Tonight’s show aired just a couple of days before International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We present our second interview with Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch , an Auschwitz survivor. The interview was recorded at his home in July, 2022. The previous interview is available here: https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/naftali-deutsch-auschwitz-survivor-for-yom-hashoah Naftali Deutsch was born in 1931 in the Carpathian mountain village Kimyat, Czechoslovakia, which is now in Ukraine. He is the author of A Holoca...
Jan 26, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Our featured interview this week is with David (Dovid) Lenga , who recently turned 95, is originally from Łódź, Poland (לאָדזש), and now lives in Los Angeles. He survived the Lodz Ghetto as well as Auschwitz. He recently wrote an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times on anti-semitism: As a Holocaust survivor, the most important thing I can do is share my story He frequently talks about his history as a survivor of the Holocaust at Holocaust Museum LA and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. We spent...
Jan 05, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Interview with Jeffrey Shandler , discussing his book Yiddish: Biography of a Language (Oxford University Press, 2020), which describes Yiddish from its origins to the present. Shandler is Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers and holds a PhD from Columbia University. He has had a big influence on Jewish studies, particularly for his concept of Yiddish as a “post-vernacular language”, that is, despite the fact that Yiddish is no longer the everyday language of large numbers of Jew...
Dec 08, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Our second interview with Gennady Estraikh ( first interview aired in March, 2022) discussing the war in Ukraine. Estraikh, who was born in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is a professor at NYU who specializes in Jewish intellectual history, Yiddish language and literature, and Soviet Jewish history. He has written numerous books, academic papers, and journal and newspaper articles in English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish, notably for the Yiddish Forverts . He served as managing editor of the famed Yi...
Nov 25, 2022•1 hr
Prof. Cecile (Tsirl) Kuznitz talks about the upcoming “Schaechter Conference”, which she is chairing, sponsored by the League for Yiddish, JTS, and Columbia University. Info: League for Yiddish Rokhl Zicherman , a survivor of Auschwitz who grew up in Tybava , a small village in the Carpathian Mountains which was in Czechoslovakia before WWII, part of Hungary during the war, and is now in Ukraine, discusses her early life as well as deportation and survival in Auschwitz. She now lives in Los Ange...
Nov 17, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Jessica Kirzane discusses her recent recent translations from Yiddish into English. She is perhaps best known for her translations of the late Yiddish writer Miriam Karpilove: Diary of a Lonely Girl, or the Battle Against Free Love (Syracuse University Press, 2020) and Judith: A Tale of Love and Woe (Farlag Press, 2022). Kirzane is a professor at the University of Chicago, teaching Yiddish language and literature. And she is the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies . For fur...
Oct 27, 2022•1 hr 9 min
אַ גוטן מועד Happy Succos! For Chol Hamoed Succos , we present two very special guests: Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum of Monroe, NY, the Pshischer Rebbe , a descendant of several Polish Chassidic masters including the Yid Hakodesh of Peshischa, gives a shiur for Succos and also shares a nigun he composed himself. Kolya Borodulin , director of Yiddish classes at Arbeter Ring , talks about the latest Yiddish classes, with registration open now for classes starting October 19, 2022, as well as a...
Oct 13, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Feature interview: Dovid Braun , academic director of Yivo Institute’s Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture , discusses the ZumerProgram , Yiddish courses at YIVO , and Yiddish education generally, including the topic of “ Chassidic Yiddish ”. Happy New Year! אַ גמר טובֿ! אַ גוט יאָר Greetings from our friends and sponsors Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman , on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (AAJHS) of Greater Boston. Gitl Sc...
Sep 29, 2022•1 hr
Feature interview: Rabbi Moshe Kesselman of Congregation Shaarei Tefila in Los Angeles reflects with host Meyer on Rosh Hashona. Happy New Year! אַ גוט יאָר Greetings from our friends and sponsors Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman , on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (AAJHS) of Greater Boston. Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath , on behalf of the League for Yiddish - די ייִדיש-ליגע Eli Dovek ז"ל , proprietor of Israel Book Shop (from 2009) Max Gelerman ז"ל , late proprietor...
Sep 22, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Feature interview: Hy Wolfe chats with host Meyer about various things, including Yidish-Vokh 2022, Meyer’s recent trip to Germany for a dedication of Stolpersteine for his father’s family, and Hy’s experience of 9/11 . Happy New Year! אַ גוט יאָר Greetings from our friends and sponsors Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman , on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (AAJHS) of Greater Boston. Eli Dovek ז"ל , proprietor of Israel Book Shop (from 2009) Max Gelerman ז"ל , late ...
Sep 15, 2022•54 min
Part 1: Last July 13 we aired a quick interview with Gitu Cycowics just hours after her meeting with President Biden at Yad Vashem to get her first impressions, and she made us promise to let her come back to look back when she was not so tired and had time to think about things. We reached her by phone at her home in Jerusalem on Aug. 25, 2022.. 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 Czechoslovaki...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Interview with acclaimed performing artist Eleanor Reissa discussing her recently published memoir The Letters Project: A Daughter’s Journey . In 1986, after her mother’s death, Reissa discovered fifty-six letters written by her late father. She set them aside for forty years before finally having them translated, which led to set her on a journey to her father’s history during the Holocaust, which had been largely hidden from her. The book can be found in bookstores and online, including Eleano...
Aug 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min
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...
Aug 02, 2022•1 hr 1 min
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, a...
Jul 14, 2022•1 hr 22 min
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 origin...
Jul 07, 2022•1 hr 1 min
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 rele...
Jul 05, 2022•1 hr 2 min
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-y...
Jun 29, 2022•1 hr 1 min
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 forthcoming Bostoner Arbeter Ring Chorus concert, featuring Lorin Sklamberg and Paulina Shepherd. Info: https://circleboston.org/peace-freedom A Besere Velt Yiddi...
Jun 17, 2022•1 hr 30 min
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: ht...
Jun 09, 2022•1 hr 8 min
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 eac...
May 26, 2022•1 hr 9 min
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 Philharm...
May 19, 2022•1 hr 12 min
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:...
May 06, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Tonight’s show aired on the eve of Yom HaShoah. We present a new interview with Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch , an Auschwitz survivor, as well as recordings of three others from past years. They are Al (Zoli) Langer , Rokhl Zicherman , and Matele Friedman ז״ל. All of these survivors were born in Carpathian Ruthenia, then in Czechoslovakia, now known as Zakarpatska Oblast, in the western part of Ukraine. Naftali Deutsch is the author of A Holocaust Survivor: In The Footsteps Of His Past , his auto-biogr...
Apr 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Happy Passover! אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח און אַ גוטן מועד! Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show: Israel Book Shop ( Eli Dovek recorded Mar 28 2007) The Butcherie ( Max Gelerman ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) Cheryl Ann’s Bakery , featuring kosher and pareve breads and pastries American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston ( Tania Lefman , Treasurer, co-sponsor of Boston’s 2022 Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah , Su...
Apr 21, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Happy Passover! אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח! Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show: Israel Book Shop ( Eli Dovek recorded Mar 28 2007) The Butcherie ( Max Gelerman ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) Cheryl Ann’s Bakery , featuring kosher and pareve breads and pastries American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston ( Tania Lefman , Treasurer, co-sponsor of Boston’s 2022 Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah , Sunday, May 1, 2022...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Happy Passover! אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח! Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show: Israel Book Shop ( Eli Dovek recorded Mar 28 2007) The Butcherie ( Max Gelerman ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) Cheryl Ann’s Bakery , featuring kosher and pareve breads and pastries American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston ( Tania Lefman , Treasurer, co-sponsor of Boston’s 2022 Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah , Sunday, May 1, 2022...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Happy Passover! אַ זיסן און כּשרן פּסח! Happy Passover and thanks to friends, participants, and sponsors of this show: Israel Book Shop ( Eli Dovek recorded Mar 28 2007) The Butcherie ( Max Gelerman ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) Cheryl Ann’s Bakery , featuring kosher and pareve breads and pastries American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston ( Tania Lefman , Treasurer, co-sponsor of Boston’s 2022 Virtual Community Holocaust Commemoration of Yom HaShoah , Sunday, May 1, 2022...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Hear all about the upcoming 2022 YIVO Summer Program from Dovid Braun , the summer program’s academic director. There’s still time to register, for in person or online classes. For more info, check out their web site: https://summerprogram.yivo.org Hear an interview with Lilly Segelstein , an Auschwitz survivor who was born in Klitsherkes (קליטשערקעס), then in Czechoslovakia, and today’s Kliucharky, a village in Ukraine, near Mukacheve in Zakarpattia Oblast. Lilly is the mother of Cookie Segelst...
Mar 24, 2022•1 hr
Interview with Gennady Estraikh discussing the war in Ukraine. Estraikh, who was born in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, is a professor at NYU who specializes in Jewish intellectual history, Yiddish language and literature, and Soviet Jewish history. He has written numerous books, academic papers, and journal and newspaper articles in English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Yiddish, notably for the Yiddish Forverts . He served as managing editor of the famed Yiddish literary journal Sovetish Heymland from 1988 ...
Mar 10, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Diego Rotman , author of The Yiddish Stage as a Temporary Home: Dzigan and Shumacher’s Satirical Theater (1927-1980) , discusses the famed Yiddish comedy duo Shimon Dzigan and Yisroel Schumacher in an interview with Sholem Beinfeld , Professor Emeritus of the Department of History at Washington University in St. Louis, and a co-host of The Yiddish Voice . For further info: Home page for this book’s English translation at the publisher, De Gruyter Home page for this book’s Hebrew original, הבמה כ...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 9 min
