In this episode, our guest host Esther Singer talks to Rivke Margolis, a professor at Monash University in Melbourne. They talked about queer yiddishkayt, Yiddish pedagogy, and comparing Yiddish to other minority languages. Thanks to Esther for being our first guest host in a very long time! You can find out more about Rivke’s research and writing here.
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Check out our new merch on our Redbubble site.
I'm so pumped about this conversation with Etl Niborski, recorded in Tel Aviv this past summer. Etl is a 19-year-old left-wing activist and a native Yiddish speaker who recently completed her national service working in a school in Jaffa for at-risk youth. We talked all about what it’s like to be an Israeli at the end of high school — all of the complicated decisions one has to make about joining the military or finding a way not to — how her Yiddishist background impacts her political thinking, what it was like to be a Yiddish-speaking, non-Hasidic kid on the streets of Jerusalem, and about her current Yiddish activities and projects.
In this episode, Sosye and Meyer Dovid from the long-running Yiddish radio show Dos Yidishe Kol chat all things Yiddish, podcasting, and — you guessed it — Yiddish podcasting. It was a pleasure to get to know Meyer Dovid better, and to learn a bit about his radio show’s trajectory. You can see a concise version of our conversation in Yiddish and in English translation at In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. Thank you to In geveb’s blog team for proposing this idea and collaborating with both of our shows on this episode!
Photo by Shuli Seidler-Feller
It was wonderful to get a chance to speak to Miriam Udel, sof-kol-sof! Miriam is associate professor of Yiddish language, literature, and culture at Emory University. She recently published Honey on the Page (NYU Press, October 2020 — happy 1st birthday to the book!), a rich resource of nearly fifty Yiddish stories and poems in English translation. We chatted children’s literature, Miriam’s path in Judaism, her rabbinical studies at Yeshivat Maharat, and her new projects. Take a listen!
What a pleasure to get to know Isabel Frey! Isabel is a Vienna-based musician with a new-ish album of Yiddish songs entitled Millennial Bundist. We talked about being Jewish in Vienna, left-wing activism, her departure from the Zionism of her youth, her music, research, and future recording plans. I know you'll love hearing her story and her music as much as I did!
You might know Perl as your former or current Yiddish teacher. You might know her as a person with the lovely singing voice at the zingeray. You might know her as your ESL teacher (okay, probably her ESL students aren’t listening to Vaybertaytsh). How do I know Perl? She’s one of my best friend’s mames, and since I had kind of a weird family life, I spent a lot of my time - like, really a lot of it - in Perl’s house, spending time with her daughter Shifra. So maybe it is a little strange that it took so long for me to interview Perl, but nu, better late than never. I had a blast learning more about her youth and her immigration to America, her experiences teaching Yiddish and ESL, and so much more. Enjoy!
Want to learn more Yiddish with Perl? Check out her website!
This week we have someone who might be a familiar face to you if you lurk on social media of any and all kinds: Cameron Bernstein of Yiddish TikTok fame! I had a blast hearing about Cameron’s Yiddish journey thus far and learning about how TikTok works! You can follow Cameron on TikTok or Instagram to see her creative, informative, and funny videos. Keep it up, Cameron! Big fan over here.
Courtesy David Karpilow
We’re back earlier than expected with a special episode. Last week, YIVO streamed a lecture as part of the Uriel Weinreich Yiddish Summer Program on the topic “Yiddish Women Writers.” (See and hear the lecture here). The lecturer, Professor Avraham Noversthern, wanted to be controversial… and, well, he succeeded in that mission! In this episode, Jessica Kirzane, Faith Jones, and Ayelet Brinn delve into what made Novershtern’s arguments so controversial, and how his claims run counter to the scholarship of a number of female academics. We also talk about the intersections between power dynamics, gender, age, and language ability in the Yiddish World.
Perhaps most importantly, we also used this opportunity to offer and promote a variety of resources for Vaybertaytshniks who want to learn more about Yiddish women writers. See below!
Key Anthologies:
Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers
The Exile Book of Yiddish Women Writers
Yidishe dikhterins
Key Scholarship:
A Question of Tradition: Women Poets in Yiddish, 1586-1987
A Marriage Made in Heaven: The Sexual Politics of Hebrew and Yiddish
Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
Women Writers of Yiddish Literature: Critical Essays
Queer Expectations: A Genealogy of Jewish Women's Poetry:
Women, Men and Books: Issues of Gender in Yiddish Discourse
How to Suppress Women's Writing
Pakn Treger "A Collection of Newly Translated Yiddish Works by Women Writers"
Women Writers in Translation
In Other Words: Yiddish Women in Translation Month
Women in Translation Month: Yiddish
Translating and Teaching Yiddish Prose by Women
…and we’re back! Sorry for the very long delay, everyone. I don’t know I’ve said this in any recent episodes, but I’m writing a book right now, and oof, has it taken a lot of time/energy out of me. But the clouds are clearing, both from the writing and from the Corona year we all just got through, and it finally feels like the right time to bring back Vaybertaytsh. I’m so excited, I could just scream!
And a talk with Reyze Turner is quite a way to get back into things! Reyze is a passionate Yiddishist, a researcher, and a language teacher, and she is also about to go start a PhD in Wisconsin! We talked a lot about her life path, career, her time in Paris working at Medem Yiddish Center, and about the state of Yiddish itself. It was a blast to chat with Reyze, and I hope you all enjoy the episode as much as I enjoyed recording it!
Photo by Sam Massey
In collaboration with Jewish Currents, Vaybertaytsh is pleased to present a special English episode with artist and podcast producer Sharon Mashihi.
An Iranian Jew from Great Neck, NY, Mashihi places her new audio series, Appearances, at “6 out of 10 on the truth spectrum.” The protagonist of the series is a lightly fictionalized version of Mashihi named Melanie, who wrestles with questions drawn from her creator’s life: whether to have a baby as a single mother or with her non-Jewish, non-Iranian, much older boyfriend; and how to build a family that both reflects and departs from the struggles she witnessed growing up in an immigrant household.
Mashihi and I spoke about immigrant families, Jewish and Iranian identity, Great Neck, and the ethical quandary of making art from your life without hurting the ones you love. Mashihi’s work on The Heart was a major inspiration for me when I began making Vaybertaytsh. I was thrilled to get a chance to meet and talk with her.
Appearances is produced by Mermaid Palace and Radiotopia,
You can check out a shortened text version of this interview at Jewish Currents here.
Click for more information on Sharon’s work.
A note for our Yiddish listeners:
אין דער עפּיזאָד רעד איך מיט מאַשיהי װעגן איר באַציִונג צו ייִדישקײַט, משפּחה, און שפּראַך. האָט אונדזער שמועס כּמעט גאָרנישט צו טאָן מיט ייִדיש דירעקט, אָבער עס האָט יאָ אַ שײַכות מיט דער געשיכטע פֿון װײַבערטײַטש: אָן אירע פֿריִערדיקע אַרבעט אין פּאָדקאַסטערײַ, װײס איך נישט צי װײַבערטײַטש װאָלט עקסעסטירט, אַזאַ גרױסע ראַדיאָ־העלד איז מאַשיהי פֿאַר מיר. זאָרג זיך נישט, אָבער: נײע ייִדיש־שפּראַכיקע עפּיזאָדן װעלן באַלד אַרױסקומען!
Sandra is a PhD candidate in Yiddish Studies at Columbia University where she is also pursuing certificates in Comparative Literature and Gender Studies. When she isn’t teaching Yiddish or processing archival materials at Columbia’s Rare Books and Manuscript Library, she works on translation projects, such as the Yiddish children’s stories in the volume In the Land of Happy Tears (Penguin Random House, 2018). She is also an editorial board member of In Geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.
For more on Sore, check out what she’s doing over at our friends In geveb here and at Columbia here.
Thanks so much to Adah Hetko for making this happen, and to the whole team at KlezKanada for inviting me to be a part of the all-digital festival. Thanks of course to Sasha Lurje, Sarah Gordon, and Joanne Borts! If you liked Forshpil, you can find the whole album here on Bandcamp.
Goldy Landau, an EMT and Johns Hopkins University nursing student born and raised in KJ, and Dr. Sholem Berger MD/PhD take your questions about the Coronavirus, and shed light on what could happen going forward in the Hasidic communities currently experiencing a rise in cases.
אין דעם עפיזאד ענטפערן א דאקטאר און אן EMT פראגעס פון חסידים װעגן דעם קאראנע װירוס, ארײנגערעכענט שעלות װעגן „הערד אימוניטי“, אנטיבאַדיס, און מאסקס
Thanks so much to Goldy and Sholem for participating and answering all these important questions! Also thanks to Rachel and Gnendy for chiming in at the end. And finally, big thanks to Sore Biskowitz for running our social media while I was running the live show. We could not have done it without you!
Go check out Alice’s AMAZING youtube videos in Yiddish here. You can also follow Alice on Instagram @yiddish_balagan.
The songs in this episode were from the awesome band Kiki Malinki. Check them out here on Bandcamp!
We’re so happy to be back! Thanks for your patience.
A conversation, recorded on Mother’s Day, with three (relatively) new moms: Shifra Whiteman, Yiske Stein-Ejdelman, and Leah Sugar. We talked pregnancy, birth, miscarriages, breast-pumping, identity shifts, the unrealistic expectations placed on mothers, and more. Thanks to these awesome khavertes for their willingness to tell their stories! A Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all who celebrate, and solidarity to those who, for various reasons, don’t find it to be their favorite day.
What a pleasure to talk to Sasha Berenstein, a musician and Yiddishist who recently led a communal effort of to create a list of words and phrases that have to do with transkayt and queerkayt! The list can be read here. We talked about what inspired the list, and went through some of Sasha’s favorites. Thanks Sasha!
This week on the show we're hearing an episode with Jessica Kirzane, the editor-in-chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. We talked about her translation of Miriam Karpilove's Diary of a Lonely Girl, or The Battle against Free Love (buy it here), what's new with In geveb, growing up Jewish all over the place, being a rebbetzin in a Reform congregation, and more. Thanks Eshke for an awesome conversation!
We're back with more episodes this spring, so stay tuned.
In this special Yiddish-English mixed episode, Sandra Chiritescu sits down with Irena Klepfisz to discuss her life journey, ranging from her relationship to Yiddish, to her poetry, scholarship, and her activism vis-a-vis the Middle East. Irena has translated Yiddish authors such as Kadya Molodowsky and Fradl Shtok, and is a long-time lesbian feminist activist. We’re super thankful to Irena for talking to Vaybertaytsh, and for Sandra for conducting what we hope will be the first of many episodes!
Sosye and Sarah in Berlin, 2018.
Born in Poland, Sarah Bialis survived the Holocaust, moved to the nascent Jewish state, and then returned to Europe, living in Berlin for most of her adult life. She told Sosye her story of survival, immigration, and what it has been like to live in Germany ever since she returned to Europe. Contains potentially upsetting material for children.
Thanks to Karsten Troyke for his help with the episode. You can find more information about his music here.
Reyzl and Soyse with khaver kangaroo!
Sosye had a great time talking to her new Aussie khaverte Reyzl Zylberman! Our attempts to record in person were thwarted twice by sound problems, but we finally got to talk “on the record” on the phone a few weeks later. We chatted about her understanding of Bundism today, being a Yiddish teacher with kids of all ages, and her job as a Multicultural Ambassador for the Australian Football League! Reyzl is pretty badass, and we think you’ll love her as much as we do. Thanks Reyzl for talking with us and for being such a great host in Melbourne!
