"In conversation with Chuck Fishman we learn about his 45-year career as a freelance photographer whose work focuses on social and political issues with a strong humanistic concern. In 1975 he traveled to Poland to photograph the “dwindling remnant of a once-vibrant Jewish community on the brink of extinction,” and he has returned several times, most recently to photograph the Jewish community’s response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis occurring there now.

Chuck Fishman’s visiting exhibit "Roots, Resilience and Renewal—A Portrait of Polish Jews, 1975–2016" is on view at the Yiddish Book Center through fall 2022.

Episode 329

June 13, 2022

Amherst, MA

In conversation with Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, we hear about his latest work of translation. "Dineh: An Autobiographical Novel," posthumously published, is a Yiddish-language novel by Ida Maze, a pastorale laced with beauty and sorrow and a bildungsroman told from the point of view of a young girl. Living in what is now Belarus, Maze’s heroine is fueled by her hunger for learning, connection to family and community, and love of the natural world.

Episode 328

May 19, 2022

Amherst, MA

On "The Shmooze" this week, we talk with Misha Schaffner-Kargman, a sophomore at Bard College studying Yiddish who hosts a spot on the school’s student-run radio station, WXBC. Every Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. Misha streams two hours of Yiddish music and hosts beginner Yiddish lessons on WXBC’s Mixlr page.

Episode 327

May 5, 2022

Amherst, MA

This month the Great Jewish Books Club selection is a rich anthology of the interplay of Yiddish and American culture: "How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish." "The Shmooze" asked film critic Kenneth Turan to recommend films that speak to the interplay of Yiddish and American culture. His list included a range of films—and prompted a lively conversation.

Episode 326

April 19, 2022

Amherst, MA

Annette Libeskind Berkovits visited with "The Shmooze" to talk about her latest book, "The Corset Maker." The novel tells the story of a Parisian count, a Moroccan arms smuggler, and an orphaned Spanish boy who test the convictions and tug at the heart of Rifka Berg, a young Jewish corsetiere from Warsaw. "The Corset Maker" is inspired by Annette Libeskind Berkovits' mother and her close friends, all women of immense courage and integrity. Rifka’s personal struggles and dilemmas go to the heart of the major ethical issues and challenges of our times.

Episode 325

April 10, 2022

Amherst, MA

This week "The Shmooze" visited with Ilan Stavans, co-editor of "How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish"—a Great Jewish Books Club 2022 selection. In conversation we talk about this momentous and diverse anthology of the influences and inspirations of Yiddish voices in America—radical, dangerous, and seductive but also “sweet, generous, and full of life.”

Episode 324

March 27, 2022

Amherst, MA

Award-winning author Shirley Vernick joins "The Shmooze" to talk about "Ripped Away," her latest book, which is based on real historical events, including the Jack the Ripper crimes, the inquests, and the accusations against immigrants. The story’s main character, Abe Pearlman, wanders into fortune teller’s shop for a little diversion. The fortune teller reveals that Abe may be able to save someone’s life— and from there readers time travel to the world of Jewish Victorian London.

Episode 323

March 6, 2022

Amherst, MA

On "The Shmooze" this week we visit with "Farbindungen" Conference organizers Sarah Biskowitz and Carolyn Beard to learn about the two-day virtual conference, for early career Yiddish scholars, which aimed to build connections with by considering Yiddish networks – past and present. In conversation we learn that networks have deep roots in Yiddish culture—and we discuss how such networks might play out in today’s digital realm.

Episode 322

February 28, 2022

Amherst, MA

Yiddish Book Center bibliography and collections manager Rachelle Grossman sits down with "The Shmooze" to share news of the digitization and addition of the 100-volume "Musterverk fun der yidisher literatur" to the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library. The addition of the Musterverk series to the Center’s Digital Yiddish Library was made possible in partnership with La Fundación IWO Instituto Judío de Investigación in Buenos Aires. Published between 1957 and 1984, the series demonstrates the impressive breadth of Yiddish letters.

Episode 321

February 10,2022

Yiddish Book Center

Amherst, MA

This week we visit with Dr. Sheva Zucker to talk about her latest book. "The Golden Peacock" is a bilingual edition that includes the work of Yiddish writers Yankev Glatshteyn, Celia Dropkin, H. Leivick, Aron Glanz-Leyeles, Yente Mash, Kadya Molodowsky, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Sholem Aleichem, Yekhiel Shraibman, and Avrom Sutzkever. The print edition includes companion digital recordings of the writers reading from their poetry and prose. Presented as part of the Yiddish Book Center’s 2022 Decade of Discovery: Women in Yiddish.

Episode 320

February 3, 2022

Yiddish Book Center

Amherst, MA