Interviews

Interview

“Conversion through language”: Mo Pareles on Yiddish, Old English, and the Temporal Other

A medieval­ist uses Yid­dish in her scrip­tur­al scholarship. 

Interview

Radical, Rational Eating: Eve Jochnowitz on Eastern European Vegetarians, Jewish Politics, and Translating The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook

Eve Jochnowitz dis­cuss­es the rise of veg­e­tar­i­an cui­sine among Jews, left­ist pol­i­tics, and how to make gefilte fish with­out any fish at all. 

Interview

Embracing the Multiple: A Conversation with Zohar Weiman-Kelman

Zohar Weiman-Kel­man on the inter­sec­tions of Yid­dish, trans­la­tion, and the erotic. 

Interview

"Eight Volumes in Dour Maroon": Josh Fogel on Translating the Leksikon

The Lek­sikon fun der nay­er yidish­er lit­er­atur, which is full of hard-to-find bio­graph­i­cal and bib­li­o­graph­i­cal infor­ma­tion about Yid­dish writ­ers, is tough to access out­side insti­tu­tions or from the far side of a pay­wall. By method­i­cal­ly trans­lat­ing and post­ing entries from the Lek­sikon online, Josh Fogel is work­ing to change that. 

Interview

“Nothing’s of use to me, except this little song”: Norbert Hirschhorn Reimagines Yiddish Song

A new vol­ume of poet­ry that re-imag­ines Yid­dish folk song as con­fes­sion, polit­i­cal protest, and play­ful soundscape.

Interview

Bad Jews Making Good TV: An Interview with Yidlife Crisis

Jamie Elman and Eli Batal­ion on lan­guage pol­i­tics in Mon­tréal, Jew­ish com­e­dy, and mak­ing pop cul­ture in Yiddish. 

Interview

Anti-fascist Yiddish Song: Shneer and Eisenberg on Lin Jaldati

Lin Jal­dati was a sec­u­lar Dutch Jew who brought Yid­dish music to com­mu­nist East Ger­many. Now, Jew­lia Eisen­berg and David Shneer are reviv­ing her music and inves­ti­gat­ing her rev­o­lu­tion­ary life. 

Interview

"We Should Not Create Enemies": Europe's Refugee Crisis and Yiddish Song

Aus­tri­an shep­herd Hans Breuer on dri­ving refugees across the bor­der, and get­ting famous for singing Yid­dish songs. 

Interview

Questioning the Authentic: An Interview with Zisl Slepovitch of Litvakus

Zisl Sle­povitch of the band Lit­vakus on klezmer, gath­er­ing sto­ries, and grow­ing up in Belarus. 

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