The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

Mira Kessler is a rising star of the Yiddish theater scene in New York with a major supporting role in the new hit of the season Got fun Nekome (God of Vengeance), now being performed by New Yiddish Rep (http://newyiddishrep.org). We spoke to her by phone this morning. Hasia Segal o"h: Dovid and Meyer were extremely saddened to announce that Hasia Segal died this past Monday night, January 16, 2017. Hasia (whose name you'll also find spelled Chasia, Chassia, or Khasye, and in English as Harriet) was a co-founder of the Yiddish-language radio show "The Yiddish Voice" (WUNR-1600AM, from 1994 to the present) and its predecessor "The Yiddish Hour" (WBRS-100.1FM, years 1990-1994). Further details were given on the air, and are currently on our web site in the announcement section, here: http://yiddishvoice.com/#announcements In this broadcast we played one of Hasia's segments from our archives, a presentation about the Boston Zionist hero Dewey Stone. We'll be continuing to air segments from Hasia's radio archives in the coming weeks until our Shloyshim (Memorial) program, scheduled for Feb. 15, 2017. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast date: Jan. 18, 2017

Workmen's Circle Online Yiddish Classes (circle.org) are offered online with real live instructors and their students communicationg via video chat sessions. We spoke to Kolye Borodulin, who runs the operation, besides teaching one of the courses. Yiddish Pop is a web site, yiddishpop.com, giving online, automated Yiddish classes with animation and sound geared toward grade school age kids. We spoke about Yiddishpop with Brukhe Lang, who writes the course materials. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast dates: Jan. 4, 2017, and repeated verbatim (except for news update) the following week, Jan. 11, 2017

Interview with Daniel Kahn. He recently had a viral Yiddish music video of him singing his own Yiddish translation of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, which was released almost at the same as the news that Leonard Cohen had just died. We reached Daniel Kahn by phone in Berlin, Germany. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast date: Dec. 21, 2016

From our archives: Replays of Miriam Libenson (o"h) and Hasia Segal (tsu lange yor) of Hanukkah presentations, along with Hanukkah music and greetings from friends and cohosts. Hasia Segal's Hanukkah presentation for Hanukkah is from 1991, and Miriam Libenson's presentation for Hanukkah is from 1993. Both were originally broadcast on Di Yidishe Sho (The Yiddish Hour) on WBRS 100.1 FM/Waltham, MA. Hanukkah music rounds out the show. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast date: Dec. 28, 2016

Interview with Sidney Polak. Like his good friend Fishl Goldig, who was our guest last week, he's been performing for years in the Yiddish theatre of Montreal, and also, like Fishl, he's a Holocaust survivor. We interviewed him last month at a convention of holocaust survivors in Los Angeles. You'll learn more about him in our interview. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast date: Dec. 14, 2016

Interview with Philip Goldig (Yiddish name: Fishl). He's been a performer for years in the Yiddish theatre of Montreal. He also serves as a High Holiday cantor. We interviewed him last month at a convention of holocaust survivors in Los Angeles. You'll learn more about him in our interview. Also: news report from Kol Israel in Jerusalem presented by Avremi Zaks. Original broadcast date: Dec. 7, 2016

Interview with Prof. David G. Roskies. This is part 2 of 2. Part 1 aired last week. About Dr. Roskies: David G. Roskies is the Sol and Evelyn Henkind Chair in Yiddish Literature and Culture and a professor of Jewish literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 2013, he has also served as the Naomi Prawer Kadar Visiting Professor of Yiddish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Roskies was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012. Roskies has published nine books, including, notably, Yiddishlands (2008), a personal and family memoir described as a "whirlwind tour of modern Yiddish culture", which is discussed in detail in his interview with the Yiddish Voice. Roskies received his undergraduate and graduate education at Brandeis University, where he received his doctorate in 1975. He was an early member of the highly influential Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA, and co-founded Yugntruf (Youth for Yiddish; yugntruf.org), an organization of Yiddish-speaking young adults. Also: music: Vaserl (Yugntruf); Rozhinkes mit Mandlen (Freydele Oisher); Besarabye (Miryem-Khaye Seigel; Dem Milners Trern (Yiddish Princess)

Interview with Prof. David G. Roskies. This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 airs next week. About Dr. Roskies: David G. Roskies is the Sol and Evelyn Henkind Chair in Yiddish Literature and Culture and a professor of Jewish literature at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Since 2013, he has also served as the Naomi Prawer Kadar Visiting Professor of Yiddish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Roskies was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012. Roskies has published nine books, including, notably, Yiddishlands (2008), a personal and family memoir described as a "whirlwind tour of modern Yiddish culture", which is discussed in detail in his interview with the Yiddish Voice. Roskies received his undergraduate and graduate education at Brandeis University, where he received his doctorate in 1975. He was an early member of the highly influential Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA, and co-founded Yugntruf (Youth for Yiddish; yugntruf.org), an organization of Yiddish-speaking young adults. Also: in honor of Thanksgiving: "Intervyu Mitn Toyrki" (Interview with a Turkey) by the late Yiddish radio host, actor, and cantor Ben Gailing, from his radio show "Der Freylekher Kabtsen". Thanks to Hankus Netsky, tsu lange yor, Ben's producer, for this recording.

Interviews: * Theo Bikel, in his last Yiddish interview before hd died in June 2015, discussed his autobiography "Theo" and the film "Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem" (originally aired May 2015) * Mikhoel Felsenbaum, novelist, poet, and playwright, discussed his early life in part 1 of an interview recorded and originally aired in 2014.

Interviews: Vera Szabo, editor of Yiddish-English/English-Yiddish Dictionary & Phrasebook (replay from 2012) Harry Bochner and Solon Beinfeld, editors of Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary (replay from 2012)

Holocaust survivor, educator, and author Moshe Avital discusses his book Not To Forget, Impossible to Forgive. (Part 2) For further information: ALSO: Harold Minuskin, who adapted and translated of his mother's memoirs as the book "My Children, My Heroes: Memoirs of a Holocaust Mother" (2009) (replay from 2013) For further information: [My Children, My Heroes: Memoirs of a Holocaust Mother](<a target=) Air Date: Nov. 2, 2016

Holocaust survivor, educator, and author Moshe Avital discusses his book Not To Forget, Impossible to Forgive. (Part 1) Air Date: Oct. 26, 2016

For Succos and Simchas Torah: Miriam Libenson z"l (from the '90's) and Myer Loketch (from 2006) (Note: this is REPEAT of last week's episode except for the introductory announcement about the death Nora Bogot and the news from Israel.)

For Succos and Simchas Torah: Miriam Libenson z"l (from the '90's) and Myer Loketch (from 2006)

Dovid Braun reviews Yomim-Noroyim greetings (repeat from last week) Khazn Moshe Kraus (Ottowa) 2010 Interview, Part 2 (repeat; part 1 was last week) Yom-Tov greetings from Mark Murstein and many sponsors and friends. Musical highlights: Yosele Rosenblatt: Kol Nidre, Sholom Katz: Zochreinu L'Chayim; Jennie Goldstein: Ovinu Malkeynu; Malavsky Family: Unsanneh Tokef; Leibele Waldman: Shofar Shel Moshiach

Boris Sandler gives an update on his post-retirement doings. Dovid Braun reviews Yomim-Noroyim greetings. Khazn Moshe Kraus (Ottowa) 2010 Interview, Part 1 (repeat) Yom-Tov greetings from Mark Murstein and many sponsors and friends.

We invented a new Yiddish game show for our radio show called Verterbukh-Shpil, a variant of Fictionary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fictionary), and we recorded it being played in front of a live audience at the annual Yiddish Week (Yidish-Vokh) in Copake, NY, in recognition of the recent publication of Yiddish dictionaries, several of whose creators were on hand, taking advantage of the presence of the lively Yiddish-speaking audience present at Yugntruf ()'s annual "Yiddish Week". Naturally, hilarity ensued ... in Yiddish! Listen to tonight's show, and you'll laugh a little while testing and improving your own knowledge of Yiddish. We recommend you have a pencil handy so you can write down the words, and try playing yourself! Air Date: August 31, 2016

Local long-time listener and occasional contributor Mark (Motl) Murstein recited his own translation of a poem written in Polish about the Holocaust, which to our knowledge had never been translated, much less broadcast, before! Also, Mark gave sang us a "popular" song, of which we have to date not found any recordings. Also, we replayed excerpts of the interview aired July 13, 2016, with English-Yiddish Dictionary editors, which we described as follows: Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath and Paul (Hershl) Glasser, the editors of the just-published Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary. Airing part 1 tonight (7/13/16) and part 2 next week (7/20/16). Interviewers: Iosif Lakhman and Dovid Braun. Check out dictionary web page at League for Yiddish: http://store.leagueforyiddish.org/verterbukh.html Air date: August 24, 2016

Air date: August 17, 2016

Part 1: Elie Wiesel: Shloyshim (In Memoriam). Featuring a 2012 interview of Elie Wiesel by Max Kohn, originally broadcast on SBS Radio Australia's Yiddish service, and an excerpt of Wiesel's first book, in Yiddish, "Un Di Velt Hot Geshvign", from the Jewish Public Library of Montreal's collection, courtesy of the National Yiddish Book Center's online archive. Part 2: Tisha B'Ov: An Interview with Rabbi Simen Jacobson (replay).

[Replay from previous week almost exactly except for a brief announcement to that effect near beginning. Sorry, it's summer. :)) Elye Davis from Yugntruf.org talks about the Yidish-Vokh. (replayed from last week's show) Rabbis Dovid Weiss-Halivni and Joseph Pollak celebrated Elie Wiesel's 80th birthday in 2008 here in Boston and were interviewed by the Yiddish Voice. Here are some excerpts from those interviews, which we last played in 2008. Note: we'll have a full program on Elie Wiesel for the Shloyshim next week. Sheva Zucker, exec. dir. of League for Yiddish, interviewed by Iosif Lakhman, talking about various things in the Yiddish world. Replayed from 2008. Miriam Libenson o"h, or beloved late poet and holiday presenter, discusses Tisha B'Ov and the Three Weeks of mourning. Replayed from early 1990's.

Elye Davis from Yugntruf.org talks about the Yidish-Vokh. (replayed from last week's show) Rabbis Dovid Weiss-Halivni and Joseph Pollak celebrated Elie Wiesel's 80th birthday in 2008 here in Boston and were interviewed by the Yiddish Voice. Here are some excerpts from those interviews, which we last played in 2008. Note: we'll have a full program on Elie Wiesel for the Shloyshim next week. Sheva Zucker, exec. dir. of League for Yiddish, interviewed by Iosif Lakhmans, talking about various things in the Yiddish world. Replayed from 2008. Miriam Libenson o"h, or beloved late poet and holiday presenter, discusses Tisha B'Ov and the Three Weeks of mourning. Replayed from early 1990's.

News report from Israel by Avrohom Zaks, thanks to Kol Yisrael, Jerusalem, Yiddish Radio Service. Elye Davis: Yugntruf's Yidish-Vokh - check out http://yugntruf.org/yvokh/ Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath and Paul (Hershl) Glasser, the editors of the just-published Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary. Aired part 1 last week (7/13/16) and part 2 this week (7/20/16). Check out dictionary web page at League for Yiddish: http://store.leagueforyiddish.org/verterbukh.html Air date: July 20, 2016

Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath and Paul (Hershl) Glasser, the editors of the just-published Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary. Airing part 1 tonight (7/13/16) and part 2 next week (7/20/16). Interviewers: Iosif Lakhman and Dovid Braun. Check out dictionary web page at League for Yiddish: http://store.leagueforyiddish.org/verterbukh.html

Miryam-Khaye Seigel's interview with the Yiddish Voice, talking about her career in Yiddish and her upcoming performances, including the a Purim Shpiel in Boston, and her forthcoming CD Toyznt Tamen. Original interview air date: Feb. 20, 2013

Interview with Rukhl Schaechter, by Yosef Lakhman and Meyer Dovid, on Rukhl's becoming the new Editor of the Forverts (Yiddish Forward), not only its first female editor but also its first American-born. Air date: May 25, 2016 Original interview air date: May 18, 2016

Interview with Rukhl Schaechter, by Yosef Lakhman and Meyer Dovid, on Rukhl's becoming the new Editor of the Forverts (Yiddish Forward), not only its first female editor but also its first American-born. Air date: May 18, 2016

Yom Haatsmaut: Interview with the Kol Israel Radio's Yiddish program presenter Avremi Zaks Yom Haatsmaut: Hasia Segal (replay from 2010): On the Film "The Dewey Stone Connection: From Exodus to Independence", produced by the late Brockton, MA-native Walter M. Newman.

Interview with Boris Sandler, by Yosef Lakhman and Meyer Dovid, on Boris's 2nd-to-last day as Forverts (Yiddish Forward) editor. (This is an expanded version of the interview we aired last week.) For Yom HaShoah: Interview with the former Viekhne Sidranski from Grodne. (This is a replay of an interview conducted and originally aired in May 2014.)

A bit more of Pesach: music, greetings, and announcements. And then .... For Yom Hashoah: excerpts from Dovid Braun's interview of Milke Baran, a Holocaust survivor from Oshmine (Oshmyany, near Vilna), from the Sholem Aleichem Shule 21 (Bronx)'s annual Yom Hashoah Hazkore. Interview of Boris Sandler, as Editor of the Yiddish Forward (Forverts), on his second-to-last day at this position. He retired Friday erev Pesach. By Yosef Lakhman. (This is an abbreviated excerpt. The full interview will be aired next week.)

Highlights from Yiddish Actors and Friends 2016 Cultural Seder with Fyvush Finkel, Cantor Martin Moshe Bear, Cantor Naomi Hirsch Also: Hasia Segal: Yiddish Hagode (Replay) Also: Kalmen David: Di Fir Kashes (Replay)

Purim program with replays of Hasia Segal (Jokes), Martele Friedman (Purim Shpil), Reyzl Kirkel reads Betty Misheiker z"l's "Der Feter Reb Zundl", Moyshe Hollender z"l (Purim Shpil). Also, "Shoshanas Yaacoiv" from the Malavsky Family's Purim album.

Purim program with replays of presentations by Hasia Segal, Myer Loketch, Yosef Lakhman, and Miriam Libenson z"l.

Interview with veteran Israeli actor Yaacov ("Yankele") Bodo.

Interview with veteran Israeli actor Yaacov ("Yankele") Bodo. (Replay from Mar. 30, 2016.)

In the first half of the show, following a brief news report from Kol Israel radio in Jerusalem, we feature part 1 of an interview with Motl and the late Bella Murstein, which we recorded in November 2012 but have not yet had an opportunity to air. Motl Murstein is well-known in the Boston community for his attendance over many years at most Yiddish events, at Brookline's Congregation Kehillath Israel and other local shuls, and at Holocaust memorial events. Since the interview, Motl's wife Bella, who had been in poor health for several years, passed away in April 2015. The interview was conducted primarily by Dovid Braun. The interview will be aired in parts over the next few weeks. In the second half of the show, we hear a number of tracks from the audio CD "As Dreams Fall Apart: The Golde Age of Jewish Stage and Film Music 1925-1955" by the New Budapest Orpheum Society.

Zackary Sholem Berger discusses his new book of poetry One Nation Taken Out of Another. Poetry Reading with Sholem Berger Monday, Dec 14, 2015 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Workmen's Circle Building, 1762 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02445 Zackary Sholem Berger (@ZackBergerMDPhD) will read from his newest book of poetry in English and Yiddish, _One Nation Taken Out of Another_ (Apprentice House, 2014) - a joyride on a bassackward hybrid with an American brain, Yiddish heart, and all sorts of wandering limbs grafted onto the whole. It's midrash, whimsy, and polyglot extravagance. The evening will be in Yiddish and a smattering of English. Books will be for sale. Info: circleboston.org, +1 (617) 566-6281 Amram Deutsch interview continues (part 2). Myer Loketch discusses Hanukkah (replay from 2006).

Interview (part 1) with Mr. Amram Deutsch of Los Angeles, a survivor of the Holocaust originally from Sighet, and a cofounder or LA's Congregation Bais Naftoli. Replay of last week's interview with Shmuel Norich, publisher of the Yiddish Forward. Replay of our 2007 interview with Mikhl Zajac, originally from Warsaw, in recognition of his recent 100th birthday. Mazl tov!

Sam Norich, publisher of the Yiddish Forverts newspaper, gives an update on recent, current, and upcoming features of the Forverts, its web site (yiddish.forward.com), social media (e.g., @Forverts on Twitter). Avi Hoffman talks about his role as Willie Loman in the Yiddish translation of the late Jewish playwright Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". (Replay)

Avi Hoffman talks about his role as Willie Loman in the Yiddish translation of the late Jewish playwright Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman". Iosif Lakhman discusses the Beilis Trial, which took place 100 years ago. (Replay)

Interview with Rabbi Joseph (Itzik-Leyb) Kolakowski, from upstate New York, about his recent article in the Forward: I'm an Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi and I Support Women's Ordination. Interview, part 2, with Dovid Mermelstein, leader of President of the Association of Holocaust Survivors of Miami, survivor of Auschwitz and Matthausen, originally from the Carpathian mountain area that was under Hungarian occupation during World War II.

Replay of interview with Anita Norich, Professor of English and Jewish Studies at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, about her newest book, Writing in Tongues: Translating Yiddish in the Twentieth Century. Gladys Heitin was a long-time friend of our cohost Hasia Segal. She was a veteran Boston Workmen's Circle member and leader, a teacher of Yiddish, and a great activist for Yiddish, Yiddish Culture, and secular Jewish/Yiddish identity. We replay excerpts from an interview with Gladys done in 2005 for our program in memory of the late Yiddish actress and radio personality from Boston Leah Post Carrey, with whom Gladys was close friends for many decades. Also, daily news in Yiddish provided by Kol Israel radio service in Yiddish, presented by Avrohom Zaks.

Main interview: Rabbi Avrohom Marmorstein of Mehadrin Kashrus -- mehadrin.org (replay from 2013, slightly shortened due to time constraints). Greetings from our sponsors Israel Book Shop, BLER Travel, The Butcherie, and Cheryl Ann's Bakery. Greetings from our presenters and friends Hasia Segal, Yosef Lakhman, Dovid Braun, Linda Gritz, and Sholem Beinfeld.

Live broadcast from the "Yidish-Vokh" (Yiddish Week), a summer vacation week organized by the Yugntruf (Youth for Yiddish) organization (@yugntruf, yugntruf.org) at the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown, MD, with special guests Arele Vishwanat, Reyna Schaechter, Eve Jochnowitz, Itzik Bleaman, and Shane Baker. Also featuring a special birthday greetings ln her 102nd to our cohost Hasia Segal, who in turn sent special greeings to our radio show and to the Yidish-Vokh.

From our archives, Iosif Lakhman's 2008 presentation of both historical overview and personal perspective on the events of 12 August 1952, often referred to as the "Night of the Murdered Poets". Gennady Estraikh's 2012 interview goes into facts and misunderstandings about the 12 August 1952, as well discussing this history of the observance of this event in Jewish, especially Yiddish, cultural circles, as well as the future of such observances.

Excerpts from 2002 and 2015 interviews with Theodore Bikel previously aired on the Yiddish Voice; we talk with Theo Bikel's longtime producer and friend Moishe Rosenfeldof Golden Land Productions (www.goldenland.com). Theodore Bikel, the Tony-nominated actor, folk singer and original Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway, died yesterday, July 21, 2015, in Los Angeles aged 91. Bikel appeared on the Yiddish Voice with an interview in Yiddish just two months ago, in May 2015. Prior to that, Bikel was a guest in 2002. The actor famously played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof more times on stage than even Chaim Topol, who starred in the film, and also appeared in dozens of TV shows including The Twilight Zone, Charlie’s Angels, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Worf’s father. He is perhaps as well known in the Jewish world for his Yiddish song recordings on albums such as "Treasury of Yiddish Folk & Theatre Songs". Relevant links: http://www.bikel.com http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jul/22/theodore-bikel-actor-singer-and-broadway-star-dies-at-91 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/22/theater/theodore-bikel-master-of-versatility-in-songs-roles-and-activism-dies-at-91.html http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Other-News/Actor-and-Union-Activist-Theodore-Bikel-Dies-at-Age-91 http://forward.com/culture/312365/remembering-theodore-bikel-who-remained-defiant-to-the-end/ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/theodore-bikel-dead-sound-music-719735

Legendary actor and singer Theo Bikel talks about the new film about him, Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, and about his recently republished book, Theo: An Autobiography. For further information on the film, which is currently in screenings at film festivals worldwide: http://www.jewishfilm.org/Catalogue/films/theodorebikel.htm For information on Theo: An Autobiography: http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/2351-2ed.htm

Highlights: previously aired: Yoely Lebowitz (interview); Moshe Hollender (z"l) (Kiddush for Purim); Sholem Beinfeld (discusses Ruth Wisse's book No Joke: Making Jewish Humor) Air date: March 4, 2015