Shmuel Bak, Painter and Holocaust Survivor from Vilna

• Shmuel Bak (Samuel Bak), the internationally renowned artist and Holocaust survivor, presented in a lengthy conversation with his friend, The Yiddish Voice co-host Sholem Beinfeld. Excerpts from Pucker Gallery's page about Bak:
  • Samuel Bak was born in Vilna, Poland in 1933, at a crucial moment in modern history. From 1940 to 1944, Vilna was under Soviet, then German occupation. Bak’s artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Ghetto of Vilna when he was nine years old. While he and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. At the end of the war, he fled with his mother to the Landsberg Displaced Persons Camp, where he enrolled in painting lessons at the Blocherer School in Munich. In 1948, they immigrated to the newly established state of Israel. He studied at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem and completed his mandatory service in the Israeli army. In 1956, he went to Paris to continue his education at the École des Beaux Arts.... Bak has exhibited extensively in major museums, galleries, and universities throughout Europe, Israel, and the United States. He lived and worked in Tel Aviv, Paris, Rome, New York, and Lausanne before settling in Massachusetts in 1993 and becoming an American citizen. Bak has been the subject of articles, scholarly works, and over twenty books, most notably a 400-page monograph entitled Between Worlds. In 2001, he published his touching memoir, Painted in Words, which has been translated into four languages, and a biography entitled Art & Life: The Story of Samuel Bak was published in 2023. Related links:
    • Wikipedia page for Samuel Bak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bak
    • Pucker Gallery page for Samuel Bak: https://www.puckergallery.com/samuel-bak
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center (Omaha, NE): https://www.unomaha.edu/samuel-bak-museum-the-learning-center/
• Sholem Beinfeld is co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. He translated The Rudashevsky Diary, which was published as the November, 2024, issue of The Jewish Quarterly.

אַ כּ‫תיבֿה וחתימה טובֿה!

Featured Announcements for Rosh Hashona:

• Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Recorded Sept. 9, 2025.
• Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Mary Ehrlich, Rosalie Reszelbach and Tania Lefman (Treasurer). Recorded Sept. 9 and 10, 2025.
• Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Recorded in 2009.
• Greetings on behalf of the Boston Workers Circle / דער באָסטאָנער אַרבעטער-רינג by Libe Gritz. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.
• Greetings by The Yiddish Voice co-hosts Leye Schporer-Leavitt, Sholem Beinfeld and Dovid Braun. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.

Music:

• Sholom Katz: Zochreinu L'Chayim
• Simcha Koussevitzky: Zochreinu L'Chayim
• Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: September 17, 2025