The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

As journalists writing in the wartime Polish ghettos, Peretz Opoczynski and Josef Zelkowicz captured the anxiety and uncertainty of daily life for Jews with breathtaking immediacy. Professor Sam Kassow, coeditor of "In Those Nightmarish Days," a collection of their work recently published by the Yiddish Book Center’s New Yiddish Library, discusses the important contributions the two men’s reportin...

Last summer, educators from around the country came to the Yiddish Book Center for our inaugural Great Jewish Books Teacher Workshop, where they worked together to develop curricula to bring modern Jewish literature and culture into their classrooms. Here, three of those teachers tell us what brought them to the workshop and how the program will shape their teaching. Episode 0110 December 30, 2015...

Though it has a long and varied history, the town of Oświęcim, Poland, is notorious for one thing: Auschwitz. Yet for centuries prior to World War Two, Jews and non-Jews lived side by side there. Shiri B. Sandler, curator of the exhibit "A Town Known as Auschwitz"--now at the Yiddish Book Center--discusses the rich history of the town and its Jewish residents from the sixteenth century through the...

Tina Wasserman, author of "Entree to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora" and "Entree to Judaism for Families: Jewish Cooking and Kitchen Conversations with Children," visits with us to discuss some traditional Hanukkah recipes and the histories behind them. Episode 0108 December 7, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

At the Great Jewish Books Summer Program, high school students spend a week at the Yiddish Book Center delving into both classic and new works of modern Jewish literature. Two members of the Great Jewish Books class of 2015 talk about the engaging conversations they had in class, the fun of bonding with other students with shared interests, and the surprising things they discovered about the liter...

In 1938, Fania Lewando, the chef and owner of a popular vegetarian restaurant in Vilna, Lithuania, published hundreds of her recipes—from traditional Jewish dishes to vegetarian versions of holiday staples—in a cookbook. Culinary anthropologist Eve Jochnowitz tells us how the book was rediscovered decades later and how she came to translate it from the original Yiddish, making its delicious conten...

Filmmaker Erik Anjou's latest documentary, "Deli Man," tells the story of third-generation deli man Ziggy Gruber. In our conversation with Anjou, he tells us about the film, which also profiles other iconic delis and their owners; the place of the delicatessen in Jewish tradition; and what inspires people like Ziggy to keep that tradition alive. Episode 0105 September 2, 2015 Yiddish Book Center A...

For much of the twentieth century, the Red Apple Rest offered respite to countless weary vacationers traveling Route 17 between New York City and the resorts of the Catskills. Elaine Freed Lindenblatt, daughter of the iconic restaurant's founder, talks about "Stop at the Red Apple," her new memoir of that time and place. Episode 0104 July 26, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Saul Dreier and Ruby Sosnowicz's recently founded Holocaust Survivor Band has become an overnight sensation. Drier and Sosnowicz took time out of their touring schedule to tell us how they returned to music late in life - and how this is all playing out. Episode 0103 June 11, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Curator Eddy Portnoy shares the story behind "Yiddish Fight Club," a new exhibit at YIVO about Jewish boxers and wrestlers. The exhibit looks at the rich, if surprising, history of Jewish brawlers and the colorful Yiddish slang of that world. Episode 0102 June 2, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Aaron Lansky visits with Mark Glickman, author of the upcoming "Stolen Words: The Nazi Plunder of Jewish Books." Glickman shares the story of how the world's largest collection of Jewish books - some tens of millions - were looted by Nazi soldiers and others who removed them from private collections, libraries, and institutions. Episode 0101 May 5, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

We visit with photographer Marisa Scheinfeld to talk about her work chronicling the ever-evolving landscape of the Borscht Belt. The resulting work, "Echoes from the Borscht Belt: Contemporary Photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld," documents the dramatic decline of the resorts of New York's Catskills region. The exhibit is on display in the Yiddish Book Center's Brechner Gallery through December 2015....

Award-winning children's book author and artist (and native Yiddish speaker) Uri Shulevitz's illustrious career has included illustrating classic Yiddish children's tales by Sholem Aleichem, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and I.L. Peretz. A retrospective of Shulevitz's work is now on exhibit at our neighboring Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Episode 0099 April 20, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst,...

Jeff Gabel, founder of the Boston-based Kitchen Kibitz, tells us about his pop-up dinner project, which explores modern takes on Jewish cuisine. Gabel, an alumnus of our Tent: Food NYC, was recently named to Zagat's "30 Under 30" list of "rock stars" redefining Boston's dining industry. Episode 0098 April 7, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

In his new documentary, "Streit's: Matzo and the American Dream," director Michael Levine profiles the last family-owned matzo company in the U.S. and the integral role it's played for almost a century in its Lower East Side neighborhood. The film's release this spring coincides with a bittersweet development: the company's decision to leave the old neighborhood for a new suburban site. Episode 00...

For more than thirty years, Murray Spiegel and his longtime friend Rickey Stein have been on a quest to translate the Four Questions of the Passover seder into as many languages as possible, recording people from around the globe as they ask the questions in their native language. On this episode of Tune in!, Spiegel tells us about the project and the book that resulted from it: "300 Ways to Ask t...

Jeremy Cowan tells us how he combined his love of craft beer and of Jewish culture and literature to create his Shmaltz Brewing Company. Episode 0095 March 6, 2015 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

We visit with Aaron Rezny and Jordan Schaps, co-authors of the newly published "Eating Delancey." The book celebrates the delis and restaurants of the Lower East Side - including Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse, Russ & Daughters, Katz's Delicatessen, Yonah Shimmel Knish Bakery, and Ratner's - and the classic food they're known for, through photographs, recipes, profiles, and personal reminiscences fr...

Last month at Tent: The South, we caught up with Macy Hart, director of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute for Southern Jewish Life, who talked with us about the history of the Institute and the role Jews have played in southern history and culture. Episode 0092 November 23, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Aaron Lansky visits with Scott Davis, publisher of the recently released "Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers," an edition of newly translated stories by Yiddish writer Jacob Dinezon. Episode 0091 November 5, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Painter Felix Lembersky resisted the strictures imposed by the state during the Soviet era to follow his own artistic inclinations, at great personal cost. Joel Berkowitz, director of the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, talks about Lembersky's choices and his work, as the Yiddish Book Center hosts the traveling exhibit "Felix Lembersky: Sov...

Three high-school students share what it's like to spend a week reading, discussing, and arguing about modern Jewish literature at the Great Jewish Books summer program. Episode 0089 October 2, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Former Vermont Governor and Ambassador to Switzerland Madeleine Kunin tells us about the Lost Shul Mural Project. An effort is underway in Burlington, Vermont, to save its historic synagogue mural, a unique example of Eastern European Jewish folk art. Episode 0088 September 23, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

During a visit with Yiddish Book Center Steiner Summer Yiddish Program students Liza Wahlberg, Zeev Duckworth, and Michael Yashinsky, we learn what drew them to study Yiddish, what they've learned at the summer program, and how they imagine Yiddish will play out in their future. Episode 0087 September 10, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

For nearly thirty years Bess Selevan has been a zamler for the Yiddish Book Center. Over the years Bess has shipped over 3,600 books to the Yiddish Book Center. During our visit we learn what drew her to become a volunteer, what boxes she recommends for shipping, and much much more. Episode 0086 August 21, 2014 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts