Sosye had a great time chatting about SKIF, what teenagers care about these days, social justice, and Australian football with three Skifistn from Melbourne, Australia: Sore (also referred to in the episode as Mia), Khayim, and Yoni. Listen to hear two amazing rapped versions of the Yiddish songs “Di Shvue” and “Tayere Malke,” too! Thanks so much to Reyzl Zylberman for her help making this episode happen. To see the amazing videos that accompany the audio played on the podcast, follow Sore on Instagram: @caulfield_mum
Episode 40: דירעקט פֿון מעלבורן | Live in Melbourne! /
Sosye had the best time in Australia!! We’re looking forward to putting out several episodes recorded on her trip, and this is the first: a live show at Kadimah Jewish Cultural Center in Melbourne, Australia. Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this show possible, in particular Reyzl Zylberman and Renata Singer. The show had a slideshow going on in the background with photographs and trivia questions: click here to play along with the slideshow yourself!
Episode 39: פֿרײדי ביגעלאײַזן | Fraidy Biegeleisen, Instagram Influencer /
A conversation with Fraidy Biegeleisen about social media, education, and life in between the Chasidish and secular worlds. You can see her face art and more on Instagram @fraidybiegeleisen. A dank Fraidy!
Plus, check out new educational materials for Episode 15 “Queer in Yiddish,” including a vocabulary list, questions, and a full English translation!
A Kitzur: We’re Back! /
We’re back after our five-month hiatus to deliver new voices, new stories, and live shows all in mameloshn. We welcome our new team in this short episode, and look forward to putting out our first full-length episode on June 26. Did you miss us? Want to request a subject or interviewee? Leave us a note in the comments!
On Hiatus! New Episodes Starting in June 2019 /
Dear Vaybertaytshniks,
It’s been a great ride this fall putting out some of the episodes recorded over the summer! As I transition into a pretty intense semester, I’ve decided to put Vaybertaytsh on a brief hiatus until late Spring. During that time I’ll be doing a bit of recording, and working to build up the show’s financial and logistical backbone.
Please keep in touch with us on social media, listen to our back episodes, and let us know if you have ideas for fresh new content!
Mit vareme grusn,
Sosye-Fraydl
Episode 38: מינע-ליפֿשע ווישוואַנאַט | Meena-Lifshe Viswanath /
A conversation with Meena-Lifshe Viswanath about being an engineer, garbage and recycling worldwide, raising a kid in Yiddish and more! It was a great chat - thank you Meena! A fraylikhn 2019!
Episode 37: גיטל שעכטער־ווישוואַנאַט און שרה־רחל שעכטער | The Schaechter Sisters, Rukhl and Gitl /
Photo courtesy of Naima Green.
A conversation with Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath and Sore-Rukhl Schaechter about their Yiddish childhoods, Barnard in the 1970s, Camp Hemshekh, and more. Thanks Gitl and Sore-Rukhl!
Transcript of the interview can be found here! Thank you Jonah Sidman for your work.
Thanks to Tsvey Brider for letting us use your song “Likhtlekh.”
*This episode had some sound-challenges due to recording at Yidish Vokh with wind and kids playing outside! Thank you for understanding!*
Episode 36: Zohar Weiman-Kelman | לעסביִאַנקעס, שדים, און ייִדישע פּאָעזיִע [Vaybertaytsh Halloween!] /
Today’s episode is with Zohar Weiman-Kelman, a scholar of Yiddish literature and an all around badass. We talked about the erotics of Yiddish, fetish, ghosts, and poetry. Zohar also reads for us a spooky Yiddish poem. A dank Zohar! A fraylikhn Halloween tsu alemen!
I also want to send warm thoughts to everyone vis-a-vis the tragedy in Pittsburgh. I didn’t include anything in the episode about this because frankly I don’t have anything comforting to say in vos far a shprakh es zol nisht zayn, but I stand with all of you in the US and abroad who are feeling scared, sad, and angry. And to our listeners in Pittsburgh or from the area, Vaybertaytsh sends you love, warmth, and hugs. <3
A Kitzur: משקה, אַרױס פֿון דער שאַפֿע | "Mashke," Out of the Closet /
A special Vaybertaytsh Short to tide you over until next week! This episode includes a new, queerified version of Mikhl Gordon’s song “Mashke,” written and performed by Noam Lerman and Leana Jelen. You can find the lyrics here, both for the beginning parts which are true to the original, and for the new parts written by Nom and Leana. They performed the song at the Yidish Vokh 2018 “Talentanya.” Then then we went ahead and recorded it in the only quiet space with good acoustics at the Yidish Vokh — the inside of a closet. Yes, yes, the irony did not escape us! Enjoy, and thanks to Noam and Leana for sharing this with the world!
Episode 35: Shterna Goldbloom, "Feygele" Photographer (in English) | שטערנאַ גאָלדבלום /
It’s our once-in-a-blue-moon English episode (horrah!) and we’ve got a great one: a conversation with the amazing photographer Shterna Goldbloom. Check out her work as we discuss it on the show at www.shternagoldbloom.com, and see the evolution of her newest project, “Feygele,” which was not published online at the time we spoke.
You can see Shterna’s conversation with Diana Clarke at In geveb here, and don’t forget to think of Vaybertaytsh in your donation plans this year, whether it’s a dollar or a whole bunch of dollars! Or maybe it’s cryptocurrency! You give it, we take it.
Episode 34: ליאַנאַ יעלען, שטום־לשון איבערזעצערקע | Leana Jelen /
A conversation with Leana Jelen about her work as a sign language interpreter, the deaf community, growing up with Yiddish, and on being a "freak.”
Find our full conversation as a Yiddish transcript here.
Please consider Vaybertaytsh in your holiday giving this year! All donations are tax deductible, a dank our fiscal conduit, Yugntruf.
(A fraylikhn gebortstog, Rukhl Dobkin!)
Episode 33: דירעקט אין שװעדן | Live in Sweden! /
Thank you to everyone in Stockholm who made Sosye feel so welcome, and who made this episode possible. Learn more about Yiddish in Sweden here.
The words Sosye talks about in Swedish are:
1. Östermalmstorg = A main train station in Central Stockholm
2. Nu = Now
3. Bra = Good
4. Slut = End
5. bröd = a sort of cracker that is everywhere in Sweden (People eat herring and bröd).
Episode 32: די עראָטישע פּאָעזיִע פֿון טרױם קאַץ הענדלער | The Erotic Poetry of Troim Katz Handler /
Left and Top: Troim Katz Handler, Bottom Left: Shoshke-Rayzl Yuni, Bottom Right: Perl Krupit
In this episode, hear and learn about the erotic and romantic poetry of Troim Katz Handler. See the poems in the order they appear in the episode here.
This episode was produced by Shoshke-Rayzl Yuni and Pearl Lipsky Krupit, cut together by Sosye. Thanks to all!
See Troim's interview with Christa Whitney at the Yiddish Book Center here.
Episode 31: מלכּי און מלכּי | Malky and Malky Talk Hasidim on TV and Women in Yiddish Theater /
A conversation with Malky Weisz and Malky Goldman on their production company, Malky Squared Productions, and their work on a new adaptation of Naomi Ragen's play "The Women's Minyan," called "Di Froyen." Check out their websites:
www.melissaweisz.com and www.malkygoldman.com.
Episode 30: עטי אױש | Etty Ausch from "One of Us" /
Thanks so much Etty for sharing your story. You can find "One of Us" on Netflix (trailer here). Read Etty's piece on discovering her sexuality here on Refinery29. Consider making a donation to Footsteps, an organization which helps Hasidim who choose to leave the community get settled into life on the outside.
Episode 29: יהודית װאַלעצקי | A Fierce Red Lip /
Sosye spoke to her good friend Yudis about something they had never discussed before in any detailed way: her work as an industrial designer at Estee Lauder. They talked sexism in the industry, the intersections and contradictions between feminism and make-up, her design inspirations, branding, and the buzz-concept of self-care. It was awesome! An episode everyone can appreciate, even those of you who never wear or buy make-up.
Episode 28: בעלאַ בריקס־קלײַן | Beit HaBund in Tel Aviv with Bella Bryks-Klein /
Thanks Bella for talking with us, and Jessye Stein for her help producing the episode! Thanks also to our sponsor, the Forverts. Check them out!
Check out Eli Preminger's klezmer with a Middle Eastern twist here.
Episode 27: {redn mit di toyte} Ruth Rubin | רות רובין /
Sosye "speaks" with her hero Ruth Rubin, with help from singers, scholars, and archival sounds.
Thank you so much to our participants, David Roskies, Talia Martz-Oberlander, Michael Yashinsky, Adah Hetko, and Eleonore Biezunski. Thanks to the Yiddish Book Center for allowing us to use an archival recording of Ruth Rubin from 1978, so we could "speak" to her. A groyse dank to our first advertising sponsors, the League for Yiddish and the YIVO Summer Program, and Sheva Zucker for her help and patience! On the League for Yiddish's website, you can find details about "A Tog Yiddish Seminar" with David Fishman on April 22nd. The YIVO Summer Program this summer, the due date is April 2, so apply fast!
Don't forget to check out YIVO's digital exhibition on Ruth Rubin, with 1500 songs, starting April 4, at exhibitions.yivo.org.
Many of Rubin's albums can be found on iTunes and Spotify, but Sosye's favorite songs, which are on "Yiddish Love Songs," have been removed everywhere except for YouTube. Note also that some of the songs online are mislabeled, name-wise, though the ones below are accurate. If you want Mp3 versions, contact us. The songs in this episode are, in order.
- "Gitare"
- "Shvern Shver Ikh"
- "Bay Dem Shtetl" (and another amazing version here)
- "Dortn Dortn" performed at the Yidish Vokh
- "Shpilt-zhe Mir"
- "Dortn Dortn"
Episode 26: סאַטאָקאָ רבקה קאַמאָשידאַ | Satoko Kamoshida /
Satoko and her Yiddish students at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Thanks so much to Satoko for speaking with Vaybertaytsh! You can find her blog about Yiddish, which is in Japanese, here. We're so glad to be back from our six-week break, and hope you'll tune in for a bunch of new and exciting episodes in the coming months. A dank zayer!
Episode 25: “מינדל כּהן פֿון „אין געװעב | Mindl Cohen /
It was awesome to chat with the Editor-in-Chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies about life, gender issues in academia, and In geveb! A dank Mindl!