We’re on Summer Break

Tayere leyeners, Dear readers:

As I write this note, I am sitting in a cafe by a window so tall it takes up the whole of the wall. It’s a cool day, following heavy rains earlier in the week, and a cafe worker just came by to open the window and let in the gentle breeze. I am filled with gratitude.

My mind takes me to Debora Vogel’s poem “Der glezer” [A Glazier] which I was first introduced to in Anastasiya Lyubas’s stunning translation years ago. The poem plays upon the blankness of windows: so grey and mundane and rectangular, but also in their way so beautiful, like “watery joy.” 

We often talk about the scholarship, essays, and translations that we publish as offering a “window” into the world(s) of Yiddish, an entry point and a vantage point through which our readers can’t necessarily touch Yiddish’s lived experiences —  after all In geveb can only be accessed as words on a screen —  but can catch a glimpse of it. Through the mundanity of rectangle boxes, through these “grey blocks of longing” as Vogel describes, our readers can experience a range of ways of thinking, feeling, and understanding Yiddish language and culture(s).

It is a privilege to publish this excellent work year after year, and to connect you, our readers, to the ideas in our webpages. And for those moments when the writing seems to open up a window and bring you into contact with something, new or familiar, that touches you, we are particularly grateful.

This year we have published:

- 9 translations

- 1 academic article

- 14 pedagogy pieces

- 19 blog posts

- 22 book reviews (of literary translations and academic books) and an additional book review forum consisting of six short reviews of the same academic book.

- A special issue celebrating our 10th anniversary 

- Regular recurring resources such as: summer programs roundup, translations roundup, latest in Yiddish studies bibliography, and, of course, our Purim issue

All of this work is brought to you by our tireless editorial staff, and this year in particular I wish to recognize Matthew Johnson, peer review editor, and Tamar Aizenberg, peer review associate, who are leaving the journal after years of service. Thank you to each of them for their many hours of answering emails, corresponding with authors and reviewers, working to develop pieces of writing and whole special issues, and ensuring that our peer review section holds to the highest standards of academic writing while also being a deeply compassionate and human endeavor.

As we head into our summer publishing break, we want to remind you of some ways you can stay involved with the journal during these summer months:

Read: You can catch up on In geveb pieces from our archive. Everything we have ever published is available for free on our site, and we hope you’ll keep reading old material while we’re pausing with the new.

Write: Although our response times may be longer over the summer, we are still open for submissions and are eager to hear about what you’re doing this summer. If you’re attending a summer language program, going to (or performing at!) a festival, reading your way through an archive, or otherwise spending your time with Yiddish, consider writing for us about it and sharing that work with our readership. Send us your pitches to [email protected].

Give: Please give what you can and support In geveb financially, whether this is your first time giving or whether you are a long-time supporter. We need your help so In geveb can continue to grow and thrive and remain a central address for the study of all things Yiddish online. As a special bonus: if you make a summer break donation, we will send along one of our limited-edition tsen yor anniversary stickers. 

We are grateful to our community of readers, writers, and supporters and proud of all we have accomplished together. If you have read something we published; if you have spent time talking or thinking about it; if you have shared it with a friend; if you have donated to us, cited us, or sent us your writing—a hartsikn dank.

We wish you a rejuvenating summer, and look forward to learning with you again in the fall,

Jessica Kirzane and the rest of the In geveb team