The 'Yiddish Voice' Podcast

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:

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:

Air date: September 2, 2026

Happy New Year! אַ גוט געבענטשט יאָר

Highlights:

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.

Air date: August 12, 2026

Highlights:

Rabbi Nasan Maimon discusses his life and work, Breslover Chassidism and Tisha B’Ov, which is to begin this evening actually during our radio broadcast. His website, Breslov Torah, features his and others’ teachings on Breslov Chassidus.

From our archive: presentation on Tisha B’Ov by Miriam Libenson, originally aired in 1995.

Air date: July 23, 2026

Highlights:

Our co-host Sholem Beinfeld, who is Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis, gives a historic, and Jewish, perspective on the United States of America in observance of the upcoming 4th of July, 2026, holiday. Later in the program, we play a series of songs in honor of America written and performed by a variety of performers and songwriters.

Our featured guest is Anna Halberstam Rubin, talking about her life, including her youth before and during the Holocaust, which she wrote about in her memoir Just a Little Girl: Despair and Deliverance (1993, 1994, 2018 AHR Books, Palo Alto). Anna was born in Poland but grew up in Slovakia, the daughter of Rav Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, and the granddaughter of two rabbis, Rav Naftali Rubin of of Nowy Wiśnicz, Poland, and Rabbi Menachem Mendele Halberstam of Stropkov, Slovakia, The Stropkover Rebbe. During the war, Anna comes of age and narrowly escapes death on multiple occasions. Eventually, she makes it out of danger by joining one of the remarkable rescue convoys organized by Rudolf Kastner, escaping from Hungary to Switzerland. Her convoy was separate from the better-known Kastner train, which also brought Jewish refugees to safety, including the Satmarer Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum. After the war, she eventually moved to the United States and married Israel Rubin, a sociologist, a foremost expert on Hungarian Jewry and author of the book Satmar: An Island in the City. We spoke to Anna at the home of her daughter Haya Rubin in the Lakewood, NJ area in August, 2024.

Air date: July 1, 2026

Interview with Lea Koenig (ליאַ קעניג), one of Israel’s most beloved stage actresses, together with Yaniv Goldberg, author of The Stage of Her Life: Conversations with Actress Lea Koenig on Theater and Her Life.

The program focuses on Koenig’s long career in Yiddish theater as well as Israeli Hebrew-language theater, TV and film. Born into a Yiddish theatrical family, Koenig became known internationally for her work in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Goldberg’s book, published in late 2025 by Academic Studies Press of Newton, Massachusetts, grew out of years of conversations with Koenig about her life, her artistry, her Yiddish background and her central place in Israeli cultural life.

Dr. Yaniv Shimon Goldberg is a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University and an expert on the Yiddish language and Jewish theater. He is also a rabbi, attorney, theater director and scholar of law and theater whose work includes research on legal issues in Yiddish drama. Goldberg’s reading of brief excerpts from his introduction to the book (in English) are interspersed at a couple of points during the interview.

The interview included actors and Yiddish activists Mikhl Yashinsky and Hy Wolfe as special guest co-hosts.

We did the interview on Zoom on May 6, 2026. Yaniv and Lea participated from Lea’s home in Tel Aviv; Mikhl was on tour in Australia; and Hy was at his home in New York City.

This Sunday, May 31, 2026, Mikhl is leading a community read IN YIDDISH of selections from Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, the book by Jonas Kreppel that he translated. Sign up here: https://yivo.org/Sherlock-Holmes

This Thursday, May 28, 2026, Hy Wolfe will perform an evening of Yiddish songs and stories at Forest Hills Library. Click here for info on Facebook.

Air date: May 27, 2026

Preview excerpt of our upcoming full episode featuring special guest Lea Koenig (ליִאַ קעניג) interviewed by special guest co-host Mikhl Yashinsky (מיכל יאַשינסקי), which was recorded on Zoom on May 6, 2026, with Lea in Israel and Mikhl in Australia. The full episode, also featuring special guest Professor Yaniv Goldberg and special guest co-host Hy Wolfe, will debut on the Yiddish Voice radio show (WUNR 1600 AM, Brookline/Boston) and live stream (https://yv.org) on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at 7:30 PM Eastern, and will be released on all the podcast platforms shortly thereafter.

HIGHLIGHTS

On the day of Israel Independence Day (Yom Haatsmaut) and one day after Israel’s Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron), we welcome back Leybl Botwinik to talk about life in Israel while at war against Iran. Leybl Botwinik 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. We reached Leybl by phone at his home in Natanya on Wednesday, Apr. 22, 2026.

From our archives (2008): Hasia Segal ז״ל talks about a relatively unsung hero of Israel, and a Bostonian, the late Dewey Stone, who made significant contributions to the establishment of the State of Israel.

Music

Air date: April 22, 2026

We wish all our cohosts, sponsors and friends a Happy and Kosher Pesach.

מיר ווינטשן אַלע אונדזערע אונטערשטיצער, פֿרײַנד און באַטייליקטע אַ פֿריילעכן און כּשרן פּסח

HIGHLIGHTS:

We welcome back Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, known in his Monroe, NY, community as der Pshischer Rebbe, for Pesach greetings and words of wisdom. We reached Rabbi Teitelbaum by phone at his home in Monsey, NY, on Mar. 25, 2026.

We hear Holocaust survivor Joe Szwarcberg (יוסף שװאַרצבערג) tell his story of survival in his own words. Joseph Szwarcberg was born in 1930 in Kozienice, Poland. He survived the Holocaust, including Buchenwald, where he was liberated by the US Army on April 11, 1945. At age 17, he emigrated to Australia, where he built a life and was active in the “Buchenwald Boys,” a group originally comprised of 45 young survivors liberated on that same day. Today, he is the only surviving member. We reached Joe via WhatsApp at his home in Melbourne, Australia, on Mar. 18, 2026. Special thanks to Jiri Kluc, Holocaust historian in the Czech Republic, for help producing this interview.

Pesach greetings from many of our cohosts, friends and sponsors, as follows:

Music:

Air date: March 25, 2026