Rachel Rojanski: Yiddish in Israel (Part 2); and Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary

• Most of this week's show was taken up with the second part of our interview with Rachel Rojanski, discussing her book Yiddish in Israel: A History, published in English by Indiana University Press in 2020. The discussion is in Yiddish. Last week's show (May 26 2021) presented the first part of the discussion. The second part aired this week on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Rachel Rojanski is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brown University. She is author of Conflicting Identities: Labor Zionism in North America 1905-1931 (in Hebrew) as well as many articles on political and cultural history of East European Jewish immigrants in the U.S. and Israel. About the book (blurb):

  Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. (Additional publisher info here: https://iupress.org/9780253045140/yiddish-in-israel/)

• The interview was led by Sholem Beinfeld, professor of history emeritus at Washington University, St. Louis, and co-chief editor of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary.

• Also, from our archive we heard an excerpt of our 2016 interview with Gitl Shaechter-Viswanath and Hershl Glasser, editors of Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary. (Interviewed by Dovid Braun and Iosif Lakhman ז״ל) Additional info here: https://englishyiddishdictionary.com

• To close, we aired a series of songs with words by the late poet Itzik Manger, whose 120th birthday was observed by lovers of Yiddish literature the world over this past Sunday, performed by various singers and musicians.

• Music:

  • Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz
  • Molly Picon and Simche Fostel: Yidl Mitn Fidl
  • Gadi Yagil: Di Elegye fun Fastrigose
  • Rosalie Gerut and Betty Silberman: Sarah's Lullabye and Hagar's Lament (Sores Viglid Hogers Kloglid)
  • Chava Alberstein: Dona Dona
  • Moyshe Oisher: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym
  • Itzhak Perlman, Dov Seltzer, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym (instrumental)

Air Date: June 3, 2021