The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

by The Yiddish Voice

Society & Culture

Encore: ESTRAIKH, MAZURKIEWICZ-MEISAROSH, BEINFELD: "AUGUST 12, 1952"

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

Gitu Cycowicz on Meeting President Biden (new); Diego Rotman: Dzigan & Schumacher (replay)

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

Zvi Gitelman on Jews of Russia and the former Soviet Union (from 2018)

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

Elissa Bemporad on book Legacy of Blood (from 2020)

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

Mike Burstyn: The Megillah and Mike Burstyn (Part 1) (from 2021)

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

Rachel Rojanski: Yiddish in Israel (Part 1) (from 2021)

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

Sheldon (Shulem) Londner from Los Angeles Yiddish Leyenkrayz

Interview with Sheldon (Shulem) Londner, discussing growing up speaking Yiddish as the child of Holocaust survivors, and later joining and eventually leading the Los Angeles Yidish-Leyenkrayz (Yiddish reading circle), which started in the 1990's and, under his leadership, has met on Zoom practically every week during the Covid Pandemic. Event announcement: Linda (Libe) Gritz announces the forthcoming Bostoner Workers Circle Chorus concert, featuring Lorin Sklamberg and Paulina Shepherd. Info: https://circleboston.org/peace-freedom 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: June 8, 2022

Sheva Zucker: The Golden Peacock

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: Sidor Belarsky: Babi Yar (lyrics by Shike Driz, music by Rive Boyarska) Theresa Tova: Mayn Khaverte Mintsye (lyrics and music by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman) Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: May 25, 2022

Joseph Alexander, 99-year-old survivor from Poland (new); Lag B'Omer with Miriam Libenson (repeat)

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: 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: May 18, 2022

Yehuda Neufeld, Israeli War Veteran, for Yom HaZikaron & Yom HaAtsmaut

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. Music: Barry Sisters: Exodus David Esheth: Yerusholayim Shtot fun Gold (music Naomi Shemer, origin Hebrew lyrics Naomi Shemer, Yiddish translation Dovid Esheth) Barry Sisters: Vu Ahin Zol Ikh Geyn (lyrics: Igor S. Korntayer) Dudu Fisher: A Yidishe Mame Marilyn Michaels: Mamele Moishe Oysher: *Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym" (Lyrics: Itsik Manger) Dudu Fisher: Mamenyu Dudu Fisher: A Brivele Der Mamen Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: May 4, 2022

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