Eli Sharfstein, a contemporary poet and writer who lives in the Israeli kibbutz Ma’agan Michael has published his first book of Yiddish poems. The collection is available electronically online and is called “Plutsem yidish” (“Suddenly Yiddish”).

Previously, the Yiddish works of this Lithuanian-born author appeared in periodicals, particularly on the pages of the literary magazine Yidishland.

The recently published 19th issue of the quarterly literary magazine Yidishland opens with materials dedicated to Hayim Nahman Bialik’s 150th birth anniversary: a new song to Bialik’s poem “Unter di grininke beymelekh” written by the young Israeli composer Gershon Leizerson, and Velvl Chernin’s article about Bialik’s contribution to the development of Yiddish poetry. Although this great poet mainly wrote in Hebrew, he is also the author of important Yiddish works.
Once again – as in the previous issues — the magazine clearly demonstrates that Yiddish poetry continues to flourish. The new issue features the first poems of the young poetess Katerina Kuznetzova (Berlin). Contemporary Yiddish poetry is also represented by Yoel Matveev (St. Petersburg), Boris Karlov (Jerusalem-Bloomington), Felix Khaimovich (Minsk) and Velvl Chernin (Kfar Eldad). The magazine also presents a selection of poems by William Butler Yeats, translated by Yoel Matveyev from English into Yiddish.
The new issue of Yidishland also contains translated prose: Isaac Babel’s story “How it was done in Odessa”, translated from Russian by Velvl Chernin. As for original Yiddish prose, the magazine contains a chapter from Mikhoel Felzenbaum’s new novel, written under his new pen name Michael Zhutko, and a story by Eli Scharfstein who lives in the kibbutz Ma’agan Michael.
Having started from the previous issue, Yidishland continues to publish the prison memoirs of the Soviet Jewish writer Noah Lurie. Another important part of the magazine are a review of the Jewish writers’ archives from the Center for the Studies of History and Culture of East European Jewry at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
As usual, the magazine, published in Israel and in parallel circulation in Sweden, contains its traditional sections “New Books” and “Materials for the Yiddish Literature Lexicon in the 21st Century”.

On June 30, 2013, the literary critic and poet Dr. Velvl Chernin presented his Russian lecture “War and Peace of Languages. Sholem Aleichem between Yiddish and Hebrew”. The even was held at the Beit Avi Chai Cultural Center in Jerusalem.

The lecture touched upon such topics as Sholem Aleichem’ opinion on Zionism, the controversy between Yiddishists and Hebraists, the classic’s own Hebrew writings and the problems of translating Sholem Aleichem’s Yiddish works into Hebrew.