Preservation of Yiddish Culture

Preservation of Yiddish Culture and Heritage

Сохранение культуры идиша

אָפּהיטן אונדזער ייִדישע קולטור־ירושה

לשמור על תרבות היידיש

25th Issue of Yidishland

25th Issue of Yidishland

25th Issue of Yidishland

The new 25th issue of the quarterly magazine Yidishland, published in parallel print runs in Israel and Sweden, is dedicated to one of its editors, Mikhoel Felsenbaum, who recently received a lifetime achievement award from the Israeli National Authority for Yiddish Culture.

The magazine contains several essays by well known Yiddish literature experts who analyze various aspects of Felsenbaum’s prose, poetry and plays. It also contains his new works. Among other literary, philological and historical materials, the issue also features poems by the Italian-born Yiddish poet Yael Merlini.

Beruriah Wiegand’s Poetry Evening

Beruriah Wiegand’s Poetry Evening

Beruriah Wiegand’s Poetry Evening

On December 1, 2024, the London-based Yiddish poet Beruriah Wiegand will read and discuss her poetry at the special online event hosted by the Leyvik House in Tel Aviv at 6 PM Israel time. The event, moderated by the Amsterdam-based Yiddish poet David Omar Cohen, will be entirely in Yiddish. Follow this link to register.

Dr. Beruriah Wiegand teaches Yiddish and Yiddish literature at the University of Oxford. She is also a Yiddish poet, the author of two bilingual poem collections, as well as a poetry and prose translator from English into Yiddish and vice versa.

Mikhoel Felsenbaum Awarded for Lifetime Achievement

Mikhoel Felsenbaum Awarded for Lifetime Achievement

Mikhoel Felsenbaum Awarded for Lifetime Achievement

Mikhoel Felsenbaum, a prominent Yiddish novelist, poet and playwright, has received a lifetime achievement award for 2024 in the field of literature from the Israeli National Authority for Yiddish Culture. Dr. Shoshana Dominski, who compiled a Yiddish-Hebrew online dictionary, was awarded a certificate of appreciation.

Born in 1951 in Soviet Ukraine, Felsenbaum studied stage directing, theater and art history in Leningrad and worked as a stage director. In the 1980s, he began to publish his Yiddish works in the magazine Sovetish Heymland. After immigrating to Israel in 1991, he published several volumes of poetry and prose in Yiddish.

2024 Yiddish Reading Classes in St. Petersburg

2024 Yiddish Reading Classes in St. Petersburg

2024 Yiddish Reading Classes in St. Petersburg

A new series of Yiddish reading classes for advanced students was launched on early November at the Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg. The studies are led by the Yiddish writer Yoel Matveyev.

For the current academic year, the classes’ organizers have chosen Yitzkhok Yoel Linetzky’s semi-autobiographical novel “Dos Poylishe Yingl” (The Polish Lad), considered a masterpiece of Yiddish picturesque satire. While its vitriolic humor is aimed againt Hasidim, this book may help secular readers to understand better Hasidic Hebrew and Aramaic expressions used in Yiddish. Many of these expressions are still in common use. Linetzky (1839–1915) first published his novel in 1867.

Theater of Sholem Asch

Theater of Sholem Asch

Land of My Soul:

The Theater of Sholem Asch

On September 19, 2024, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York hosted the one-person performance Land of My Soul: The Theater of Sholem Asch by the actress, translator. theater director, writer and Yiddish activist Caraid O’Brien who performed some excerpts from the most successful and controversial dramas by Sholem Asch, including the monologues from his plays God of Vengeance, Motke Thief and The Dead Man translated by O’Brien for the first time into English.

The performance was followed by a talkback with Asch’s great-grandson David Mazower and Lisa Newman, the heads of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst. The event was also streamed live online. Caraid O’Brien, born in Ireland, is based in New York and is best known for her work with material originally written in Yiddish.

Yidishland: Issue 24

Yidishland: Issue 24

Yidishland: Issue 24

The 24th issue of the quarterly magazine Yidishland, notable for its exclusively Yiddish material, was published in parallel print runs in Israel and Sweden. It features new chapters of novels by Klara-Bel and Mikhoel Felsenbaum, a short story by Velvl Chernin, several philological and historical research articles. The issue is rich in poetic works and includes poems by Felix Khaimovich, David Omar Cohen, Hillel Kazovsky, Osher Gal, Katerina Kuznetsova, Boris Karloff and Jake Schneider.