The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

Highlights: The upcoming Israeli elections are discussed in unhurried conversations with three frequent guests of The Yiddish Voice: Daniel Galay (דניאל גלאי) is a composer, pianist, playwright, writer, educator and Yiddish activist, and Chairman of Leyvik House, the Yiddish cultural center in Tel Aviv that houses Israel’s Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists. Born in Argentina in 1945 and raised in a Yiddish-speaking home, he moved to Israel in 1965. Avremi Zaks (אבֿרהמי זאַקס) is a Jerusalem-based radio journalist and previously served for many years as host of the Kan Yiddish (כאן יידיש) radio show, Israel’s public Yiddish-language broadcast. He has reported for us regularly on Israeli affairs, most recently on the war with Iran and the “Lion’s Roar” operation. Leybl Botwinik (לײבל באָטװיניק) is a writer of science fiction, poetry and songs in both Yiddish and English who grew up in Montreal’s vibrant Yiddish cultural scene. He is the son of the late Dovid Botwinik, a composer of Yiddish songs, music educator and Yiddish activist, and the brother of Sender Botwinik, a Yiddish educator, choral director and music producer. He has lived in Israel for many years and has passed Yiddish on to his children. The conversations are interspersed with songs from new recordings by Daniella Rabbani and The Bashevis Singers. (See credits below.) We spoke with Galay, Zaks and Botwinik at their homes in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Netanya, respectively, via Zoom on Oct. 21, 2026. Music Daniella Rabbani: Dona, Dona The Bashevis Singers: Levones Milkh Daniella Rabbani: Papir Iz Dokh Vays The Bashevis Singers: Krishlekh Fayer The Bashevis Singers: Eyn Ton Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: October 21, 2026

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר Highlights: Rabbi Nasan Maimon discusses Rosh Hashona generally and with the Breslever Chassidim in particular. We reached him on Tues., Sept. 8, via WhatsApp in Bucharest, Romania, which he was passing through on his way Uman, Ukraine. Maimon’s website, Breslov Torah, features his and others’ teachings on Breslov Chassidus. Sholem Beinfeld gives his historian’s perspective on Rosh Hashona, marking the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as more recent events. Sholem is a regular contributor to the Yiddish Voice, co-Editor in Chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. Sholem spoke to us by phone from his home in Cambridge on Weds, Sept. 9. Adi Mahalel talks about his new post teaching Yiddish studies at Harvard, and also about his recent books, including Boom and Chains: A Yiddish Novel Set in Israel/Palestine, for which he wrote the introduction and translated from the original written in Yiddish by Hanan Ayalti. STUDENTS: it’s not too late to register! Contact the teacher: amahalel at fas.harvard.edu We spoke to Adi at his home in Cambridge via Zoom on Tues., Sept. 8. Emma Breslow talks about her new post teaching Yiddish at Brandeis, and also about her academic research on Yiddish as a minority language, which you can find on her website www.emmabreslow.com. STUDENTS: it’s not too late to register! Contact the teacher: ebreslow at brandeis.edu We spoke to Emma at her home in the Boston area via Zoom on Weds., Sept. 9. Dovid Braun gives a warm greeting for the new year, while also marking the sad passing of Motl Murstein, a friend of the show and frequent guest, whose funeral was yesterday. Dovid also talks about Yiddish at Yivo, where he teaches Yiddish and serves as Academic Advisor in Yiddish Language, Pedagogy and Linguistics. We spoke to Dovid in person during his visit to the Boston area on Weds., Sept. 9. Rosh Hashona Announcements and well-wishes for the new year from sponsors and friends: Mary Erlich and Tania Lefman, Holocaust survivors, for the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, announcing the annual Yizkor Memorial Service, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, 10:30 AM, at Brandeis University, Statue of Job, near Berlin Chapel. Eli Dovek, late proprietor of Israel Book Shop (from 2009) Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, chair of the board of the The League for Yiddish/די ייִדיש-ליגע Libe Gritz for Bostoner Arbeter-Ring Music Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: September 9, 2026

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר Highlights: Moshe Lobel is interviewed about the film SHTTL, in which he plays the leading role. Lobel and Adi Walter (writer/director) will appear in person at showings in New York City Sunday, Sept. 6, and Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, at New Plaza Cinema – Info: https://newplazacinema.org/details/ST00001142/shttl/ Rosh Hashona Announcements and well-wishes for the new year from sponsors and friends: Eli Dovek, late proprietor of Israel Book Shop (from 2009) Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, chair of the board of the The League for Yiddish/די ייִדיש-ליגע Libe Gritz for Bostoner Arbeter-Ring Music Moshe Lobel: V’shomri (from the SHTTL original motion picture soundtrack) Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: September 2, 2026

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר Highlights: Prof. Hannah Pollin-Galay is interviewed about the impact of the Holocaust on the Yiddish language and her most recent book Occupied Words: What the Holocaust Did to Yiddish (U Penn Press, 2024), which explores how Yiddish changed to express and memorialize the trauma of the Holocaust. Prof. Pollin-Galay also reads several excerpts from the book (in English). Prof. Pollin-Galay is Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Professor of History, Professor of Judaic Studies and Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide & Memory Studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst. We reached Prof. Pollin-Galay via Zoom at her home in the Amherst, Mass., area on July 21, 2026. The interviewer, Sholem Beinfeld, is co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary (Indiana University Press, 2013) and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. His translations from Yiddish into English The Rudashevsky Diary, which was published as the November, 2024, issue of The Jewish Quarterly. Music Leibele Waldman: Der Nyer Yohr Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: August 26, 2026

Highlights: Prof. Ruth Wisse discusses her life and work, the subject of her memoir Free as a Jew: A Personal Memoir of National Self-Liberation (Wicked Son, 2021). She recalls encounters with Leonard Cohen, Itzik Manger and Isaac Bashevis Singer, and she reads excerpts from her book (in English) touching on early encounters with Avrom Sutzkever and Max Weinreich. Wisse was Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard from 1993 to 2014. Her books include The Schlemiel as Modern Hero and The Modern Jewish Canon, and she co-edited The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse. She received the National Humanities Medal in 2007 and delivered the NEH Jefferson Lecture in 2026. She is currently Distinguished Senior Fellow at Tikvah, where she holds lectures and gives courses frequently, which you can find at Tikvah.org’s course website here: https://ideas.tikvah.org/courses From our archive: presentation by our late cohost Iosif Lakhman regarding the infamous date 12 August 1952, known in Yiddish cultural circles as the Night of the Murdered Poets, originally aired in 2008. Music Emil Gorovets, with musical arrangements and piano accompaniment by Zalmen Mlotek: Ikh Bin a Yid (Itzik Feffer) In Vinter Farnakhtn (Dovid Hofshteyn) Di Muze (Peretz Markish) An Alter Nign (Leib Kvitko) Instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz Air date: August 12, 2026