Texts & Translations

New translations into English of Yiddish language materials including poetry, stories, essays, and archival materials of all kinds. Original Yiddish texts are presented in a standardized orthography and are fully searchable.

Texts & Translation

מײַן פֿאָטער

My Father

Aaron Zeitlin’s poem about his father, Hil­lel Zeitlin 

Texts & Translation

צװיי לידער

Two Poems

"I'll Take Off My Shoes" and "Abraham Our Father Takes Isaac to the Sacrifice" by Itzik Manger.

Texts & Translation

רויך

Smoke

A standalone poem by Jacob Glatstein

Texts & Translation

נישגוט־לאַפּיטוט האָט פֿאַרלױרן דעם מוט

Goblin Nogood Has Run Out of Clout

A new translation of Jacob Glatstein's powerful and playful 1943 children's poem.

Texts & Translation

באַלײדיקט

Wounded

A new trans­la­tion of Mal­ka Lee’s Baley­dikt” from her 1932 col­lec­tion Lid­er.

Texts & Translation

צוויי לידער

Two Poems

Two poems by Celia Dropkin 

Texts & Translation

כּתר: פֿראַגמענטן פֿון אַ ראַפּסאָדיע

Keter: Fragments of a Rhapsody

Zeitlin’s kab­bal­is­tic poem offers a stun­ning, yet dif­fi­cult, fusion of Yid­dish expres­sion­ism and futur­ism on the one hand, and mys­ti­cal and mes­sian­ic thought on the other. 

Texts & Translation

אַ שטיקעלע ברויט

A Crumb of Bread

A new trans­la­tion of David Edelsh­tat’s pro­le­tar­i­an poem a shtikele broyt.

Texts & Translation

די באַלאַדע פֿון מײַן אומעט

My Tale of Woe

Moyshe-Leyb Halpern’s mor­bid, post­mod­ernist bal­lad in a new, cre­ative trans­la­tion by Michael Shapiro. 

Texts & Translation

דרײַ לידער

Three Poems

Three poems by Leyb Kvitko from his 1919 col­lec­tion, Trit.

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