Gennady Estraikh on the War in Ukraine, 2nd Interview

• 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 Yiddish literary journal Sovetish Heymland from 1988 to 1991. His books include Yiddish Culture in Ukraine (Kyiv: Dukh i Litera, 2016, in Ukrainian) and Transatlantic Russian Jewishness: Ideological Voyages of the Yiddish Daily Forverts in the First Half of the Twentieth Century (Academic Studies Press, 2020). The interview took place over Zoom on Wednesday, November 23, 2022.

• In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday we present Interview with the Turkey, a monologue by Boston’s late, great Yiddish radio host Ben Gailing, originally aired on his show Der Freylekher Kabtsen in the 1980’s. Thanks to Hankus Netsky, Ben’s producer and co-host, for supplying this recording.

• Music:

  • Loyko: Yoshke fun Ades
  • Mandy Patinkin: Take Me out to the Ball Game and God Bless America
  • Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: November 23, 2022