Interview with Lea Koenig ( ליאַ קעניג ), one of Israel’s most beloved stage actresses, together with Yaniv Goldberg , author of The Stage of Her Life: Conversations with Actress Lea Koenig on Theater and Her Life . The program focuses on Koenig’s long career in Yiddish theater as well as Israeli Hebrew-language theater, TV and film. Born into a Yiddish theatrical family, Koenig became known internationally for her work in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Goldberg’s book, published in late 2025 by Acade...
May 27, 2026•1 hr 55 min
Preview excerpt of our upcoming full episode featuring special guest Lea Koenig (ליִאַ קעניג) interviewed by special guest co-host Mikhl Yashinsky (מיכל יאַשינסקי), which was recorded on Zoom on May 6, 2026, with Lea in Israel and Mikhl in Australia. The full episode, also featuring special guest Professor Yaniv Goldberg and special guest co-host Hy Wolfe , will debut on the Yiddish Voice radio show (WUNR 1600 AM, Brookline/Boston) and live stream ( https://yv.org ) on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, a...
May 21, 2026•2 min
HIGHLIGHTS On the day of Israel Independence Day (Yom Haatsmaut) and one day after Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron), we welcome back Leybl Botwinik to talk about life in Israel while at war against Iran. Leybl Botwinik is a writer of science fiction, poetry and songs (in both Yiddish and English) who grew up in Montreal’s vibrant Yiddish cultural scene. He is the son of the late Dovid Botwinik, a composer of Yiddish songs, music educator, and Yiddish activist, and the brother of Sender Botw...
Apr 23, 2026•1 hr 7 min
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 HIGHLIGHTS: We welcome back Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum , known in his Monroe, NY, community as der Pshischer Rebbe , for Pesach greetings and words of wisdom. We reached Rabbi Teitelbaum by phone at his home in Monsey, NY, on Mar. 25, 2026. We hear Holocaust survivor Joe Szwarcberg (יוסף שװאַרצבערג) tell his story of survival i...
Mar 27, 2026•1 hr 33 min
Highlights: Yiddish Voice co-host Sholem Beinfeld shares his commentary on the latest world events, including the Iran-Israel-USA war and the Russia-Ukraine war, from a Jewish perspective. Sholem spoke to us by phone from his home in Cambridge, MA, on Mar. 11, 2026. Emory University professor Miriam Udel (מרים אודעל) discussed her book Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature (Princeton Univ. Press, 2025) with Yiddish Voice co-host Lillian (לאה) Shporer-Leavitt , who is a ...
Mar 16, 2026•59 min
This week, Avremi Zaks , presenter for Israel’s Kan Yiddish (כאן יידיש) radio show, covers Israel’s current military operation “Lion’s Roar” and related matters. We reached Avremi in Jerusalem via WhatsApp on Purim, March 3, 2026, Boston time, and Erev Shushan Purim, after sundown in Israel, the same date. To hear Kan Yiddish, featuring Avremi and others, visit: https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan/kan-reka/p-10820/ Music: Chava Alberstein Avreml der Marvikher Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFAND...
Mar 05, 2026•1 hr
Dr. David E. Fishman (דוד-אליהו פֿישמאַן), historian and writer, talks about his substack “ The War in Ukraine: Jewish News ” ( davidfishman.substack.com ). Coming out about every two weeks since November 2024, this substack has covered the brutal Russia-Ukraine war, which began four years ago, from a Jewish perspective. Fishman is Professor of Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City and is the author of several books, notably, The Book Smugglers: Partisans, Poet...
Feb 13, 2026•1 hr 7 min
In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day we’re airing an interview with Holocaust survivor Adela Dagerman . Adela (born Adela Kraus) grew up in Nyírbátor, Hungary. In 1944, as a 16-year-old, she and her family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She and her sister Rose survived. After her liberation, Adela returned to Hungary where she met and married her husband Jack. The couple immigrated to the United States in 1949, settling in Kansas City. We met Adela at her home in Overla...
Jan 29, 2026•1 hr 18 min
Happy Hanukkah ! אַ פֿרײלעכן חנוכּה Our normally happy Hanukkah programming was overshaddowed by the horrific massacre of Jews at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia’s Bondi Beach. We spoke with Alex Dafner , Australia’s main Yiddish radio presenter the past 40 years and a leading Yiddish and Jewish cultural activist and teacher based in Melbourne, about the horrible massacre and about the situation of Australian Jewry in general. Also heard are short excerpts from the funeral of Rabbi E...
Dec 19, 2025•55 min
Happy Hanukkah ! אַ פֿרײלעכן חנוכּה Highlights: Sender Botwinik (סענדער באָטװיניק), music and Yiddish teacher, chorus director and Yiddishist, discusses the new CD he produced and published Zumer iz Shoyn Vider Do – זומער איז שוין ווידער דאָ featuring the music of his late father Dovid Botwinik , the Vilna-born music composer, music teacher, songwriter, chorus director and Holocaust survivor. Info here: https://botwinikmusic.com/new-album/ We reached Sender Botwinik in Philadelphia via Zoom on D...
Dec 12, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Highlights: Mikhl Yashinsky (מיכל יאַשינסקי), a multifaceted actor, playwright, director, lyricist, translator and Yiddishist, discusses his new English translation of Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes by Jonas Kreppel, published by White Goat Press in October 2025. Publisher’s page: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/about/white-goat-press-0/jonas-kreppel More on Mikhl: https://yashinsky.com The interviewer, Lillian (“Leah”) Shporer-Leavitt , is a frequent cohost of The Yi...
Nov 24, 2025•59 min
Highlights: Rabbi Zach Golden (זכריה גאָלדן) was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2020. He is the co-founder of Der Nister Downtown Jewish Center and previously served as Deputy Editor at the Forverts Yiddish newspaper. He is the co-founder of Los Angeles Yiddish Day 2025 , which takes place Sunday, November 23, 2025, on the campus of Hebrew Union College near Downtown Los Angeles. For information and registration, visit: LAYiddish.org We interviewed Zach in p...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 3 min
As our show aired Erev Yom Kippur , we again presented excerpts of our past interviews on The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול with Holocaust survivors who died during the past year. Since our previous episode, we’ve lost Ben Lesser, who died the first day of Rosh Hashona, so we were unable to include this in our previous week’s show. The remainder of the show is a repeat of the previous week’s show. Ben Lesser (died September 23, 2025, age 96) - Ben was a Holocaust Survivor, Author, Lecturer, a...
Oct 06, 2025•1 hr 24 min
We are again airing excerpts of interviews with Holocaust survivors, past guests of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול who died during the past year. Since our previous episode, we’ve lost Ben Lesser, who died the first day of Rosh Hashona, so we were unable to include this in our previous week’s show. The remainder of the show is a repeat of the previous week’s show. Aron Bell (Bielski) (died September 22, 2025, age 98) - born in the village Stankiewicze, near Navaredok (now in Belarus), he w...
Sep 26, 2025•1 hr 9 min
Shmuel Bak ( Samuel Bak ), the internationally renowned artist and Holocaust survivor, presented in a lengthy conversation with his friend, The Yiddish Voice co-host Sholem Beinfeld . Excerpts from Pucker Gallery’s page about Bak : *Samuel Bak was born in Vilna, Poland in 1933, at a crucial moment in modern history. From 1940 to 1944, Vilna was under Soviet, then German occupation. Bak’s artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Ghetto of Vilna when he was nine...
Sep 18, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Matty Mendlowitz runs the YouTube channel Multisingual , featuring Yiddish-language vlogs of her travels, deep dives into world languages (especially Yiddish and its history and grammar, with a focus on contemporary Chassidic Yiddish), Disney clips dubbed into Yiddish, and much more engaging content. In this interview Matty talks about her background, including growing up speaking Yiddish, and what caused her to embrace Yiddish and learn many other languages and about her travels and other conte...
Sep 12, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Charlie on the MTA in Yiddish is performed by Yiddishists from Boston’s Arbeter Ring and exclusively recorded for The Yiddish Voice on Labor Day, Sept. 1, 2025, in Medford, MA. All of the following sang, with additional contributions noted: ליליע װײַצמאַן — Lily Weitzman · איבערזעצונג און נײַע סטראָפֿע (translation, introduction and new verse) יונה סידמאַן — Jonah Sidman · גיטאַר (guitar) עמאַ ברעסלאָװ — Emma Breslow · טשאַרלי צאָלט זײַן דײַם (“Charlie pays his dime”) verse שׂרה־לו האַרטמאַן — L...
Sep 05, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Deborah A. Green (דבֿורה גרין)— author, historian, translator, Yiddishist and retired litigator — discusses her translation of the late Yiddish journalist S. L. Schneiderman’s book קריג אין שפּאַניען about the Spanish Civil War, with an emphasis on the outsized role of Jews among the International Brigades who took part. Deborah’s new translation into English is Journey Through the Spanish Civil War . We reached Deborah by Zoom on Aug. 7, 2025. The interviewer Sholem Beinfeld is co-editor-in-chi...
Aug 15, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Riki Rose (ריקי רױז) — who works as a singer, songwriter and comic in both Yiddish and English — discusses her life and career. She’s built up a substantial following over the past several years through concerts and social media performances. Her latest recording, גלות Blues , has just been released on YouTube , Spotify and most other platforms. We reached her by phone at her home in the New York City area on Aug. 6, 2025. Related links: Home page: https://rikirose.com Instagram: https://www.ins...
Aug 07, 2025•1 hr
This week, we present our second interview in the past year and a half with Marvin Zuckerman . Our first took place in his warm and welcoming home in LA’s Pacific Palisades, where the walls were adorned with beautiful paintings and lined with bookshelves holding thousands of volumes. Unfortunately, that house was destroyed in the LA fires of January 2025. Marvin and his wife, Kathy Kohner Zuckerman , have since relocated to a rental apartment in Santa Monica, where we conducted this follow-up in...
Jul 18, 2025•52 min
Adi Mehalel (עדי מהלאל) talks about teaching Yiddish language and literature at Univ. of Maryland and Yivo Summer Program and discusses the writers I. L. Peretz, the subject of his book The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism , and Hanan Ayalti, whose book Boom and Chains: A Yiddish Novel Set in Israel/Palestine is forthcoming with Mehalel’s translation and introduction. Interviewed in New York City via Zoom on July 2, 2025. Book links: Boom and Chains : https://wsupress...
Jul 03, 2025•1 hr 29 min
Sholem Beinfeld (in Cambridge, MA, recorded by phone, June 26, 2025) Leybl Botwinik (in central Israel, recorded via Zoom, June 26, 2025) Avremi Zaks (recorded June 20, 2025, courtesy of Kan Israel radio ( https://www.kan.org.il/content/kan/kan-reka/p-10820/ )) Music: (Yiddish music performed by various artists) Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air Date: June 25, 2025...
Jun 27, 2025•1 hr 58 min
Leybl Botwinik is a writer of science fiction, poetry and songs (in both Yiddish and English) who grew up in Montreal’s vibrant Yiddish cultural scene. He is the son of the late Dovid Botwinik, a composer of Yiddish songs, music educator, and Yiddish activist, and the brother of Sender Botwinik, a Yiddish educator, choral director, and music producer. Now living in Israel, Leybl has passed on the Yiddish language and culture to his children. In this episode, he shares stories from his Yiddishist...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Samuel Kassow is interviewed by Sholem Beinfeld about Rokhl Auerbach and her book Warsaw Testament („וואַרשעווער צוואָות“), which Kassow translated into English. The interview was by Zoom on May 30, 2025, with Kassow and Beinfeld at their homes in Connecticut and Cambridge, MA, respectively. Samuel Kassow is the Charles H. Northam Professor, Emeritus, 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 i...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Highlights: On Lag B’Omer by Miriam Libenson ז״ל from our archive from the 1990’s. A report from Israel by Yiddish radio presenter Avremi Zaks , host of the Kan Yiddish כאן יידיש radio show in Israel. We reached Avremi in Jerusalem via Zoom on May 8, 2025. Music: Tova Ben-Zvi: Lag B’Oimer Tova Ben-Zvi: Arum dem Fayer Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS , an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: May 14, 2025...
May 15, 2025•1 hr 36 min
This week’s show is in observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Highlights: Rabbi Arthur Schneier , Holocaust survivor, world-renowned human rights activist, and senior rabbi of Manhattan’s Park East Synagogue for more than fifty years, shares his wartime memories of the Carpathian town Yasinia (Ukrainian: Ясіня; Hungarian: Kőrösmező; Czech: Jasiňa; Yiddish: Yasin (יאַסין)). He recalls his grandfather, the town’s rabbi, Moyshe Bergmann , and describes his narrow escape from the 1941...
Apr 24, 2025•1 hr 41 min
This week’s highlights: We welcome back Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum , known in his Monroe, NY, community as der Pshischer Rebbe , for Pesach greetings and words of wisdom. We meet Chazan Dr. Moshe Moskovitz , the High Holiday cantor at Los Angeles’s Congregation Shaarei Tefila , to discuss his background, his yiches (he’s the grandson of two post-war Carpathian cantors), and his journey into chazones (the musical art of leading Jewish prayer in the Ashkenazi tradition), as well as Pesach fr...
Apr 11, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Happy Purim ! אַ פֿריילעכן פּורים Highlights: Sholem Londner : 2 jokes for Purim Shane Baker : Yiddish story for Purim: Drunk All Year, Sober on Purim אַ גאַנץ יאָר שיכּור, פּורים ניכטער Used with the permission of Shane Baker and the Congress for Jewish Culture, originally released on YouTube in 2023. From our archive: Hasia Segal (2010): Purim greetings from FL Iosif Lakhman (2010): Purim greetings from Brighton (Boston), MA Miriam Libenson (1999): The Story of Purim Morris (Moyshe) Hollender ...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Highlights: Sholem Beinfeld , regular co-host of The Yiddish Voice and professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, shares thoughts on the new Trump administration as of March 5, 2025, one day after President Trump’s first speech to Congress of his second administration. Rukhl Schaechter ( שׂרה-רחל שעכטער ), editor of Forverts (a/k/a the Yiddish Forward , פֿאָרווערטס ), online at forward.com/yiddish , reflects on 25 years with this Yiddish institution, originally as a writer and now a...
Mar 06, 2025•1 hr 11 min
This week on The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, we featured an in-depth conversation with historian Benyomen Moss (Kenneth B. Moss), the Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Jewish History at the University of Chicago. He spoke with Sholem Beinfeld , professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, about his book An Unchosen People: Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland (Harvard University Press, 2021). We reached Moss in Chicago via Zoom on Jan. 19, 2025. What future did P...
Feb 13, 2025•1 hr 48 min
