“Israeli Yiddish literature”

אַ נײַער ראָמאַן פֿון עמיל קאַלין באַקענט אונדז מיט אַ מוזע, אַן אַנטיהעלדינע

A new novel by Emil Kalin introduces us to a muse, an anti-hero

Apr 28, 2026

We are discovering that the story of Yiddish in Palestine/Israel is vast, complex, and utterly fascinating, and it’s being written not (yet) by a novelist or filmmaker, but by a group of scholars, librarians, archivists, and translators who stitch the narrative together like a patchwork. Gali Drucker Bar-Am’s book—published in Hebrew in 2021 and in English translation in 2024—adds an important chapter to the story.

Jun 26, 2025

The stories in this collection are an invitation to reexamine what Israeli literature is: to expand the category of Israeli literature beyond just the Hebrew language and in so doing to disrupt expectations about that literature.

Dec 12, 2024

As the war in Israel/Palestine continues to unfold, we aim to support our readers, many of whom are teachers and students of Yiddish, as they look for ways to learn about and discuss these events in mame-loshn.

Oct 25, 2023

A new Yiddish poem by Ber Kotlerman, composed on Motsei Simchat Torah 5784, and translated by Jessica Kirzane. 

Oct 17, 2023

These stories take place in Israeli cities, towns, and villages, in the post-war Soviet Union, and in Poland of the interwar period. However, it is often very difficult to tell where the stories actually take place, because they express an experience of dislocation and total disorientation.

May 20, 2020

Jun 24, 2019

This paper aims to complicate the neat chronology that bifurcates modern Jewish literature from its Hasidic roots, using Fishl Schneersohn's novel Khayim Gravitser and Avraham Shlonsky's Hebrew translation of the novel to demonstrate that these authors continued the Hasidic literary tradition of Chabad even as they embraced alternative literary forms in the cause of new aesthetic agendas.

Oct 09, 2018

Nov 13, 2017

The second in a series of teaching guides, this one for Maia Evrona's translation of Yoysef Kerler's poems "Old Fashioned" and "The Sea" (1979).

Jan 17, 2017

Naomi Brenner's new book complicates the story of the Hebrew-Yiddish "language wars" and argues that Jewish translingualism continues well into the 20th century. 

Sep 18, 2016

Translations of two poems by Yoysef Kerler 

Feb 15, 2016

An essay on the late Benjamin Harshav, one of the most important literary scholars of the last decades, and how in his work Yiddish served as a bridge between Europe, Israel, and North America, between poetry, translation, and scholarship. 

Aug 26, 2015