The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

by The Yiddish Voice

Society & Culture

Mike Burstyn, Eitan Kensky

Eitan Kensky is Director of Collections at the Yiddish Book Center ((yiddishbookcenter.org)) as well as chairman of the board of In Geveb, the online journal of Yiddish studies ((ingeveb.org)), which he cofounded. Previously, he was the preceptor in Yiddish at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in Jewish studies. The interview was jointly conducted by Mark David and Sholem Beinfeld. We interviewed Eitan at Sholem's home in Cambridge, MA, in Oct 2017. Additional info: (https://ingeveb.org/people/eitan-kensky) Mike Burstyn is a veteran American-Israeli actor and singer, who has also performed world wide on the Yiddish stage, having begun performing as a child in the famed Burstein family of actors. He recently wrote, directed, and produced the new Israeli feature film Azimuth, a drama that takes place at the end of the Six-Day War. The film was recently screened at the Los Angeles Israel Film Festival. We reached Mike by phone in Los Angeles yesterday. Additional info about Mike: (http://www.mikeburstyn.com/Bio.htm); and about the film Azimuth: (http://www.israelfilmfestival.com/films/azimuth/) Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: Novermber 15, 2017

Sender Botwinik

Alexander (Sender) Botwinik discussed the recently released CD of Yiddish art songs composed by his father, the Vilna-born Montreal composer David Botwinik, with lyrics by various Yiddish poets, and featuring vocal performances by internationally acclaimed opera singers Lisa Willson, John Packard, and Ian DeNolfo, as well as 2 bonus songs performed by the late world-renowned tenor Louis Danto. The CD is called From Holocaust to Life, and is a companion to the book of the same name published by the League for Yiddish (www.leagueforyiddish.org) in 2010 containing 56 original musical compositions by David Botwinik, 15 of which are found on the new CD. For further info: Botwinik Music web site: http://botwinikmusic.com CD Baby web page for "From Holocaust to Life": https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/davidbotwinik Article about the CD (in Yiddish) in the Forverts: http://yiddish.forward.com/articles/202984/new-album-of-songs-by-david-botwinik/ The show began with Adam Gruzman's "Israel Report", courtesy of the Forverts Sho on the web at yiddish.forward.com. We got sad news that Itzhak Luden, who was the long-time editor of Lebns-Fragn, the Yiddish Bundist journal in Israel. We played a short excerpt from his 2014 Yiddish Voice interview with a reading from his last book. Koved zayn ondenk! Music: Di Yunge Mame: Lisa Willson, soprano; lyrics: Avrom Sutzkever; music: David Botwinik Men Ruft Mikh Milyon: Ian DeNolfo, tenor; lyrics: Shmerke Kaczerginsky; music: David Botwinik Kum, Yeshayes Kholem: Lisa Willson, soprano; lyrics: M. M. Shaffir; music: David Botwinik Der Letster Zumer: John Packard, heldentenor; lyrics and music: David Botwinik Di Litvishe Shtetele: Louis Danto, tenor; lyrics: Joseph Jaffe; music: David Botwinik Shalom Shalom Yisroel performed by Cantor Sholom Katz Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: Novermber 8, 2017

Elissa Bemporad (Bonus)

Elissa Bemporad is the Jerry and William Ungar Associate Professor of East European Jewish History and the Holocaust at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk (Indiana University Press, 2013), winner of the National Jewish Book Award and of the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History. The Russian edition was recently published with ROSSPEN, in the History of Stalinism Series. She is currently finishing a book entitled Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets, which will be published with Oxford University Press. Elissa is the co-editor of Women and Genocide: Survivors and Perpetrators (forthcoming with Indiana University Press in 2018), a collection of studies on the multifaceted roles played by women in different genocidal contexts during the twentieth century. She has recently been a recipient of an NEH Fellowship and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. In Spring 2018, Elissa will be a Distinguished CUNY Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative at the Graduate Center. Sholem Beinfeld led these interviews with Professors Samuel Kassow and Elissa Bemporad, who, along with numerous other academic experts, will soon take part in the YIVO's conference JEWS IN AND AFTER THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, Sun/Mon Nov 5-6. See: https://yivo.org/1917 Bonus podcast: some of the interviews could not be included in the broadcast due to time limitations. This is a bonus podcast with material that could not be included in the original broadcast on Novermber 1, 2017.

Samuel Kassow (Bonus)

Samuel Kassow is the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College, and is recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on the Holocaust and the Jews of Poland. Kassow was born in 1946 in a DP-camp in Stuttgart, Germany and grew up speaking Yiddish. Kassow attended the London School of Economics and Princeton University where he earned a PhD in 1976 with a study about students and professors in Tsarist Russia. He is widely known for his 2007 book Who Will Write Our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive (Indiana University Press). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, has won numerous awards, and has lectured widely. Sholem Beinfeld led these interviews with Professors Samuel Kassow and Elissa Bemporad, who, along with numerous other academic experts, will soon take part in the YIVO's conference JEWS IN AND AFTER THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, Sun/Mon Nov 5-6. See: https://yivo.org/1917 Bonus podcast: some of the interviews could not be included in the broadcast due to time limitations. This is a bonus podcast with material that could not be included in the original broadcast on Novermber 1, 2017.

Samuel Kassow, Elissa Bemporad

Professors Samuel Kassow and Elissa Bemporad, along with numerous other academic experts, will soon take part in the YIVO's conference JEWS IN AND AFTER THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, Sun/Mon Nov 5-6. See: https://yivo.org/1917 We reached them by phone today for interviews that take up practically the whole hour. (And then some: there are bonus podcasts with even more!) Samuel Kassow is the Charles H. Northam Professor of History at Trinity College, and is recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on the Holocaust and the Jews of Poland. Kassow was born in 1946 in a DP-camp in Stuttgart, Germany and grew up speaking Yiddish. Kassow attended the London School of Economics and Princeton University where he earned a PhD in 1976 with a study about students and professors in Tsarist Russia. He is widely known for his 2007 book Who Will Write Our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive (Indiana University Press). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, has won numerous awards, and has lectured widely. Elissa Bemporad is the Jerry and William Ungar Associate Professor of East European Jewish History and the Holocaust at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Becoming Soviet Jews: The Bolshevik Experiment in Minsk (Indiana University Press, 2013), winner of the National Jewish Book Award and of the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary History. The Russian edition was recently published with ROSSPEN, in the History of Stalinism Series. She is currently finishing a book entitled Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets, which will be published with Oxford University Press. Elissa is the co-editor of Women and Genocide: Survivors and Perpetrators (forthcoming with Indiana University Press in 2018), a collection of studies on the multifaceted roles played by women in different genocidal contexts during the twentieth century. She has recently been a recipient of an NEH Fellowship and a Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. In Spring 2018, Elissa will be a Distinguished CUNY Fellow at the Advanced Research Collaborative at the Graduate Center. The interviews were conducted primarily by Sholem Beinfeld, co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. Bonus podcasts: some of the interviews could not be included in the broadcast due to time limitations, so check for bonus podcasts for more of each interview. Music: Di Shvue, anthem of the Bund, performed by a youth choir led by Zalmen Mlotek Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: Novermber 1, 2017

Ari Hershkowitz (New); Zvi Gitelman (Repeat)

Ari Hershkowitz, one of the three subjects of the film One of Us, now showing on Netflix and in select theatres, which shows the struggles of young people leaving their insular New York Chassidic-Jewish community. See also: One of Us website: https://lokifilms.com/one-of-us/ Zvi Gitelman, professor of political science at University of Michigan, in an interview from 2009. Gitelman and numerous other academic experts will soon take part in the YIVO's conference JEWS IN AND AFTER THE 1917 RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, Sun/Mon Nov 5-6. See: https://yivo.org/1917Conference Music: Di Kozakn: words and music by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, performed by Meyshke Alpert; Rusishe Sher (vintage klezmer), performed by Abe Schwartz Orchestra Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: October 25, 2017

Raphael Finkel, Christa Whitney

Raphael Finkel, Professor of computer science at University of Kentucky, College of Engineering, in Lexington, KY, interviewed at the Yidish-Vokh in August 2017, discussed the vast collection of Yiddish resources he maintains online, largely with software he created, such as a searchable Yiddish-English dictionary and a searchable archive of the complete works of the writer Sholem Aleichem. Professor Finkel's Yiddish resources web page is online here: https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish.html See also Prof. Finkel's Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Finkel Christa Whitney, director of the Yiddish Book Center's Wexler Oral History Project, discussed Beyle: The Artist and Her Legacy, a a documentary short film currently in production of which she is producer and co-director. The film is about Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, the late Yiddish activist poet, and artist. A kickstarter campain is currently underway to fund the film. See: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yiddishbookcenter/beyle-the-artist-and-her-legacya-yiddish-book-cent Dovid Braun, who was and remains active in Beyle's extended Yiddish neighborhood, participated in the interview. Music: Zumerteg: performance, words, and music by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman; Harbstlid: performed by Janet Leuchter and Meyshke Alpert, words and music by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: October 18, 2017

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

NOTE: repeat of last week (Oct. 4, 2017) except for music at end: last three numbers were replaced by the last two numbers shown below for music. Gut Yontef, Gut Yor! We thank those who have pledged or made financial contributions to the Yiddish Voice during the past year. (Repeated from last week.) We recall the names of Yiddish Voice friends, supporters, and participants who died during the past year. (Repeated from last week.) 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 11, 2017

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

We thank those who have pledged or made financial contributions to the Yiddish Voice during the past year. (Repeated from last week.) We recall the names of Yiddish Voice friends, supporters, and participants who died during the past year. (Repeated from last week.) 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; Sidor Belarsky: Sisu Vesimkhu (in Hebrew); Abe Schwartz Orchestra: Simkhes Toyre Nokh Di Hakofes (vintage klezmer/instrumental) Yidisher Orchestra: Simchas Torah (vintage klezmer/instrumental) 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 4, 2017

Itzchak Kin: High Holiday Q&A

We wish you all the best for a healthy, happy New Year. לשנה טובה תיכתבו ותיחתמו! ‏ מיר ווינטשן אײַך ״אַ גוט קוויטל״! We thank those who have pledged or made financial contributions to the Yiddish Voice during the past year. We recall the names of Yiddish Voice friends, supporters, and participants who died during the past year. Rabbi Itzchak Kin: questions and answers for the ten days of repentance from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. Music: "Un'sane Tokef" (a part of the Musaf service for both Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur) performed by Shmuel Malavsky & Family and by Josef Rosenblatt (excerpt: "K'vakoras") 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); Goldie Malavsky: Zochreinu L'Chayim; Itzhak Perlman, Dov Seltzer, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym Air Date: September 27, 2017

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