isac Polasak and Israel Polasak; Sholem; and Yosi (@MudnerParshoyn on Twitter). The interview was recorded on April 11, 2021, over Zoom and is entirely in Yiddish. Participating in the interview are historian Prof. Sholem Beinfeld, along with regular host Mark David. For more info, here are several links:

Miriam Libenson z"l: a talk on the Holiday Lag Ba'Omer by our dear late collaborator, from our archive, originally recorded and aired on May 24, 2000.

Music:

Extended version of interview with Miriam Trinh, which was shortened due to time limitations on the original broadcast.

Extended version of interview with Avremi Zaks, which was shortened due to time limitations on the original broadcast.

We observe יום העצמאותּ Yom Haatsmaut with three guests who all currently reside in Jerusalem, Israel:

Air date: April 14 2021

In this show we observe Yom HaShoah with part 2 of a fantastic new interview with Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, discussing his experiences as a boy growing up in Lodz, Poland, later relocating to Warsaw, surviving the Warsaw Ghetto as well as deportation to the Majdanek death camp. This week's show the second part of the discussion, with the first part having aired the previous Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Pinchas Gutter is well known as a Holocaust survivor, and frequently serves as a speaker and educator in various forums around the world. He was the first survivor to create a lifelike hologram of himself for the USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony project. For more info on Pinchas Gutter visit:

We also played an extended selection of Holocaust-related songs as part of today's broadcast.

Air Date: April 7, 2021

In this show we finish out Pesach and transition to Yom HaShoah with a fantastic new interview with Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter, discussing his experiences as a boy growing up in Lodz, Poland, later relocating to Warsaw, surviving the Warsaw Ghetto as well as deportation to the Majdanek death camp. This week's show presents the first part of the discussion, with the second part airing the following Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Pinchas Gutter is well known as a Holocaust survivor, and frequently serves as a speaker and educator in various forums around the world. He was the first survivor to create a lifelike hologram of himself for the USC Shoah Foundation's Dimensions in Testimony project. For more info on Pinchas Gutter visit:

Happy Passover! א כשרן און געזונטן פסח!

Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show:

Music:

Air Date: March 31, 2021

Air Date: March 24, 2021

Air Date: March 17, 2021

Interview (part 2) with Mike Burstyn, discussing the recently released stream of Megillah Cycle, which premiered February 21. The first part aired the previous Wednesday, February 24, 2021.

Burstyn directed Megillah Cycle and performed three of its roles. The show is his adaptation of Itzik Manger’s famed Megile-Lider (Poems of the Megillah), a book published in Warsaw in 1936 as a playfully anachronistic version of the Book of Esther and the traditional Purim-shpil. Burstyn's connection to this material is long and deep, having begun his career as a child actor in the famed Burstein family of Yiddish singers and actors who staged the original Megillah of Itzik Manger, a Yiddish-language musical that became an overnight sensation in Israel in the 1960s, and eventually came to Broadway. From that success Burstyn went on to stardom in Israeli film and TV/film/theater internationally in English, Hebrew, Yiddish and other languages, as well as being a singer with a great many recordings to his credit, also in English, Yiddish, Hebrew and other languages. For more info on Mike Burstyn, visit: https://www.mikeburstyn.com

Besides Burstyn, the cast of Megillah Cycle features Shane Baker (Tevye Served Raw), Yidlife Crisis performers Eli Batalion (Stage Fright) and Jamie Elman (California Dreamin’), Avi Hoffman (Too Jewish?), Daniel Kahn (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish), Lia Koenig (Shtisel), Noah Mitchel (My Favorite Year), Eleanor Reissa (Those Were the Days), Joshua Reuben (Shakespeare in Yiddish), Allen Lewis Rickman (A Serious Man), Yelena Shmulenson (Orange Is the New Black), and Suzanne Toren (From Door to Door).

The streamed production of Megillah Cycle, presented in Yiddish with English-subtitled translation, also features interspersed English rhymes written by the late Joe Darion (Man of La Mancha). Original artwork is by Adam Whiteman, with music, editing and technical supervision by Uri Schreter. It was produced by Shane Baker, executive director of the Congress for Jewish Culture. For more information and to view the stream, visit CongressforJewishCulture.org.

Participating in the interview are historian Prof. Sholem Beinfeld and Yiddish scholar Dovid Braun, along with regular host Mark David.

Air date: March 3, 2021

אַ פֿריילעכן פּורים!

Interview (part 1) with Mike Burstyn, discussing the recently released stream of Megillah Cycle, which premiered February 21. The second part will be airing the following Wednesday, March 3, 2021.

Burstyn directed Megillah Cycle and performed three of its roles. The show is his adaptation of Itzik Manger’s famed Megile-Lider (Poems of the Megillah), a book published in Warsaw in 1936 as a playfully anachronistic version of the Book of Esther and the traditional Purim-shpil. Burstyn's connection to this material is long and deep, having begun his career as a child actor in the famed Burstein family of Yiddish singers and actors who staged the original Megillah of Itzik Manger, a Yiddish-language musical that became an overnight sensation in Israel in the 1960s, and eventually came to Broadway. From that success Burstyn went on to stardom in Israeli film and TV/film/theater internationally in English, Hebrew, Yiddish and other languages, as well as being a singer with a great many recordings to his credit, also in English, Yiddish, Hebrew and other languages. For more info on Mike Burstyn, visit: https://www.mikeburstyn.com

Besides Burstyn, the cast of Megillah Cycle features Shane Baker (Tevye Served Raw), Yidlife Crisis performers Eli Batalion (Stage Fright) and Jamie Elman (California Dreamin’), Avi Hoffman (Too Jewish?), Daniel Kahn (Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish), Lia Koenig (Shtisel), Noah Mitchel (My Favorite Year), Eleanor Reissa (Those Were the Days), Joshua Reuben (Shakespeare in Yiddish), Allen Lewis Rickman (A Serious Man), Yelena Shmulenson (Orange Is the New Black), and Suzanne Toren (From Door to Door).

The streamed production of Megillah Cycle, presented in Yiddish with English-subtitled translation, also features interspersed English rhymes written by the late Joe Darion (Man of La Mancha). Original artwork is by Adam Whiteman, with music, editing and technical supervision by Uri Schreter. It was produced by Shane Baker, executive director of the Congress for Jewish Culture. For more information and to view the stream, visit CongressforJewishCulture.org.

Participating in the interview are historian Prof. Sholem Beinfeld and Yiddish scholar Dovid Braun, along with regular host Mark David.

Air date: February 24, 2021

Air Date: February 17, 2021

Tonight's show is an interview with Sasha Lurje and Zisl Slepovitch, who discuss the Songs From Testimonies project, which collects and records songs and poems discovered in the testimonies of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. The songs are sung in a variety of languages, including Yiddish, Polish, and French, from both the prewar period as well as from the ghettos and camps during the war. All were found among individual testimonies recorded by survivors for the Fortunoff Archive. The Archive's musician-in-residence, Zisl Slepovitch, took the songs, conducted research about their origins, and then arranged and recorded versions with his ensemble, featuring singer Sasha Lurje. The project has resulted in two albums, Where Is Our Homeland? Songs From Testimonies in the Fortunoff Video Archive, Vol. 1, released in 2019, and שרײַ, הערצעלע, שרײַ! Cry, My Heart, Cry!, Songs from Testimonies, Volume 2, which was just released in 2021 for streaming and download and is soon to be available on CD and vinyl.

This past week, on Jan 27, Slepovitch and Lurje streamed live to debut and introduce the most recently recorded songs, along with video recordings of the musicians performing, COVID-style in video boxes. The live-stream replay is available now on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/101650124837284/videos/530750214557627/

For additional information and to hear the music from the Songs From Testimonies project, visit: https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/education/songs-from-testimonies/

Zisl Slepovitch, producer and artistic director of the recordings, arranged all the tracks and also contributed as composer, lyrics translator, additional vocalist, and musical instrumentalist on most of the tracks. A native of Minsk, Belarus, he is a musicologist (Ph.D., Belarusian State Academy of Music); a multi-instrumental klezmer, classical, and improvisational musician; a composer and poet; and a music and Yiddish educator. He is a founding member of the critically acclaimed bands Litvakus, Minsker Kapelye, and Zisl Slepovitch Trio. Additional info at his web site: http://dmitrislepovitch.com

Sasha Lurje, the main vocalist of the recordings, is an internationally renowned Yiddish singer, born in Riga, Latvia, and now based in Berlin, Germany. She is the featured singer of several Yiddish music bands and projects, including Forshpil, Litvakus, STRANGELOVESONGS with Daniel Kahn, Semer Ensemble, and You Shouldn’t Know from It. Additional info at her web site: https://sashalurje.com

Music:

Professor Ellie (Elke) Kellman of Brandeis University discusses her research on the radical Yiddish press in the America of the late 19th and early 20th century. Ellie Kellman researches and writes about modern Yiddish literature and literary history, specializing in the history of the Yiddish periodical press and publishing industry. Her book-in-progress is entitled Reading the New Country: Abraham Cahan and the Invention of American Jewish Popular Culture. She is Associate Professor of Yiddish at Brandeis University, where she teaches Yiddish language and literature and modern Jewish literature. The interview is conducted by Sholem Beinfeld, a regular contributor to The Yiddish Voice, co-Editor in Chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary, and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. Our friend and cohost Dovid Braun provided an announcement after the interview, namely, the following links to the Ellie Kellman lecture of July 13, 2020, for the Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Bard College. Prof. Ellen Kellman: Abraham Cahan's Early Experiments in Yiddish Journalism / אַב. קאַהנס ערשטע ליטעראַרישע עקספּערימענטן

https://yivo.org/YCLS2020-Kellman

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KhAJY3wSPFA

To observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we played three recordings of Holocaust survivors from the Yiddish Voice archives:

Rochel Zicherman, a survivor originally from a small village in Carpathian Ruthenia in Czechoslovakia, who survived Auschwitz (recorded in 2019);

Dovid Lenga, a survivor originally from Lodz, Poland, who survived the Lodz Ghetto as well as Auschwitz (recorded in 2020); and

Anna Monka ע״ה, a survivor originally from Lida, Poland, a former Bielski partisan, who sings the partisan song Zog Nit Keymol (recorded 2009)

Music:

Air Date: January 27, 2021