Podcasts about Yiddish Book Center

How might we be inspired by a worldwide community of Yiddish-speaking Jews, whose cultural identity was broadly internationalist?David Mazower is the author of Yiddish: A Global Culture, which accompanies an exhibit he curated at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.Our conversation explores the heritage and influence of Yiddish – the everyday language of East European Jews, which became a diaspora lingua franca and the medium for bold creativity, from avant-garde art and subversive writing to radical politics that shaped socialist and anarchist movements.David's great-grandfather, Sholem Asch, was a pioneering Yiddishist writer and another of his ancestors – his father's father Max – was a revolutionary in tsarist Russia, becoming involved with a socialist party called the Bund, whose deeply humanistic perspective has since been marginalised.As David observes, the impact of the Bund is now the focus of a book by Molly Crabapple (titled Here Where We Live is Our Country). And an outing of London Bundists from the early 1900s features on the cover of David's book.Before joining the Yiddish Book Center as its research bibliographer and editorial director, David was a senior journalist with BBC World News and deputy curator of the Jewish Museum London. He writes for a range of publications on topics from Yiddish theatre and popular culture to British Jewish history.Selected highlights from the exhibit that accompanies his book are available here. There's also a digital guide via the Bloomberg Connects app (see here for details).--

On Sunday, May 3 at 2 p.m., renowned scholar and curator Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett will explore what it means to put Yiddish on display in The Yiddish Book Center's 2026 Melinda Rosenblatt Lecture. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is University Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University and Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in Warsaw and she joins us now.

Notes and Links to Daniel Tam-Claiborne's Work     Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial essayist and author of the short story collection What Never Leaves. His writing has appeared in Literary Hub, the Rumpus, SupChina, the Huffington Post, the Shanghai Literary Review, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships and awards from the U.S. Fulbright Program, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, Kundiman, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and the Yiddish Book Center. Tam-Claiborne serves as program director of partnerships and events at Hugo House in Seattle. He holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and is the author of Transplants, a finalist for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and longlisted for the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Buy Transplants   Daniel Tam Claiborne's Website   Review and Informative Article for Transplants in the Seattle Times     At about 2:30, Daniel provides background on his reading and language life, including formative works and formative teachers  At about 6:40, Daniel talks about inspiring contemporary writers At about 10:50, Daniel responds to Pete asking about seeds for Transplants; Daniel expands on how he “processes the world through [his] work” and explores ideas of identity and perception At about 16:35, Pete cites the book's epigraphs and ideas of transference and ideas of changing places At about 17:20, the book's exposition is discussed, and Daniel reflects on ideas of the collective vs. individual, especially with regard to Lin At about 20:30, Daniel talks about Liz's frustrations in connecting with others and mindset in moving to her ancestral home of China for teaching At about 24:50, Daniel talks about Lin and how she deals with her burgeoning relationship with Travis and later ideas of shame and agency At about 28:00, Liz and her “existential crisis” are discussed and her altruistic and otherwise actions are examined by Daniel  At about 31:20, The two discuss the real-life parallels involving a scene in the book that shows the back-and-forth between North Korea and China At about 37:00, Pete talks about cultural misunderstandings in the book, and Daniel talks about the dissonance in the Chinese diaspora regarding new waves of Chinese immigrants and assimilation-he emphasizes Liz's brother, Phil, and his views At about 39:45, The two reflect on Liz's budding relationship and growing pains in the beginning days of Covid in Shanghai At about 41:20, Daniel replies to Pete asking about what Lin finds in Gua, her partner in the westward road trip At about 45:10, The two reflect on ideas of “foreigners” and a caring nurse and her significance in the book At about 49:00, Pete talks about feminism and Lin being “in control of her narrative” and ideas of moral clarity At about 49:50, Daniel expands on Stephen, Liz's boyfriend, and earlier iterations  At about 51:40, Daniel responds to Pete wondering about the real-life background for the housing complex and organization for which Lin delivered groceries to elderly and isolated people, many of them former internees from the Japanese/Japanese-American internment camps At about 55:20, The two muse about Liz and her motivations-subconscious or not-in traveling to China At about 56:40, Daniel talks about the book's ending and portions of the book as “surprising” to him At about 59:00, Pete and Daniel reflect on Daniel's writing the book only a few years after the beginning of the Covid pandemic and the balance between urgency and perspective        You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode deals with short, powerful poems and prose that pack a punch-take that, alliteration! The episode features meaningful and resonant work from Robert Hershon, Mosab Abu Toha, Ernest Hemingway, Sara Abou Rashed, Khaled Juma, Andrea Cohen, and Marwan Makhoul.    Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 338 with Adam H. Johnson, a media analyst and co-host of the Citations Needed podcast. His book is an incredibly important accounting of the malfeasance, whitewashing, and misdirection of so much of the media that has enabled the tragedies of Gaza.    The episode airs on April 21, Pub Day for How to Sell a Genocide: The Media's Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza.    Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.    You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.

In this Passover episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Eos Foundation's Andrea Silbert speak with Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and author of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books. Lansky delves into his personal […]

In this Passover episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy of the Center for Strong Public Schools and Eos Foundation's Andrea Silbert speak with Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and author of Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books. Lansky delves into his personal relationship to Yiddish literature and the formative educational experiences that led to him found the Yiddish Book Center in 1980. He explains the history of the Yiddish language, and how many of its words have been integrated into the English vocabulary over the years. Rescuing over one million Yiddish books, Lansky elaborated on why it was so important for him to honor the victims of the Holocaust and by preserving the enduring legacy of Jewish literature. He also reflected on his experience writing Outwitting History sharing how the book is another opportunity to preserve the Yiddish language, books, and memory of those Eastern European Jews who perished due to the tyranny of Nazi Germany. Lansky concluded by reading an excerpt from his book and offering advice on how the following generations can continue to uphold the Yiddish language and culture.

How will you preserve your family history? Maybe through journaling or family movies? What about grabbing an audio recorder? Today, we’ll hear all about oral history projects in Connecticut that are recording stories for posterity. Later on, we’ll also hear how the Yiddish language and its dialects are being preserved. Guests: Katie Heidsiek: Director of Exhibitions for the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History Jamil Ragland: writer for the New Haven Independent, Hartford community member and Hartford bureau chief for "Midbrow" Elizabeth George: Doctoral student at the University of Connecticut and an instructor for “My Story, Our Future.” Christa Whitney: Director of the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sebastian Schulman joined The Shmooze to talk about the Yiddish Book Center's upcoming online course Speak the World! A Tour of Global Jewish Languages. Sebastian shared that the four-part online course will explore Jewish languages with scholars, activists, and artists who are working in the field today. Instructors will speak about the diversity, history, and the contemporary efforts to preserve, document, and continue speaking these languages. This course is presented in partnership with The Jewish Language Project. Episode 401 December 15, 2025 Amherst, MA

“Yiddish: A Global Culture” at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts is the first ever museum exhibition to showcase the extraordinary vibrancy and breadth of modern Yiddish culture - its literature, theater, art, music, journalism, politics - from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.David Mazower, Chief Curator and writer of the exhibition and catalog, joins us along with the center's Director of Publishing and Public Programs, Lisa Newman. They will be at The Bookstore in Lenox December 14 at 4 p.m. to present a conversation and book signing.

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IntroductionAs Yiddish was spoken by many Ashkenazi Jews for centuries, it should serve as no surprise to listeners of The Jewish Drinking Show that many Yiddish songs either revolved around or at least involved drinking. To introduce us to Yiddish drinking songs for the 181st episode of The Jewish Drinking Show on this topic is Rokhl Kafrissen.Biography of GuestRokhl Kafrissen is a journalist, teacher, and playwright and winner of the prestigious 2022 Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish prize. Between 2017 and 2024, her “Rokhl's Golden City” column appeared monthly in Tablet magazine, covering the length and breadth of Yiddish culture, including an essay on drinking. In 2021, her song “Kum tsu mir” (a Yiddish translation-adaptation of Jimmy Buffett's "Why Don't We Get Drunk …") was recorded by an all-star klezmer trio and in 2024, the Israeli funk-jazz band Malox released an album featuring another of her Yiddish song translations, "Makhn a vayivrekh (Breakthrough)." She taught two new classes on Ashkenazi women's folk magic and religion for the Yiddish Book Center during the fall of 2023 and 2024, and her classes and lectures on "Everyday Ashkenazi Magic" are a favorite with students around the world. You can find out more at her Explore Ashkenazi Culture website.List of SongsHere is a list of the songs featured on this episode:Lomir alemen bagrisnLomir ale in eynemEyn molVen ikh nem a bisl yashShoyn avek der nekhtn/s'iz nishto keyn nekht/yesterday is buried/nye zhuritsi khloptsi [known by various titles; published in 1917]Di Mashke (written by Mikhl Gordon, 1868)Tayere Malke [Dear Malke] written by Mark Varshavsky (1840-1907), performed by SoCalledLekhayim, Lekhayim Kol Zayn Support the showThank you for listening!If you have any questions, suggestions, or more, feel free to reach out at Drew@JewishDrinking.coml'chaim!

This interview is with one of the translators, M. Lynx Qualey. A girl must save herself and her family after discovering her society's secrets in this sci-fi novel in translation. I Want Golden Eyes (U Texas Press, 2025) is set on the Comoros Islands at the end of this century in a futuristic city called Quartzia, the home of a genetically privileged minority called the Golden Eyes. The rest of the population, the Limiteds, live in a cavity called the Hive beneath the city. Dalia is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in the Hive but works with her family in Quartzia at Professor Adam's house, where she cleans, her sister grows organic food in the garden, and her deaf father works as the cook. Because books are forbidden in the Hive, Dalia secretly borrows math texts from the professor's library and smuggles them to read in the Hive. When Professor Adam, who is famous for engineering embryos with enhanced genes, discovers Dalia's crime, he enslaves her for two years in his library. Dalia seeks to flee the city with her family after overhearing the professor being ordered to design genetic traits for the president's expected baby and realizes that Golden Eyes are not privileged by nature's selection, as she was led to believe, but by authority and money. Maria Dadouch is a Syrian novelist, screenwriter, and children's book author. She is the author of The Planet of Uncertainties, I Want Golden Eyes, The Heart is Behind the Rib, and other books, for which she has won several prestigious prizes. M. Lynx Qualey is a writer, publisher, editor, translator, and speaker. She is the founder of ArabLit. Her translated works include Wild Poppies, Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, and the Thunderbird trilogy. Sawad Hussain  is a translator from Arabic. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

This interview is with one of the translators, M. Lynx Qualey. A girl must save herself and her family after discovering her society's secrets in this sci-fi novel in translation. I Want Golden Eyes (U Texas Press, 2025) is set on the Comoros Islands at the end of this century in a futuristic city called Quartzia, the home of a genetically privileged minority called the Golden Eyes. The rest of the population, the Limiteds, live in a cavity called the Hive beneath the city. Dalia is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in the Hive but works with her family in Quartzia at Professor Adam's house, where she cleans, her sister grows organic food in the garden, and her deaf father works as the cook. Because books are forbidden in the Hive, Dalia secretly borrows math texts from the professor's library and smuggles them to read in the Hive. When Professor Adam, who is famous for engineering embryos with enhanced genes, discovers Dalia's crime, he enslaves her for two years in his library. Dalia seeks to flee the city with her family after overhearing the professor being ordered to design genetic traits for the president's expected baby and realizes that Golden Eyes are not privileged by nature's selection, as she was led to believe, but by authority and money. Maria Dadouch is a Syrian novelist, screenwriter, and children's book author. She is the author of The Planet of Uncertainties, I Want Golden Eyes, The Heart is Behind the Rib, and other books, for which she has won several prestigious prizes. M. Lynx Qualey is a writer, publisher, editor, translator, and speaker. She is the founder of ArabLit. Her translated works include Wild Poppies, Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, and the Thunderbird trilogy. Sawad Hussain  is a translator from Arabic. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-fiction

This interview is with one of the translators, M. Lynx Qualey. A girl must save herself and her family after discovering her society's secrets in this sci-fi novel in translation. I Want Golden Eyes (U Texas Press, 2025) is set on the Comoros Islands at the end of this century in a futuristic city called Quartzia, the home of a genetically privileged minority called the Golden Eyes. The rest of the population, the Limiteds, live in a cavity called the Hive beneath the city. Dalia is a sixteen-year-old girl who lives in the Hive but works with her family in Quartzia at Professor Adam's house, where she cleans, her sister grows organic food in the garden, and her deaf father works as the cook. Because books are forbidden in the Hive, Dalia secretly borrows math texts from the professor's library and smuggles them to read in the Hive. When Professor Adam, who is famous for engineering embryos with enhanced genes, discovers Dalia's crime, he enslaves her for two years in his library. Dalia seeks to flee the city with her family after overhearing the professor being ordered to design genetic traits for the president's expected baby and realizes that Golden Eyes are not privileged by nature's selection, as she was led to believe, but by authority and money. Maria Dadouch is a Syrian novelist, screenwriter, and children's book author. She is the author of The Planet of Uncertainties, I Want Golden Eyes, The Heart is Behind the Rib, and other books, for which she has won several prestigious prizes. M. Lynx Qualey is a writer, publisher, editor, translator, and speaker. She is the founder of ArabLit. Her translated works include Wild Poppies, Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands, and the Thunderbird trilogy. Sawad Hussain  is a translator from Arabic. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, Shubbak Festival, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

Sarah Biskowitz and Ruby Zuckerman joined "The Shmooze" to talk about the Great Jewish Books Summer Program. Sarah and Ruby, alums of the program, are back at the Yiddish Book Center as RAs for this year's program. In conversation we talk about their experiences as participants and as RAs and learn about how Great Jewish Books lead them in new directions, personal and professional. And we hear what's on the reading list for this summer's students. Episode 395 August 7, 2025 Amherst, MA

The Klezmatics, Eleanor Reissa, Joanne Borts, and Michael Winograd are among the internationally acclaimed performers taking the stage at Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music, returning to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, this Thursday through Sunday.

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad? In Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024), Glinter presents a thoughtful biography of the spiritual leader that inspired the Lubavitch Hasidic community and its global outreach activities. Interviewee: Ezra Glinter is a writer, editor, translator, and biographer. For five years he worked as the deputy culture editor of the Forward newspaper, where he edited Have I Got a Story for You, an anthology of Yiddish fiction in translation. He is currently the senior staff writer and editor at the Yiddish Book Center. Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad? In Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024), Glinter presents a thoughtful biography of the spiritual leader that inspired the Lubavitch Hasidic community and its global outreach activities. Interviewee: Ezra Glinter is a writer, editor, translator, and biographer. For five years he worked as the deputy culture editor of the Forward newspaper, where he edited Have I Got a Story for You, an anthology of Yiddish fiction in translation. He is currently the senior staff writer and editor at the Yiddish Book Center. Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad? In Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024), Glinter presents a thoughtful biography of the spiritual leader that inspired the Lubavitch Hasidic community and its global outreach activities. Interviewee: Ezra Glinter is a writer, editor, translator, and biographer. For five years he worked as the deputy culture editor of the Forward newspaper, where he edited Have I Got a Story for You, an anthology of Yiddish fiction in translation. He is currently the senior staff writer and editor at the Yiddish Book Center. Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

The Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the world's best-known Hasidic groups, is driven by the belief that we are on the verge of the messianic age. The man most recognized for the movement's success is the seventh and last Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902–1994), believed by many of his followers to be the Messiah. While hope of redemption has sustained the Jewish people through exile and persecution, it has also upended Jewish society with its apocalyptic and anarchic tendencies. So it is not surprising that Schneerson's messianic fervor made him one of the most controversial rabbinic leaders of the twentieth century. How did he go from being an ordinary rabbi's son in the Russian Empire to achieving status as a mystical sage? How did he revitalize a centuries-old Hasidic movement, construct an outreach empire of unprecedented scope, and earn the admiration and condemnation of political, communal, and religious leaders in America and abroad? In Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024), Glinter presents a thoughtful biography of the spiritual leader that inspired the Lubavitch Hasidic community and its global outreach activities. Interviewee: Ezra Glinter is a writer, editor, translator, and biographer. For five years he worked as the deputy culture editor of the Forward newspaper, where he edited Have I Got a Story for You, an anthology of Yiddish fiction in translation. He is currently the senior staff writer and editor at the Yiddish Book Center. Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

Former “Los Angeles Times” Film Critic Kenneth Turan will be at Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA to discuss his new book “Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation.” The event is on Sunday, May 11th at 2:00 pm.

When Albert Chasan (1930–2024) retired from the marketing communications firm he founded, “It hit me: I had to do something with the stories my parents told.” He took up painting and commemorated the formative years of his parents' lives through a series of expressionistic, boldly hued acrylics. A selection of color prints of many of these historically poignant works are on exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center. On the occasion of the exhibit opening, before a live audience at the Yiddish Book Center, Albert's daughter Betty and his son Robert sat down with "The Shmooze" to talk about their father's work as a painter and stories behind his narrative painting. Episode 391 May 5, 2025 Amherst, MA

Deb Kirvoy, director of the annual Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, joined "The Shmooze" to talk about this year's lineup. Now in its nineteenth year, the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival continues its tradition of showcasing award-winning films from around the globe. This year's festival kicks off at the Yiddish Book Center on April 3 with the screening of "Midas Man." Episode 388 March 26, 2025 Amherst, MA

“Yiddish: A Global Culture” is an acclaimed and original permanent exhibition at The Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. It opened in Fall of 2023. The exhibition features hundreds of rare objects, family heirlooms, photographs, music, and videos that illuminate the expansive story of modern Yiddish cultural reach.Lisa Newman is director of publishing and public programs at The Yiddish Book Center. David Mazower is the center's research bibliographer and editorial director - and is the chief curator and writer of “Yiddish: A Global Culture.”

In a live conversation at the Yiddish Book Center, award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and author Harvey Wang visits with "The Shmooze" to talk about his work and his recently opened exhibit, "Harvey Wang's New York."In the early years of his career, in the 1980s, Harvey's photographic beat was the New York City nightlife scene. Yet a very different facet of the downtown landscape fascinated him. Cycling through the Lower East Side, he'd notice old businesses clearly not long for this world—venerable holdouts from when the neighborhood was an epicenter of Jewish immigration. Episode 381 October 9, 2024 Amherst, MA"

David Mazower, chief-curator and writer of "Yiddish: A Global Culture," and Caleb Sher, the Yiddish Book Center's Richard S. Herman Endowed Senior Fellow, join "The Shmooze" to share the news that the Center's groundbreaking exhibition, "Yiddish: A Global Culture," is now live on the Bloomberg Connects app. The free, downloadable app allows users to explore expert-curated guides from some 550 selected cultural institutions across the globe in the palm of their hand. David and Caleb share some of what can be found on the app—from featured artifacts, videos, and audio to how to plan your visit or learn about related exhibits and public programs. Episode 380 September 26, 2024 Amherst, MA

Rokhl Kafrissen—journalist, teacher, playwright, and 2022 winner of the prestigious Adrienne Cooper Dreaming in Yiddish prize—sits down with "The Shmooze" this week to talk about her upcoming Yiddish Book Center online course “Sacred Time and Liminal Space: Ashkenazi Folk Magic at the Threshold.” Rokhl talks about the unique Eastern European women's folk magic ritual known as "feldmestn:" measuring a cemetery (and its graves) to make special holiday candles. In conversation she shares other traditions and tells how the course will also place a special emphasis on learning about these customs through short stories, particularly the work of Sarah Hamer Jacklyn. Episode 377 August 14, 2024 Amherst, MA

Welcome to Episode 214! This episode contains a lot of biblio adventuring. Emily is in Traverse City, Michigan, helping her daughter, getting to know her new granddaughter, and discovering the many excellent Little Free Libraries in the area. She also shopped at Horizon Books and has been spending time at the Traverse City Library. Meanwhile, back in New England, Chris and “Colleen from Chicago” hit the road for a four-day Biblio Adventure Extravaganza that included Melville's Arrowhead, Wharton's The Mount, Emily Dickinson's family homes, The Homestead and The Evergreens, Amherst Books, and The Yiddish Book Center. The former bookstore coworkers capped it off with the annual Moby Dick marathon aboard the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport Museum. Oh, and she forgot to mention that they also went to the Odyssey Bookstore at Mount Holyoke. Phew, what a blast! We managed to finish a few books, too: Emily loved THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey and appreciated its cold Alaska setting while reading in the heat of Michigan's summer. She listened to the audiobook version of Ann Napolitano's first novel, WITHIN ARM'S REACH, which features six narrators, and then two Audible Original short stories by Alice Hoffman, "The Bookstore Sisters" and "The Bookstore Wedding.” Chris read MOBY DICK by Herman Melville (that's twice this year) and a novelization about his relationship with Nathaniel Hawthorne, THE WHALE: A Love Story by Mark Beauregard. She also read her first book club selection from Book Browse, THE ROSE ARBOR, by Rhys Bowen. Happy Listening!

Translator and adapter Weaver sits down with "The Shmooze" to talk about the drama group Theater Between Addresses and its upcoming immersive, staged reading of Sholem Asch's "Shabbtai Tsvi," which Weaver translated and adapted. Never before performed in its entirety, the play shows the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Shabbtai Tsvi, the 17th-century Ottoman Jewish mystic whose messianic aspirations attracted a following of thousands of Jews from every corner of the earth. The reading will take place outdoors on the grounds of the Yiddish Book Center. Episode 376 August 7, 2024 Amherst, MA

Avia Moore and Sebastian Schulman join "The Shmooze" for a lively conversation about all things Klezakanda. As Avia shares, KlezKanada “fosters a community where the vibrant living tradition of Yiddish culture and Jewish music continues to thrive.” This year's lineup includes workshops on Yiddish song, dance, and language learning as well as a translation workshop, a cabaret, and a three-part talk on Quebec in Yiddish and Yiddish in Quebec. The Yiddish Book Center is a co-sponsor of KlezKanada 2024. Episode 374 July 25, 2024 Amherst, MA

Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music is back. Now in its twelfth year, Yidstock brings the best in klezmer and new Yiddish music to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

"The Shmooze" visits with Sebastian Schulman for a chat about Yiddish culture in America as we celebrate American Jewish Heritage Month. In conversation he shares some of what he's found on the Yiddish Book Center's website related to the Jewish American experience—Yiddish writers in America, Jewish food, Yiddish film, immigration, activism, and more. Episode 369 April 28, 2024 Amherst, MA

Sonia Bloom and Judith Liskin-Gasparro speak to "The Shmooze" about Yiddish-language learning, their work in the field, and their participation at the Yiddish Book Center's upcoming Bossie Dubowick YiddishSchool. Episode 367 March 11, 2024 Amherst, MA

In this episode, Sawad Hussain spoke about bringing Arabic Literature into English, developmental editing, her passion for mentoring and her new book ‘Djinn's Apple'.Sawad Hussain is a translator from Arabic whose work in 2023 was shortlisted for The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation and the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and longlisted for The Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing.She is a judge for the Palestine Book Awards and the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation. She has run translation workshops under the auspices of Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Her most recent translations include Edo's Souls by Stella Gaitano and Djinn's Apple by Djamila Morani. Her works-in-progress include Woman of the Rivers by Ishraga Mustafa and Behind the Sun by Bushra Al-Maqtari. More about her on - https://sawadhussain.comTo buy her translated work - https://amzn.to/3Tobe3u* For your Valuable feedback on this Episode - Please click the link given below.https://harshaneeyam.captivate.fm/feedbackHarshaneeyam on Spotify App –https://harshaneeyam.captivate.fm/onspotHarshaneeyam on Apple App – https://harshaneeyam.captivate.fm/onapple*Contact us - harshaneeyam@gmail.com ***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrpChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

Marvin Zuckerman and Ruby Elliot Zuckerman join "The Shmooze" to talk about their family's story, which is featured in the Yiddish Book Center's new core exhibition, "Yiddish: A Global Culture." As Marvin shares, “In our one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx we had world literature—Georg Brandes, Maupassant, Marx, Darwin, Jack London, Tolstoy—all in Yiddish.” Marvin and his granddaughter Ruby share the experience of traveling together from the West Coast to be part of the exhibition's opening and to see their family's “Worker's Library” on view. Episode 364 January 22, 2023 Amherst, MA

David Mazower, chief curator of the Yiddish Book Center's core exhibition, "Yiddish: A Global Culture," and Caraid O'Brien, co-curator of the exhibition's theater section, chat with "The Shmooze" about all things Yiddish theater. You'll hear how they gathered rare artifacts and stories about the actors, the audiences, and the contemporary Yiddish theater scene. Episode 363 January 14, 2023 Amherst, MA

On "The Shmooze," Kristen Morgenstern, a senior studying history and theater at Middlebury College, tells the story behind her zine "Irena Klepfisz: The Life of the Fighter." The zine was selected for inclusion in the Yiddish Book Center's core exhibition, "Yiddish: A Global Culture." Episode 358 November 21, 2023 Amherst, MA

Sebastian Schulman is a writer, editor, and literary translator from Yiddish, Esperanto, and other languages. His translations and original work have appeared in over a dozen literary journals, including Two Lines, Words Without Borders, and ANMLY. His translation of Spomenka Stimec's Esperanto-language novel Croatian War Nocturnal was published by Phoneme Media/Deep Vellum in 2017. After several years as the executive director of the leading Yiddish arts and culture organization KlezKanada, Sebastian now serves as the director of special projects and partnerships at the Yiddish Book Center. He lives in Montréal, Québec.In this episode, he talked about the Language Esperanto, its genesis, Esperanto literature and his translation of Sponeka Stimec's Croatian War Nocturnal from Esperanto into English. Croatian War Nocturnal is a fictionalized memoir of the wars in former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, told from the perspective of a Croatian Esperanto activist and teacher. The book consists of short, interconnected episodes describing the daily traumas of war and genocide and their effect on life and family, memory and language. It's an emotional account of a woman trying to make sense of the seeming collapse of the two utopian projects that have framed her life—Yugoslavia and Esperanto.You can buy the book using the link given in the show notes.Please share your feedback on this episode either on the Spotify app or through the link provided in the show notes. You can Follow the Harshaneeyam podcast on Spotify, Apple, Deezer or any of your favourite podcasting apps. To Buy 'Croatian War Nocturnal' - https://bit.ly/46IIBC6* For your Valuable feedback on this Episode - Please click the below linkhttps://bit.ly/epfedbckHarshaneeyam on Spotify App –http://bit.ly/harshaneeyam Harshaneeyam on Apple App –http://apple.co/3qmhis5 *Contact us - harshaneeyam@gmail.com ***Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by Interviewees in interviews conducted by Harshaneeyam Podcast are those of the Interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harshaneeyam Podcast. Any content provided by Interviewees is of their opinion and is not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrpChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

"The Shmooze" sat down with chief curator and writer David Mazower for the first in a series of conversations about the Yiddish Book Center's landmark permanent exhibition, which opens on October 15, 2023. In describing what visitors will encounter when they view this massive exhibition, David notes, “We've created a bright, colorful space full of powerful stories and wonderful objects that make you think but also touch the heart and soul; I want people to see this exhibition and feel inspired, surprised, moved, informed, and entertained.” Episode 356 September 21, 2023 Amherst, MA

Now in its eleventh year, Yidstock brings the best in klezmer and new Yiddish music to the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.From July 13 to 16, this four-day festival will include musicians and performers at the forefront of the Yiddish music scene. In addition to seven concerts, the lineup also includes four workshops, eleven talks, and one special film screening, all in celebration of Yiddish music, language, and culture.

"The Shmooze" sits down with Seth Rogovoy to talk about what's in store for the Yiddish Book Center's 11th annual Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music (July 13–16). Once again curated by Yidstock artistic director Seth Rogovoy, this year's festival will bring some audience favorites, including Merlin Shepherd, Nigunim Trio, and Lorin Sklamberg, along with rising stars making their Yidstock debuts, among them Forshpil, Midwood, and Sam Sadigursky—and that's just some of what we learned about in conversation with Seth. Episode 351 May 7, 2023 Amherst, MA

Caraid O'Brien, one of the foremost contemporary interpreters and translators of Sholem Asch's work, talks with "The Shmooze" about the Theater J class she's teaching—Prostitutes, Criminals, and the Walking Dead: Sholem Asch's Underworld Trilogy in Translation. The class is based on her translations of three of Asch's seminal works, "God of Vengeance," "Motke Thief," and "The Dead Man" (forthcoming from White Goat Press, the Yiddish Book Center's imprint). Episode 348 March 19, 2023 Amherst, MA

Schlep, klutz, shvigger... Yiddish is more than a few kitschy words. The language embodies and celebrates Jewish culture and daily life that is often lost to a younger generation, and can be used as a tool to get learners excited about connecting to Jewish life.This week on Adapting, David Bryfman speaks with Susan Bronson, Executive Director of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA, who advocates for studying Yiddish as a way to create a generation of Jewishly literate youths. With themes of activism, persecution, and modernity, reading seemingly "dying" Jewish languages like Yiddish and Ladino is, in fact, critical for engaging others while bridging communities across the Jewish spectrum.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show's executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

As a preservationist, I have always believed that if you knew about the history of a place, it would make you care more about it. And if you uncovered the history, you'd feel inspired by the stories of the people who came before you. This episode reveals the importance of “citizen historians” - people who are dedicated to saving a historic place's story as well as preserving the site for future generations.   Masses of Eastern European Jews began immigrating to the United States in the 1880s. Between 1881 and 1924, more than two and a half million Jews arrived in America. Many settled in large cities such as New York. But some were aided in becoming farmers and land- owners by the philanthropy of the Baron de Hirsch, a wealthy German Jew who amassed a fortune in building railroads. Funded by de Hirsch, the American Jewish Agricultural Society helped Jews to buy farmland, provided money for synagogues, published a Yiddish farm magazine and had Jewish farm agents. In Connecticut, an early Jewish farm community was established in Chesterfield in the town of Montville northwest of New London. In this episode, we hear more about how this early Jewish community's history was saved by a group of descendants and how the site of the group's first synagogue and creamery was preserved as an archeological site.       Author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Nancy Savin, the 2022 winner of Preservation Connecticut's Harlan H. Griswold Award presented by Preservation Connecticut and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office. Harlan Griswold once said, “To me, preservation is more about my grandchildren than about my grandparents.” Her award citation reads “Through her selfless preservation efforts, both small and large, Nancy Savin is helping to build a better future for our children and grandchildren.”   A college graduate in voice and music history, Nancy spent 17 years at Connecticut Public as award-wining producer/host of arts and culture programming. But she is also the great-great granddaughter of Hirsch Kaplan, an Eastern European immigrant who arrived in New York City in 1887. So how did he end up in tiny Chesterfield as a Jewish farmer? And what was the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society?  We'll find in this episode.   Visit the website of the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanual Society here: https://www.newenglandhebrewfarmers.org/   Read more about the New England Hebrew Farmers in Nancy's article in Connecticut Explored's Winter 2022 issue here: https://www.ctexplored.org/the-new-england-hebrew-farmers-of-the-emanuel-society/   And Jewish farmers here- https://www.ctexplored.org/hebrew-tillers-of-the-soil/ https://www.ctexplored.org/the-connecticut-catskills/ https://www.ctexplored.org/the-new-england-hebrew-farmers-of-the-emanuel-society/   Listen to our Grating the Nutmeg podcast on Jewish farmers here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/94-connecticuts-jewish-farmers You can buy the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut's Jewish Farmers by Mary M. Donohue and Briann G. Greenfield from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford here: https://jhsgh.org/product/a-life-of-the-land-connecticuts-jewish-farmers/   Order Micki Savin's book, I Remember Chesterfield on Amazon in hardcover, softcover or Kindle versions. Read the minutes book of the NEHFES at the Yiddish Book Center here: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-books/spb-nybc217886/leberstein-miriam-the-minutes-and-ledger-book-1892-1933-of-the-new-england-hebrew Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com. Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net

This week on "The Shmooze," two of New York's finest vocalists, Eleanor Reissa and Cilla Owens, chat about their upcoming performance alongside the Paul Shapiro Quartet. Eleanor and Cilla have interpreted music for decades as soloists and bring their experiences and talents together for a foot-tapping, heart-grabbing concert. The upcoming concert salutes the rich contribution of Jewish women in Yiddish and English music. The program, co-sponsored by the Yiddish Book Center and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, is part of the 2023 Carnegie Hall Festival salute to women and music. The program will take place on March 5, 2023, in New York at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Episode 347 February 22, 2023 Amherst, MA

"The Shmooze" caught up with Max Weinreich to talk about his interest in and work with the Great Jewish Books Club. Max, a postdoctoral researcher in mathematics at Harvard University, comes to Yiddish through his family ties to the language. His great-grandfather, also named Max Weinreich, founded the field of Yiddish sociolinguistics and was one of the three co-founders of YIVO. His grandfather, Uriel Weinreich, was a renowned Yiddish linguist in his own right. Drawn to Yiddish by a budding curiosity about this family history, he's an alum of the Yiddish Book Center's Steiner Summer Yiddish Program in 2016, where he worked on indexing poetry recordings, and has gone on to be the moderator for the Yiddish Book Center's Great Jewish Books Club since its inception. As a book club steward, he leads discussion and conversation about both classic Jewish books and new translations. Episode 345 January 17, 2023 Amherst, MA

Debra Olin's "Every Protection: Folk Culture and Motherhood in the Jewish Pale of Settlement" is currently on exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center's Brechner Gallery. Debra sat-down with "The Shmooze" to talk about her intricate mixed-media collages created around An-sky's probing, evocative questions on superstitions and religious rituals. Episode 338 November 2, 2022 Amherst, MA

This week on "The Shmooze," Ellen Cassedy, author of "Working 9 to 5: A Women's Movement, a Labor Union, and the Iconic Movie," newly published by Chicago Review Press with a foreword by Jane Fonda. Ellen was a founder of the 9 to 5 movement in the early 1970s. In conversation we talk about how the Yiddish-speaking women activists of a hundred years ago inspired the women of the 9 to 5 movement. And we learn about Ellen's work as a Yiddish translator and an alum of the Yiddish Book Center's Translation Fellowship. Episode 336 October 4, 2022 Amherst, MA

This week on The Shmooze, we talk to Asaf Galay, award-winning director of films that examine modern Jewish culture and creativity. He has explored the magical literature and complex life of Isaac Bashevis Singer, celebrated ultra-Orthodox and queer Swedish pop music, and traced the development of comics and cartoons in the United States and Israel. His documentary "The Adventures of Saul Bellow" will be screened at the Yiddish Book Center and as part of the PBS American Masters series in December 2022. In conversation we talk about how Asaf's documentary brings the viewer into the world that informed Bellow, the writer and the person. Episode 332 August 8, 2022 Amherst, MA

Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music is back in person this summer, bringing the best in klezmer and new Yiddish music to the stage at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.Yidstock features concerts, discussions, and readings and takes place at the Yiddish Book Center from July 7–10, 2022. Yidstock Artistic Director Seth Rogovoy, author of "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music" is here to tell us more along with Lisa Newman – Yiddish Book Center's Director of Publishing and Public Programs.