Roger Horowitz, author of the recently published Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food, shares a few backstories from his book about the history of keeping kosher in America. He reveals how iconic products such as Coca Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher, what made Manischewitz wine the first kosher name-brand product to gain a wide non-Jewish audience, and more.

Episode 0140

March 24, 2017

Yiddish Book Center

Amherst, Massachusetts

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