Tune in! The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

Eric Byron joins us this week to speak about the Ellis Island sound archives, which include a collection of Yiddish phonographic recordings dating from the 1890s to 1930s. Byron shares the history of these recordings, which we were made for an audience of newly arrived immigrants, and cranks up his Victor phonograph to share a few treasures from the collection. Episode 0139 March 16, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

This week we sat down with the Yiddish Book Center's own Eitan Kensky to talk about our newest publication, The Abandoned Book and Other Yiddish Stories. The book features thirty original translations of Yiddish works by both famous and lesser-known authors, culled from the many translations that have appeared in our magazine, Pakn Treger, since its second issue. Eitan talks about the fun and challenge of poring over back issues of the magazine to pull together a cohesive collection, and about the complex and often surprising process of finding new Yiddish translators and of Yiddish translation itself. Episode 0138 March 10, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

This week we sat down with Judah Cohen, an ethnomusicologist who focuses on the ways that Jewish communities are brought together by the music that they create and celebrate. From a young age, Judah was fascinated by the role music can play in shaping one's sense of self. Now, in his work, he explores how Jewish sound relates to Jewish identity. Episode 0137 March 3, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Hello Mazel is a subscription service that delivers handpicked Jewish goodies—from Margarita mix to a towel that says "shvitsy"--right to your doorstep. We sat down with Yoav Schlesinger, the founder of Hello Mazel, to learn about the inspiration behind this Jewish-themed subscription box and how they pick treats that every Jewish grandmother would approve of. Episode 0136 February 24, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Over the course of his decades-long career, Bob Dylan has produced some of the most powerful political songs of the era. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, he grew up in a traditional Jewish family in Hibbing, Minnesota. Seth Rogovoy, author of Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, joins us to talk about Dylan's Jewish roots and how he went from leading sing-alongs at summer camp to becoming one of the most important voices of his generation and winning a Nobel Prize. Episode 0135 February 17, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Yiddish theater is experiencing an almost renaissance, with new productions of old Yiddish plays hitting the stage for the first time in decades. The Digital Yiddish Theatre Project was founded in 2012 by experts in the field of Yiddish theater, from historians and literary scholars to performers and musicologists. Joel Berkowitz, one of the founders, talks about how the project began and how it aims to bring Yiddish theater, past and present, to contemporary audiences in new ways. Episode 0134 February 10, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Artist Amy Kurzweil joins us this week to speak about her critically acclaimed graphic memoir "Flying Couch." The memoir brings together Amy's own coming-of-age story with the story of her mother, a child psychologist, and her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, demonstrating the importance of family in the formation of one's identity. Episode 0133 February 2, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

The Brooklyn-based Matzo Project, founded by summer camp friends Kevin Rodriguez and Ashley Albert, aims to make matzo less stale. They, along with a number of other foodie companies in Brooklyn, are introducing fresh contemporary takes on the foods that Jews know and love. Kevin joins us this week to talk about the origins of the company, the matzo-making process, and the unique flavors that The Matzo Project offers. Episode 0132 January 27, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

The stories collected in the newly published Have I Got a Story for You—discovered after many hours of combing through Der Forverts' archives—represent a departure from classic Yiddish literature and a new form of Yiddish mass media that would take the Jewish immigrant community by storm. Ezra Glinter, editor of the collection (a 2016 National Jewish Book Award Finalist), joins us to speak about the stories and what they mean not only for contemporary audiences, but what they meant for the writers who made their living doing what they loved, in a period when many Jews on the Lower East Side were working in factories and sweatshops. Episode 0131 January 20, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Playwright and journalist Max Sparber was raised in a Reform Jewish household, attended an Orthodox high school, and, in college, majored in Jewish studies. After college, while living in Omaha, Nebraska, he set out to learn one thousand Yiddish words in a year—and in the process, discovered the richness of Yiddish culture. Max chronicles his efforts to teach himself Yiddish on his blog "Dress British, Think Yiddish." Episode 0130 January 13, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Author Lesléa Newman joins us to speak about her prolific writing career and how her books and poetry are informed by her being Jewish and a lesbian. She discusses her popular book of short stories, "A Letter to Harvey Milk," and shares a poem from her newest collection, "I Carry My Mother." Episode 0129 January 4, 2017 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Blume Lempel was born in what is now Ukraine, spent time in Paris as a young woman, then fled to New York just before the Second World War, where she wrote works of Yiddish fiction until her death in 1999. Ellen Cassedy and her translation partner, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, have brought Lempel’s unique storytelling to light in their recent publication Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories. Cassedy joins us to speak about what drew them to Lempel’s stories and gives a taste of her bold, surprising work. Episode 0128 December 14, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

In the wake of the Ottoman Empire, Jews living in Salonica were forced to reimagine their communities and rethink their place in the newly formed nation-state of Greece. Devin Naar joins us this week to speak about his new book, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece, and about how access to previously confiscated archives helped to inform his understanding of these communities. Episode 0127 December 6, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

The Yiddish Book Center’s newest exhibit, Balka’s Lower East Side, features art that transcends the moment during which it was created. Curator Laura Kruger joins us to speak about the origins of the collection and the unique look that the pieces provide into what it was like to live on the Lower East Side in the twentieth century. Episode 0126 November 29, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Macaroni and cheese flowcharts and schnitzel costume patterns are just two of the many things you can find in Molly Yeh’s (Tent: Food NYC ’14) new cookbook “Molly on the Range.” Hear how she brings together the many aspects of her identity into reimagined Jewish recipes that are guaranteed to make your holiday cooking special. Episode 0125 November 21, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Masschusetts

What makes photography a particularly Jewish craft? That question fueled renowned photographer Penny Wolin’s eight-year project to capture the essence of American Jewish photographers, which eventually led to her newest book, Descendants of Light: American Photographers of Jewish Ancestry. Episode 0124 November 14, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

In the Yiddish Book Center’s new Great Jewish Books Book Club, which launches in January, club members will explore great works of modern Jewish literature with like-minded readers from around the world. Josh Lambert, the Center’s academic director, talks about the details of the club and how it came to be, and gives you a sneak peek of the first title that book club members will receive. Episode 0123 November 7, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Episode 0122: Finding Babel by Yiddish Book Center

In the late nineteenth century, Jews celebrated the New Year by sending each other illustrated postcards with hopes and wishes for the upcoming year. Hannah Pressman, affiliate faculty and communications director for the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington, shares the unique history of these cards, the companies that produced them, and the nostalgia that they inspire. Episode 0121 October 19, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts

Marjorie Ingall discusses her new book, Mamaleh Knows Best: What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children, which turns the negative stereotype of the Jewish mother on its head to show the many positives of a Jewish style of parenting. Ingall is a columnist for Tablet and a contributor to the New York Times Book Review. Episode 0120 October 6, 2016 Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts