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Interview with a Montreal cousin

Sara Israel Feb 04, 2012

In December, I had the privilege of interviewing my mother’s cousin, Sherrie Poplack, for the Wexler Oral History Project. I had joined Jordan Kutzik and Christa Whitney on a trip to the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, to pick up Yiddish audio books and to conduct oral history interviews with members of the Jewish community. I went to college in Montreal, and couldn’t wait to return – to eat bagels, get a taste of winter weather, and interview Sherrie....

Montreal Trip

Jordan Kutzik Jan 11, 2012

On Monday, December 12, I set off for Montreal with Christa Whitney, the director of the Wexler Oral History Project, and Sara Israel, one of my co-fellows, in order to pick up roughly 1,000 reel-to-reel tapes and 300 cassettes from the Jewish Public Library of Montreal so that they could be digitized as part of the Frances Brandt Online Yiddish Audio Library....

Yiddish children's plays from Vilna

Jordan Kutzik Oct 26, 2011

Working as a fellow at the Yiddish Book Center it’s very easy to lose a minute or two from time to time amongst the wonders of the book collection just browsing through the titles . . .

Coda to Yiddish Book Rescue in Manhattan

David Morrill Schlitt Apr 08, 2011

Three weeks ago, while our wonderful volunteers sorted through books and journals, I took off on a last minute trip to New York City. When I returned the following day, I had brought back three more boxes to add to their "to-do" list...
 
 

Yiddish Book Rescue in Manhattan

Emma Morgenstern Mar 01, 2011

On February 11, I went to Manhattan with Fellows David Schlitt and Anita Christensen to collect the Yiddish library of the late writer Moyshe Shtarkman. Shtarkman’s wife, Rachel, recently passed away; their daughters, Reeva and Monica, felt that the Yiddish Book Center would be the best new home for the....

American and European Jews: What Should the Connection Be?

Emma Morgenstern Feb 07, 2011

Last week, a film crew from French public television visited the Book Center to interview Aaron Lansky, and then some of the young people that are part of the organization. Seven of us yunge mentshn sat in front of a camera while Rachel Ertel (or Rokhl af Yiddish) asked us questions in Yiddish and English about our roles at the Book Center, how we learned Yiddish, what we are reading in Yiddish, and the reasons we are working to revive/preserve....

Our Place in the American Jewish Community

Emma Morgenstern Jan 05, 2011

Last week, at the Association for Jewish Studies Conference in Boston, I attended a panel called “Reorganizing the American Jewish Community: What Can Changes in the Philanthropic/Nonprofit Sector Tell Us About Judaism and Jewish Life?” One panelist, J. Shawn Landres, shared statistics regarding Jewish nonprofit startups in the past ten years, which came out of....

On the Spot: An Oral History with Ilene Gelbaum

Emma Morgenstern Dec 08, 2010

I didn’t know anything about Ilene Gelbaum except that she was visiting the Book Center from California with her husband, and she wanted to tell her story for the Wexler Oral History Project. Ilene turned out to be a gifted storyteller with many stories to share. She talked about everything from meeting her husband in high school in Brooklyn, to her stint in the Peace Corps in Sri Lanka, to the five thousand (!) babies she delivered in her 40-year career as a midwife.

A visit to Di Folksbiene, the National Yiddish Theater

Anita Christensen Nov 24, 2010

Last week, the Book Center's fellows decided to go to New York for a bit of Yiddish culture (because eight hours a day of Yiddish cultural immersion simply isn't enough).  Fellow Anita Christensen writes about a recent trip to New York to see Di Folksbiene, the National Yiddish Theater.