The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

por The Yiddish Voice

Sociedad y Cultura

Arieh Hecht: Patient Advocate; Nokhem Lerner: Zumer-Program Teacher

This week, Arieh Hecht, a patient advocate in Los Angeles, talks about his life as a child of Holocaust survivors originally from Transylvania (Hungary during WWII) and his work as a patient advocate. We spoke with Arieh in person in Los Angeles on July 4, 2024. We begin with a report from the Yivo-Bard Zumer-Program by Nokhem Lerner, who's been a Yiddish teacher there the past two years. We reached Nokhem by phone in the New York area on July 29, 2024. Music: 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: July 31, 2024

Pnina Sharf: Survivor from Poland, Marek Gaysinskiy: Zumer-Program Report

Highlights: Mark ("Marek") Gaysinskiy reports from the Yivo-Bard Zumer-Program; Pnina Sharf, a resident of Los Angeles and a Holocaust survivor from Poland, talks about her life experiences; from Boston's Yiddish past: a performance by the late Cantor Gregor Shelkan, performing a song about what will happen when Meshiekh (the Messiah) comes (recorded in 1999 at the Cantorial concert in honor of Cantor Simon Kandler). Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: July 17, 2024

Beinfeld, Glasser, Turner: The Jewish-Communist Milieu in Post-war Poland; Tara Neuwirth: Yivo's 2024 Zumer-program

Highlights: A report from the Yivo-Bard Yiddish Summer Program by student Tara Neuwirth, who has attended several times beginning in 1983. This year's Zumer-program kicked off last week and seems off to a good start. We spoke to Tara by phone on July 10, 2024. We hope to hear more from other students and teachers from this and other Yiddish summer courses around the world. Info on the Yivo-Bard Yiddish Summer program here: https://summerprogram.yivo.org Prof. Sholem Beinfeld, professor emeritus of history at Washington University, St. Louis, gives a brief lecture on Dovid Sfard, Hersh Smolar, and the Yiddish-Communist Milieu in Poland after WWII, and then discusses the topic with Hershl Glasser and Reyze Turner, who translated the book A citizen of Yiddishland: Dovid Sfard and the Jewish Communist Milieu in Poland (Nalewajko-Kulikov, Joanna; Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, Bern, 2020) into English. Book info: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1114288 We recorded the lecture and discussion via Zoom on June 17, 2024. A book by Hersh Smolar, originally in Yiddish, is about to come out this August 2024, translated into Yiddish by Ruth Murphy. Info here: https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/jews-without-yellow-stars/ Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: July 10, 2024

Itel Landau

Meet Itel Landau (maiden family name: Brettler), a Holocaust survivor originally from Vișeu de Sus (Felsővisó in Hungarian, אויבערווישעווע in Yiddish), a shtetl in Transylvania (prewar Romania, Hungary during WWII, now Romania), discussing her life — before, during, and after the Holocaust. Itel was born into a Hassidic family, the Brettlers, who sold manufacturing materials. In 1940, Transylvania was taken over by Hungary. Among other changes, her school days were ended. In the spring of 1944, the Germans occupied Hungary, and soon after she and her family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She, her mother, and two sisters were among the few survivors from her large extended family. After the war, she endured years of recovery from Tuberculosis in a sanitarium in France. She eventually married and moved to Bogota, Colombia, where she raised her family. After her children began to attend Yeshivas in New York, she and her family relocated there. She now lives in Manhattan.We reached Itel for this interview by phone on June 6, 2024. For more information, see also Itel's 1988 interview with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Thanks to Reb Yisrael Brettler, coproducer of this episode, who is also Itel's first cousin once removed. Music: Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: June 19, 2024

Sarah Moskovitz: The Song Remains

This week, Yiddish poetry lovers are in for a treat: an interview with Sarah Traister Moskowitz with her reading of poems in the collection „דאָס ליד איז געבליבן“ ("The Song Remains") along with her English translations. Sarah is the translator of the collection of poems Dos Lid is Geblibn, or The Song Remains, on the new website thesongremains.org, an anthology of Yiddish poems with English translations from the Nazi German occupation of Poland. The collection is taken from the book of the same name in Yiddish, edited by Binem Heller and originally published in Poland in 1951. In the interview Sarah talks about her life and her connections to Yiddish, the Holocaust, and this collection of poetry. She also reads three of the poems from the collection in Yiddish along with her English translation: Kapital (Das Kapital) -Sh. Zhirman Aktualie (Actually) -Misha Troyanov Lodzh (Łódź) -M. Goldshteyn Sarah worked for years with child-Holocaust-survivors in Los Angeles and helped produce the book How We Survived: 52 Personal Stories by Child Survivors of the Holocaust, including writing its forward, which she reads from in the Interview. Read more about Sarah Moskovitz at the new website: https://thesongremains.org/translator-sarah-traister-moskovitz/ Also on this week's show: Miriam Libenson ז״ל's presentation for Lag B'Oymer from our archive (originally recorded and aired in the 1990's). Miriam was a poet in her own right, whose poetry often graced our airwaves, as well as such publications as דער טאָג-מאָרגן-דשורנאָל and פּיאָנערן פֿרויען (Der Tog-Morgn-Dzhurnal and Pionern-Froyen). Music/recordings: Sarah Gorby: Zog Nit Keynmol Raasche: Arum Dem Fayer Tova Ben-Zvi: Lag-B'Oimer Wolf Krakowski: Yeder Ruft Mikh Ziamele Wolf Krakowski: Varshe Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: May 22, 2024

Marvin Zuckerman: Yiddish Language and Culture and Bundism

This week we have a new interview with Marvin Zuckerman, who grew up in the Yiddish-speaking milieu of Jewish Labor Bund in Bronx, New York. He became a professor of English at a Los Angeles college and co-authored the well-regarded Yiddish primer Learning Yiddish in Easy Stages and several other books in the field of Yiddish. He translated from the Yiddish the memoir of the prominent Bundist Bernard Goldstein (Twenty Years with the Jewish Labor Bund: A Memoir of Interwar Poland, Perdue University Press, 2016). In the interview he talks about his childhood in his secular-socialist-Yiddishist milieu of the 1930's and 40's; about Bundism's history and place in Jewish history; the bundist perspective, past and present, and in contrast to Communism and Zionism; about his translation of Bernard Goldstein's Bundist memoir; about teaching Yiddish and his Yiddish-language primer; and about Yiddish language and culture generally. The interview was conducted at Zuckerman's home in Pacific Pallisades, CA, on February 22, 2024. Music/recordings: Klepfisch Folkskhor: Di Shvue (anthem of the Jewish Labor Bund) Lazar Weiner and Workmen's Circle Chorus: Di Shvue Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: May 15, 2024

Yom HaAtzmaut with Burstyn, Trinh, Sharfstein, Zaks

This week we observe Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) talking with Mike Burstyn, Miriam Trinh, Eli Sharfstein and Avremi Zaks. Mike Burstyn is a distinguished actor and singer known for his roles in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English theater and film across Israeli, American, and international stages. Recently, he starred in the German comedy drama The Zweiflers, awarded Best Series at the 7th annual Canneseries festival in April 2024. Burstyn first gained prominence in Israel as a child actor with his family's troupe, The Four Bursteins, and later through significant roles in The Megillah of Itzik Manger (1965) and Two Kuni Lemel (1966). Miriam Trinh is the editor-in-chief of Afn Shvel, teaching Yiddish language and literature at Hebrew University and online platforms like Workers Circle and YIVO. She has written for the Yiddish Forward (Forverts), including the interview with Tzili Venkert described on our show and a recent article published post-show, "לכּבֿוד יום-הזכּרון זאָל דער געדענק־פּלאַקאַט פֿון קיבוץ בארי נישט לאָזן פֿאַרגעסן." Trinh moved to Israel after high school and resides in Jerusalem with her family. Eli Sharfstein is a contemporary poet and writer living in the Israeli kibbutz Ma’agan Michael. Born in Vilna and moved to Israel in 1972, he is a veteran of the Yom Kippur war. He has published two books of Yiddish poems, פּלוצעם ייִדיש and מײַן ווילנער זאַוווּליק. Avremi Zaks the host and producer of the weekly Israeli Yiddish radio program "Kan Yidish." He was born in Israel and lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children. Links mentioned in this episode: Beit HaLochem (Los Angeles): https://www.israeliwoundedveterans.org The Zweiflers TV series starring Mke Burstyn, home page League for Yiddish: https://leagueforyiddish.org Afn Shvel Issue #400-401 at League for Yiddish Yiddish Forward (Forverts): https://forward.com/yiddish/ Forverts Article on Interview with Tzili Venkert, grandmother of hostage Omar Venkert Yiddish Branzhe: https://yiddishbranzhe.com Kan Yiddish (כאן יידיש) archive (Avremi Zaks's Yiddish radio show) Music/recordings: Dovid Esheth: Yerusholayim Shtot fun Gold M...

Yom HaShoah: Hungarian (Carpathian) Holocaust Survivors Mel Mermelstein (2008), Zoli Langer (2019), Rokhl Zicherman (2019)

This week, for Yom HaShoah, which falls this year on May 6, we present past interviews with survivors of the Holocaust in Hungary as we mark the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944, 80 years ago. After a brief intro and announcement of Boston's 2024 community Hazkure, we hear: Mel Mermelstein ז״ל We had a short but memorable interview with Mel in 2008. Mel lived in Munkacs until May 1944, when he was deported to Aushwitz. He passed away in January 2022 at age 95. See also: Mel Mermelstein Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Mermelstein Zoli Langer and Rokhl Zicherman: repeat of our 2020 Yom HaShoah broadcast: Zoli lived in Ungvar and Rokhl in Tybava until they were deported to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944. A long interview of Zoli is presented with a short interlude of Rokhl singing songs about the Holocaust. Both were interviewed in 2019 and currently (2024) reside in the Los Angeles area.

Pesach with Kesselman, Teitelbaum, Deutsch

This week, Pesach greetings and words of wisdom from Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, Rabbi Moshe Kesselman, and Holocaust survivor Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch, as well as greetings from many of our cohosts, friends, and sponsors, as follows: Israel Book Shop (Eli Dovek ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston (member and Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman, and member and Holocaust survivor Mary Erlich), co-sponsor of Boston's 2024 In-Person and Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Sunday, May 5, 2024, at 10:30 AM Eastern. (Registration required.) League for Yiddish, New York, NY, (Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Chair of the Board) Leah Shporer-Leavitt, Newton, MA, co-host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול Dovid Braun, Leonia, NJ, co-host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול Yankele Bodo, Tel Aviv, Israel, actor and singer (from 2016) Eli Grodko, New Millford, NJ, friend of the show Boston Workers Circle, Brookline, MA (Yiddish committee member Linda (Libe-Reyzl) Gritz) We wish all our cohosts, sponsors, and friends a Happy and Kosher Pesach. מיר ווינטשן אַלע אונדזערע אונטערשטיצער, פֿרײַנד און באַטייליקטע אַ פֿריילעכן און כּשרן פּסח Links for this episode: JCRC Boston's registration for Yom Hahoah 2024: jcrcboston.org/register-for-yom-hashoah-2024 Israel Book Shop: israelbookshop.com Rabbie Moshe Kesselman's Neros Lehoir website: neroslehoir.org League for Yiddish: leagueforyiddish.org Boston Workers Circle: circleboston.org Music: Malavsky Family: Ho Lakhmo Anyo and Fir Kashes Moyshe Oisher: Dayenu, Chad Gadyo, and Kiddush for Pesach Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: April 17, 2024

Cantor Herschel Fox

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: Honorary Doctorate fitting cap to cantorial career of Herschel Fox", article in Canada's Jewish Post and News Judy & Herschel Fox at FAU Sound Archive, digitized versions of commercial recordings of Herschel Fox, as well as his wife, fellow cantor, Judy Fox Herschel Fox's Oral History, interview by Christa Whitney from 2018 for the Wexler Oral History Project of Yiddish Book Center Music: Moshe Koussevitzky: Sheyiboneh Beys Hamikdosh Herschel Fox: Sheyiboneh Beys Hamikdosh Herschel Fox: Dem Milners Trern Herschel Fox: Abi Gezunt Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: April 10, 2024

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