The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

by The Yiddish Voice
Society & Culture

Avrom Sutzkever's 10th Yahrtzeit with Beinfeld & Fein; Christa Whitney on Beyle Film

In honor of Avrom Sutzkever's 10th Yahrtzeit: Richard Fein and Sholem Beinfeld read from and discuss the book The Full Pomegranate: Poems of Avrom Sutzkever (SUNY Press, 2019), which presents Sutzkever's poems with Fein's English translations. Remarks on Sutzkever's 10th Yortsayt by Beinfeld Interview with Fein about his book. (Previously aired on the Yiddish Voice in September 2019) Readings of Sutzkever's poems in English translation and Yiddish original by Fein and Beinfeld (recorded at their reading at Harvard Hillel in September 2019) Interview with Beinfeld about Fein's book. (Previously aired on the Yiddish Voice in September 2019) From our archive: Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim: remarks for Sutzkever's Shloyshim (previously aired on the Yiddish Voice in February 2010). Basman Ben-Hayim is a world-renowned Yiddish poet living in Israel but originally from Vilkomir (Lithuania) who was a good friend of Sutzkever's. Info: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/basman-ben-hayim-rivka Chista Whitney is interviewed about her film Beyle: The Artist and Her Legacy about the life of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. The film was recently completed and is now being screened around the world. Info: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/wexler-oral-history-project-presents/beyle-artist-and-her-legacy-film Christa Whitney is director of the The Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project. Info: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/tellyourstory Dovid Braun talks about the upcoming program in memory of Peysakh Fishman at the Sholem Aleichem Culture Center (Bronx, NY). Info: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Sholem-Aleichem-Cultural-Center-Bronx-238579126233379/events/ Air Date: January 15, 2020
Jan 16, 2020
1:00:00

Rav Moshe Kesselman - Hanukkah

Happy Hanukkah!אַ פֿריילעכן ליכטיקן חנוכּה Interview with Rav Moshe Kesselman, rabbi of Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles. From our archive: חנוכּה greetings from current Yiddish Voice participants and supporters, tsu lange yor, Dovid Braun, Sholem Beinfeld, and Motl Murstein; and, in their memory from our dearly missed late participants: cohost and cofounder Hasia Segal ז״ל; cohost Iosif Lakhman ז״ל; and frequent contributor Rav Myer Loketch ז״ל. Excerpt from beginning of the radio show "Der Freylekher Kabtsen", with host Ben Gailing, originally aired Aug 18 1993. Music excerpts: Moishe Oysher: Drei Dreidele - Spin the Dreidle Klezmer Conservatory Band (soloist: Judy Bressler): Chanuka, Oy Chanuka c, soloist, accompanied by Hankus Netsky: Khanike (from the Ben Gailing o"h 120th birthday tribute in Waltham, MA, in December 2018) Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: December 25, 2019
Dec 26, 2019
1:00:12

Motl Didner, Berish Goldstein

Interview with Motl Didner, Artistic Director of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, Director of The Sorceress (די כּישוף־מאַכערין), and Associate Director and Dialect Coach for the smash-hit production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (פֿידלער אויפֿן דאַך). As Yiddish coach for Fiddler, Didner was the main person responsible for training the mostly non-Yiddish-speaking cast to mount the USA's first-ever Yiddish-language production of Fiddler on the Roof, resulting in a smash hit (winner of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel awards) that is still running off-Broadway at Stage42 (info: https://fiddlernyc.com). The Sorceress (Di Kishef-Makherin), which is being presented by the Folksbiene for a limited run in Yiddish with English and Russian subtitles, is an operetta written by Avrom Goldfadden, considered the father of modern Jewish theatre, in 1878. It is one of the earliest works of Yiddish theater and the first formal Yiddish theatrical production introduced in America by the celebrated Thomashefsky family. It's being performed through Dec 29 2019 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan -- info here: https://nytf.org/the-sorceress Interview with Barry Goldstein, whose Yiddish translations of The Wind in the Willows (די װינט אין די װערבעס) and The Colour of Magic (דער קאָליר פֿון כּישוף) were recently published. Goldstein is active in the Yiddish literary scene, both at home in Boston and internationally: besides his translations, Goldstein was Associate Editor of the very highly regarded Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary (Indiana University Press, 2013), and his Yiddish writing has appeared in the Yiddish literary journal Yidishland (ייִדישלאַנד), as well as others, in recent years. For info and links to all of Goldstein's translations, visit his web site: https://bgoldstein.org/ Goldstein's interview is 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. Dr. Beinfeld served as principal consultant on the film Partisans of Vilna (credited as Solon Beinfeld). He was senior consultant and historian to the Kovno Ghetto Exhibition project of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and consultant to the Museum on the Ghetto archive holdings in the Lithuanian State Archives in Vilnius. Music excerpts: Orchestra conducted by Zalmen Mlotek (soloists: Stephanie Lynne Mason, Racheel Zatcoff, Rosie Jo Neddy): Shadkhnte, Shadkhnte (Matchmaker, Matchmaker), from the CD Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish: The 2018 Cast Recording Klezmer Conservatory Band (soloist: Judy Bressler): Chanuka, Oy Chanuka Moishe Oysher: Drei Dreidele - Spin the Dreidle Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: December 25, 2019
Dec 19, 2019
59:55

Josh Waletzky, Dovid Braun on Yiddish New York; Meet Harry Schneider, a Child Holocaust Survivor

Yiddish New York preliminary events start this week, and our first two guests are here to talk about it! Josh Waletzky is on the organizing committee of Yiddish New York and is leading many sessions. He is a leading contemporary Yiddish songwriter and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He co-produced the Grammy-nominated album of Jewish songs of resistance, Partisans of Vilna (1989), and performed his own Yiddish song compositions on his albums Crossing the Shadows (2001), and PASAZHIRN / Passengers (2017). His notable film credits include director of Image Before My Eyes (1981), Partisans of Vilna (1986), and Yonia Fain: With Pen and Paintbrush (2017), and editor of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler’s House (1995). Dovid Braun, specialist in Yiddish language and linguistics, is a regular participant in Yiddish New York’s language and folklore offerings. He is currently Academic Director of the intensive U. Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. He is teaching Yiddish at Columbia University and previously taught at Harvard, U. of Penn., Hebrew U. of Jerusalem, and elsewhere. A long-time regular contributor to the Yiddish Voice radio show, he also serves as Co-President of the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center (Bronx). Harry (Hershl) Schneider, a resident of Squirrel Hill (Pittsburgh), PA, born in Lomzhe, Poland, in 1937, talks about his childhood in Poland and Russia during the Second World War, and also a bit about his Pittsburgh Jewish community. (Recorded in West Palm Beach, FL, at the 2018 conference of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants.)
Dec 12, 2019
59:51

Nechama Netali-Gonen

Nechama Netali-Gonen talks about her childhood, first as a happy child in the city of Khelm (Chełm in Polish), and then about her family's perilous survival and escape from the Holocaust in Poland, and their eventual settlement in wartime Soviet Union. (Recorded in West Palm Beach, FL, at the 2018 conference of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust & Descendants.) Israeli Yiddish radio hosts Michael Felsenbaum and Avremi Zak discuss current events in Israel and around the world. Thanks to them and to Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation's Kann Yiddish for this abridged segment, which was aired in its entirety earlier today on the radio in Israel and on Facebook Live (archived video: https://www.facebook.com/yiddish.kolisrael/videos/565356737580295/) We aired the following PSA near the very beginning of the show: אַ מעלדונג פֿון אַרבערטער-רינג אין באָסטאָן: טײַערע צוהערערס, זײַט אַזוי גוט און קומט צום ערשטן ״קאַפֿע ייִדישקייט״, אַ נײַער ייִדישער קאַבאַרעט וואָס ברענגט צונויף אַ גרויסע גרופּע קינסטלערס פֿון דער באָסטאָנער סבֿיבֿה, צווישן זיי די באַרימטע שטערן פֿון דער ייִדישער מוזיק סצענע, ווי אַנטאָני מרדכי צבֿי ראָסעל, דזשודי ברעסלער, און שפּילערס פֿון Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band. דערצו וועט מען האָבן אַ שיינע קאַוועהויז קאַפּעליע וואָס וועט שפּילן אַן אָפּקלײַב פֿון פֿריילעכע לידער און טאַנץ־מוזיק. דער קאַבאַרעט קומט פֿאָר דעם 11טן דעצעמבער, 7 אַ זייגער, אין דער באָסטאָנער שיל, אָדער Boston Synagogue 55 Martha Road באָסטאָן נאָך ווײַטערדיקע פּרטים קען מען זיך ווענדן צום וועבזײַטל פֿון אַרבערעטער-רינג: circleboston.org -> programs -> Yiddishkayt -> Yiddish Events Café Yiddishkayt Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019 7:00 pm קומט זיך צוהערן, און ברענגט אײַערע טאַנץ־שיך! Music Klezmer Conservatory Band (soloist: Judy Bressler): Chanuka, Oy Chanuka Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: December 4, 2019
Dec 5, 2019
1:00:20

Dovid Katz , Esther Kampler

Dovid Katz talks about the Ukraine scandal from a Jewish and human rights perspective. Katz edits the web journal Defending History (www.DefendingHistory.com), which counters the Eastern European movement to obfuscate, without denying, the Holocaust. An internationally renowned expert on Yiddish, he is now working on a new online Yiddish dictionary (www.YiddishCulturalDictionary.org). His personal website: www.DovidKatz.net Esther Kampler is a Holocaust survivor originally from Czernowitz, Romania (today's Chernivtsi, Ukraine), who now lives in Brookline, Mass. We got to hear a bit about her younger years before and after the Holocaust, which claimed the lives of her parents and a brother. From our archive, previously aired October 18, 2017: Christa Whitney interviewed by Dovid Braun about the film Beyle, about the life of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, the late Yiddish activist, poet, and artist. Announcement: the film Beyle will be shown this Sunday, Nov 7, 2019, at 4:00 PM at Workmen's Circle in Brookline, with Christa Whitney at reception/talk-back following the screening. Info: http://www.circleboston.org/calendar/beyle-film-screening Announcement: Hankus Netsky and Eden Macadem-Somer will appear in a concert of Yiddish and Klezmer music Sunday, Nov 7, 2019, at 3 PM at All Newton Music School, 321 Chestnut St., West Newton, MA. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance at the following link: https://www.allnewton.org/tickets/klezmer MA 02465 Music Lillian Lux: Yiddishe Mama Hankus Netsky and Eden MacAdam Somer: Vu Bistu Geven and Uncle Shloyme's Improvisation (on "Pfiyoys" from the Second Day of Rosh Hashono Musaf Amidah)/Hollender Friday Night Tune (Klezmer instrumental) Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: November 13, 2019
Nov 14, 2019
1:00:11

Best of Succos: Itzchak Kin, Myer Loketch z"l, Miriam Libenson z"l (Repeat)

NOTE: essentially a repeat of Oct. 4, 2017, and Oct 11, 2017, with host intro by host Mark David and Cafe Europa event notice by Tania Leffman. For additional Cafe Europa info: Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Boston Waltham, Massachusetts Telephone: (781) 647-5327 Email: RZelfand@jfcsboston.org Website: https://www.jfcsboston.org/Our-Services/Older-Adults Gut Yontef, Gut Yor! גוט יום-טובֿ, גוט יאָר We thank those who have pledged or made financial contributions to the Yiddish Voice during the past year (2016-17). We recall the names of Yiddish Voice friends, supporters, and participants who died during the past year. Rav Itzchak Kin: a few questions about Succos. (Excerpt repeated from last week.) Rav Myer Loketch: Succos: Di 4 Minim (The 4 Species) (Repeated from 2007.) Miriam Libenson z"l: Succos and Simchas Torah (Repeated from the early 1990's) Music: Suki Berry, et al: A Sukele; Mordche Kershman: Fun Geshem Kayn Gelt Iz Nito; Itzhak Perlman and the Klezmatics: Simkhes Toyre Time; Malavsky Family: Hoshano Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Additional background/incidental music: Cantor Gershon Sirota: "Keil Moleh Rachamim" ("God full of compassion", remembrance prayer for the departed) Air Date: October 9, 2019
Oct 10, 2019
1:01:32

Best of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur

A High Holidays mix of recent and past audio highlights. Enjoy! Holocaust survivor Motl Murstein gives this year's New Year's greetings and sings a Yiddish song, Afn Pripetshik. Recorded at Murstein's Brookline home on Sept 18, 2019, and previously aired the same day. Archive: Eli Dovek, proprietor of Israel Book Shop: new year wishes (from 2009) Archive: the late Max Gelerman ז"ל, proprietor of The Butcherie: new year wishes (from 2005) Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman announces upcoming Greater Boston-area Holocaust survivor events. Anna was recorded during the Sept 18, 2019, broadcast speaking by phone live from Wellesley, MA. Archive: frequent Yiddish Voice contributor Dovid Braun: new year wishes (from 2004) Archive: late cohost of the Yiddish Voice, *Iosif Lakhman ז"ל: new year wishes (from 2007) Archive: late cofounder and cohost of the Yiddish Voice, Hasia Segal ז"ל: new year wishes (from 2007) Archive: late shamus and bal-tefila of Lynn and Beverly, MA, Avrom Cohen ז"ל: chants Rosh Hashonah/Yom Kippur tefilas and talks about his life and about being a bal tefila (from 1997) Archive: late Yiddish scholoar Mordkhe Schaechter ז"ל: discusses Yiddish-language ideoms and greetings tied to holidays Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, and Succos (from 1997) Archive: late chairman of the Yiddish Culture Club in Boston, Zalmen Srebro ז"ל: new year wishes (from 2003) Yiddish Voice cohost Sholem Beinfeld: new year wishes (from 2011) Music Leibele Waldman: Der Nyer Yohr Shmuel Malavsky and Family: Unesanneh Tokef (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur Musaf) Mordechai Hershman: Ovinu Malkeynu (Yiddish) Sholom Katz: Kol Nidrei Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Ads/Greetings: Israel Book Shop, The Butcherie, Cheryl Ann's Bakery -- Thanks to our sponsors! Air date: October 2, 2019
Oct 4, 2019
1:00:00

Leye Shporer-Leavitt, Motl Murstein, Tanya Lefman, Anna and Izzy Arbeiter

Leye Shporer-Leavitt joins regular host Mark David live in studio at WUNR in Boston. Holocaust survivor Motl Murstein gives New Year's greetings and sings a Yiddish song, Afn Pripetshik. Recorded at Murstein's Brookline home earlier the same day. Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman talks with Leye about Boston survivor community, past and present, and about upcoming events. Anna was speaking by phone live from Wellesley, MA. Holocaust survivors Anna Arbeiter and her husband Izzy Arbeiter talked about how they met during the Holocaust. Recorded at the Arbeiters' home in Newton earlier the same day. Music Leibele Waldman: Der Nyer Yohr Shmuel Malavsky and Family: B'Rosh Hashonah" Barbra Streisand: Avinu Malkeinu Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: September 18, 2019
Sep 25, 2019
59:49

Anna Rozenfeld, Shoshke-Rayzl Juni

Anna Rozenfeld talks about Polish Yiddish radio and discusses Celia Dropkin and reads some of her Yiddish poetry. Rozenfeld is an artist, an independent researcher, and a teacher and translator of Yiddish, as well as a former Yiddish radio journalist and presenter. Until 2012 she hosted the Yiddish radio program Naye Khvalyes, broadcast by Polish Radio External Service. In the mid-2010's, she presented her own research on Yiddish-language programming on Polish radio, 1945-1958. Her translations into Polish of Yiddish poems by Celia Dropkin (1887–1956) appears in the just-published tri-lingual (Yiddish, German, Polish) book Alef-Bejs der Liebe (2019, Arco Verlag). Publisher info here: http://www.arco-verlag.com/buecher/titel/97-alef-bejs-der-liebe-alef-bejs-milosci.html Note: in this segment we present an excerpt of a Polish Yiddish radio program courtesy of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archive of YIVO Sound Recordings. Shoshke-Rayzl Juni is a Yiddish activist who was living and working in New York City a short distance from the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. In this interview, recorded exactly 18 years later, she describes the experience of seeing the towers collapse before her eyes on September 11, 2001, and reflects on that experience with 18 years' hindsight. From the archive: Rav Avrohom Marmorstein: a discussion of the High Holidays, and also a little about the rabbi, his background, and about Yiddish. Rav Marmorstein is the director of Mehadrin Kashrus on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. For info: http://www.vaad.org/new-york-manhattan/mehadrin-kashrus/. (Note: shortened, edited version of an interview recorded and first aired on the Yiddish Voice in 2015.) Music Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: Di Balade Funem 11tn September Leibele Waldman: Der Nyer Yohr Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: September 11, 2019
Sep 12, 2019
1:02:39
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