The Forward recently hosted a panel discussion about the rich history of the Borscht Belt and the rise of Jewish comedy in the mid-20th century, including the legacy of the late comedian, Jackie Mason. Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter moderated the conversation with Phil Brown, President of the Catskills Institute and Professor of Sociology and Health…
If you were to ask people which country had the very first Holocaust museum, most would likely answer “Israel” or “the United States.” The true answer, though, is Vilna (Vilnius), and what’s more surprising, is that it was founded even before World War II was over, in 1944 – a dramatic history detailed in David…
Read this article in Yiddish. Jewish actress, neuroscientist and newly-minted “Jeopardy!” host Mayim Bialik is not just talented and smart. She speaks Yiddish and has proved herself to be a wonderful Yiddish comedienne, too. Bialik, who was recently announced as the host of a new series of “Jeopardy!” prime time specials, will also be guest…
It’s widely known that Eastern European Jews have a traditional, ironic brand of humor. You can hear it clearly in this anecdote told by Ruth Kohn, a professional Yiddish translator and interpreter, at a talent show held at the annual “Yiddish Vokh” in Copake, NY:
Beets were a staple among the Jews of Eastern Europe, although most of them probably didn’t know its nutritional benefits. Beetroot is rich in folate, magnesium, vitamin C, and fiber. Recent studies show that beets and beetroot juice reduce blood pressure, increase blood flow and might even improve athletic performance. In this clip of the…
Read this article in Yiddish. Musician and music archivist Hank Sapoznik has announced that he has raised enough money from private donations to put up a gravestone for the remarkable African-American cantor, Thomas LaRue Jones. The in-person unveiling ceremony will take place on Sunday, August 29th, at 11:00 am, 67 years after Jones’ death,…
Since the Forward launched its YouTube series, “Yiddish Word of the Day” in April 2020, a number of viewers have asked how they could sign up for it. In “Yiddish Word of the Day,” Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter gives viewers a daily Yiddish mini-lesson, consisting of words, idioms and proverbs centered around a certain theme….
Read this article in Yiddish A classic Yiddish book about a child of divorce has now been republished in a bilingual edition. The story, Between Parents, by the Yiddish essayist and journalist, Hersh Dovid Nomberg, describes the experiences of a young boy in Warsaw after his parents get divorced. The book was first published in…
Read this article in Yiddish A jack of many trades is sometimes a master of them all Speaking with Miriam Udel, the Yiddish professor at Emory University in Atlanta who is reacquainting the world with Yiddish children’s literature, you quickly notice something remarkable. In one moment she sounds like a literary scholar and in the…
Read this article in Yiddish My father, Ben Perkal (Berche, in Yiddish) was a kind person and a devoted family man, but he may have been the worst shoemaker in Poland. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration. But he was surely the worst shoemaker in Ostralenka, the shtetl in northeastern Poland that he grew…
Read this article in Yiddish June 2020 through August 2021 was supposed to be a gap year for me as I moved from my undergraduate to graduate studies. I didn’t plan for the pandemic, let alone its impact on my Jewish, scholarly and music communities. We were all forced to adapt to online formats, reshaping…
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