The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

Happy Purim ! אַ פֿריילעכן פּורים Highlights: Sholem Londner : 2 jokes for Purim Shane Baker : Yiddish story for Purim: Drunk All Year, Sober on Purim אַ גאַנץ יאָר שיכּור, פּורים ניכטער Used with the permission of Shane Baker and the Congress for Jewish Culture, originally released on YouTube in 2023. From our archive: Hasia Segal (2010): Purim greetings from FL Iosif Lakhman (2010): Purim greeti...

Highlights: Sholem Beinfeld , regular co-host of The Yiddish Voice and professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, shares thoughts on the new Trump administration as of March 5, 2025, one day after President Trump's first speech to Congress of his second administration. Rukhl Schaechter ( שׂרה-רחל שעכטער ), editor of Forverts (a/k/a the Yiddish Forward , פֿאָרווערטס ), online at forwar...

This week on The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, we featured an in-depth conversation with historian Benyomen Moss (Kenneth B. Moss), the Harriet and Ulrich E. Meyer Professor of Jewish History at the University of Chicago. He spoke with Sholem Beinfeld , professor emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, about his book An Unchosen People: Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland (Harv...

In honor of International Holocaust Memorial Day, which this January 27, 2025, marks 80 years since the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz death camp, we present interviews in Yiddish from your archive with four survivors of Auschwitz. As of the broadcast date all were alive and well to the best of our knowledge. The interviewees are: Joseph Alexander , originally from Kowal, Poland, who surv...

Episode Highlights Air date : January 15, 2025 Rabbi Sholom Ber Diskin A shaliach at Chabad of Pacific Palisades, Rabbi Diskin shares his first-hand experience of surviving the Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed his home. He discusses the ongoing relief efforts he and his team are leading. We reached him at his temporary residence in the Pico Robinson neighborhood on Jan. 15, 2025. ➡️ Learn more...

Arele Schaechter Viswanath , the translator of the Harry Potter book series into Yiddish, was interviewed about, and read excerpts from, his translation of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , which was recently published by Olniansky Press (Sweden, 2024) under the Yiddish title הערי פּאָטער און די קאַמער פֿון סודות . Arele works in the field of strategy and analytics at tech...

Highlights: Moyshe Hoffman , proprietor of Hoffy's Kosher Restaurant in Antwerp, Belgium, where you can "enjoy Yiddish traditional cuisine". He talks about his restaurant, some personal and family history, and a bit about Yiddish life in Antwerp. We interviewed Moyshe Hoffman at Hoffy's on Nov. 14, 2024. Hoffy's website: https://hoffys.be Richard Fein ( רובֿן-יעקבֿ פֿײַן ) reads the poem "To My Fa...

Highlights: Rukhl Schaechter ( שׂרה-רחל שעכטער ), editor of Forverts (a/k/a the Yiddish Forward , פֿאָרווערטס ), online at forward.com/yiddish , reflects on 25 years with this Yiddish institution, originally as a writer and now as its editor. She spoke with us on Zoom from her home in Yonkers on Nov. 24, 2024. The Forward is celebrating her anniversary with a Celebrate Our Rukhl event in New York,...

Highlights: Abraham Friedman ( אבֿרהם פֿרידמאַן ), publisher of Di Tzeitung ( די צייטונג ), a major weekly newspaper in the Chareidi world, especially among the Chassidic community in New York. In this interview he talks about what his newspaper offers, discusses current events recently covered by his newspaper, and a little about himself. We reached him by phone at his home in Brooklyn on Wednesd...

אַ גמר חתימה טובֿה! און אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר! Highlights: Rabbi Itzik-Boruch Teitelbaum (Monroe, NY), known as Der Pshiskher Rov , with a vort for erev Yom Kippur . We reached him by phone at his home in Monroe on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 Interviews with Israelis about Oct. 7, one year on. Avremi Zaks the host and producer of the weekly Israeli Yiddish radio program " Kan Yidish ." He also teaches...

אַ כּ‫תיבֿה וחתימה טובֿה! Highlights: Avrom Novershtern (Israel) Professor Emeritus of Yiddish Literature, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. We reached him by phone on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. Eli Sharfstein (Israel) writer and poet. We reached him by phone in Greece, where he was stranded due to cancelations of flights to Israel, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Rabbi Itzik-Boruch Teitelbaum (Monroe, NY), kn...

This week, greetings for Rosh Hashona from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with a poetry reading by Richard Fein and Sholem Beinfeld . אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער - לשנה טובֿה Highlights: Author and translator Richard J. Fein (Yiddish name: Ruvn-Yankev), along with his friend, collaborator, and regular Yiddish Voice cohost Shole...

This week, greetings for Rosh Hashona from friends, participants, and sponsors of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, combined with an exciting new interviews with Rabbi Moshe Waldoks and Holocaust survivor Henry Slucki . אַ גוט, געבענטשט יאָר אַלע אונדזערע צוהערער לשנה טובֿה Highlights: Interview with Rabbi Moshe Waldoks , whose biographical one-man show "You Can Live If They Let You" recently...

This week, interviews with Perl Teitelbaum and Hy Wolfe . We spoke with them in person at 2024 Yugntruf Yidish-Vokh in Copake, NY, on Aug. 21, 2024. Paula (Perl) Teitelbaum is a Yiddish language at Arbeter Ring , Yivo Institute , and elsewhere. She talked about a new technique she's been using for teaching Yiddish by watching films. A Yiddish singer who has performed on several album, she also sha...

This week, an interview with Dovid Braun , talking about the Yivo Bard Zumer-Program and a few related matters. Dovid serves as Academic Director for the summer program, which recently concluded, and year-round as Yivo's Academic Director for Yiddish. And we hear from our archive (1995) Miriam Libenson on Tisha B'Ov , which falls this year on the night of Monday, Aug. 12. Music: Intro instrumental...

This week, Arieh Hecht , a patient advocate in Los Angeles, talks about his life as a child of Holocaust survivors originally from Transylvania (Hungary during WWII) and his work as a patient advocate. We spoke with Arieh in person in Los Angeles on July 4, 2024. We begin with a report from the Yivo-Bard Zumer-Program by Nokhem Lerner , who's been a Yiddish teacher there the past two years. We rea...

Highlights: Mark ("Marek") Gaysinskiy reports from the Yivo-Bard Zumer-Program; Pnina Sharf , a resident of Los Angeles and a Holocaust survivor from Poland, talks about her life experiences; from Boston's Yiddish past: a performance by the late Cantor Gregor Shelkan , performing a song about what will happen when Meshiekh (the Messiah) comes (recorded in 1999 at the Cantorial concert in honor of...

Highlights: A report from the Yivo-Bard Yiddish Summer Program by student Tara Neuwirth , who has attended several times beginning in 1983. This year's Zumer-program kicked off last week and seems off to a good start. We spoke to Tara by phone on July 10, 2024. We hope to hear more from other students and teachers from this and other Yiddish summer courses around the world. Info on the Yivo-Bard Y...

Meet Itel Landau (maiden family name: Brettler), a Holocaust survivor originally from Vișeu de Sus (Felsővisó in Hungarian, אויבערווישעווע in Yiddish), a shtetl in Transylvania (prewar Romania, Hungary during WWII, now Romania), discussing her life — before, during, and after the Holocaust. Itel was born into a Hassidic family, the Brettlers, who sold manufacturing materials. In 1940, Transylvania...

This week, Yiddish poetry lovers are in for a treat: an interview with Sarah Traister Moskowitz with her reading of poems in the collection „דאָס ליד איז געבליבן“ ("The Song Remains") along with her English translations. Sarah is the translator of the collection of poems Dos Lid is Geblibn, or The Song Remains, on the new website thesongremains.org , an anthology of Yiddish poems with English tran...

This week we have a new interview with Marvin Zuckerman , who grew up in the Yiddish-speaking milieu of Jewish Labor Bund in Bronx, New York. He became a professor of English at a Los Angeles college and co-authored the well-regarded Yiddish primer Learning Yiddish in Easy Stages and several other books in the field of Yiddish. He translated from the Yiddish the memoir of the prominent Bundist Ber...

This week we observe Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) talking with Mike Burstyn , Miriam Trinh , Eli Sharfstein and Avremi Zaks . Mike Burstyn is a distinguished actor and singer known for his roles in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English theater and film across Israeli, American, and international stages. Recently, he starred in the German comedy drama The Zweiflers , awarded Best Series at the 7t...

This week, for Yom HaShoah, which falls this year on May 6, we present past interviews with survivors of the Holocaust in Hungary as we mark the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944, 80 years ago. After a brief intro and announcement of Boston's 2024 community Hazkure , we hear: Mel Mermelstein ז״ל We had a short but memorable interview with Mel in 2008. Mel lived in Mu...

This week, Pesach greetings and words of wisdom from Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum , Rabbi Moshe Kesselman , and Holocaust survivor Naftali (Tuli) Deutsch , as well as greetings from many of our cohosts, friends, and sponsors, as follows: Israel Book Shop ( Eli Dovek ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007) American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston (member and Holocaust survivor Tan...

This week, Cantor Herschel Fox , long-time chazzan at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Los Angeles and veteran of the Cantorial world as well as the Yiddish stage, and even Yiddish radio. The interview is filled with stories and anecdotes covering many aspects of his life and his illustrious career, including close working relationships with such legends as Molly Picon, Cantor Dovid Koussevitzky, a...