Bronx Bohemians

For decades, Yiddish poet Bertha Kling and her husband Yekhiel welcomed Yiddish writers and artists into their home in the Bronx. This blog celebrates the Klings and their circle. Please check back at regular intervals as we post about the many members of the group, translate their writings and letters, and reveal unseen archival photographs and ephemera.

Miriam Karpilove, Photographic Retoucherin

Writer Miriam Karpilove’s scathing exposés of the sexism and harsh working conditions in Jewish immigrant photo studios drew on her own experiences as a teenage retoucher. [Posted February 14, 2023]
Fabulous Fashions: Bronx Bohemian Style

Hats, furs, pearls, and eyeliner: the effortless elegance of the Bertha Kling circle. [Posted June 25, 2021]
Bertha Kling: Poems

New translations reveal the lyricism, melancholy, and powerful feminist consciousness of the Bronx salon hostess. [Posted March 23, 2021]
Molodowsky’s Embrace

A snapshot of Yiddish writer and editor Kadya Molodowsky with Bertha Kling captures the warmth of a close friendship and the personal ties that sustained Yiddish literary culture in postwar North America. [Posted October 15, 2020]
Revealed After 100 Years: Abel Pann’s Showpiece Portrait

A portrait sketch unseen for a century emerges from a closet and reveals the friendships that brought together an illustrious group of Russian Jewish emigres in the Bronx. [Posted October 6, 2020]
Sunday in the Park with Bertha

Behind a snapshot of Yiddish writers in a New York park lies a saga of friendships, rivalries, and romance, as well as the story of modern Yiddish poetry in America. [Posted June 8, 2020]
Miriam Karpilove’s FOMO

Marooned in Connecticut, Yiddish writer Miriam Karpilove longed for the companionship of Bertha Kling’s Bronx salon. [Posted May 17, 2020]
Hinde Zaretsky

Rare archive film, memories of the Bronx, and a soaring poetic tribute to Bertha Kling. [Posted May 8, 2020]
The Painter from Palestine and the Yiddish Poet

Poet Bertha Kling befriended painter Reuven Rubin on his first visit to New York in 1921, after which he founded a ‘kibbutz’ in Far Rockaway with friends from her salon. [Posted April 20, 2020]
Bertha Kling and WWI Relief Aid

How Yiddish writers helped mobilize fellow immigrants for relief work during WWI. [Posted April 10, 2020]
Melech Ravitch: My Friend Bertha Kling

Yiddish writer and poet Melech Ravitch pays tribute to Bertha Kling, the 'big sister' of her literary circle. [Posted March 30, 2020]
A Yiddish Salon in the Bronx

Singer and poet Bertha Kling created a haven for fellow immigrants and Yiddish writers. [Posted March 5, 2020]
Bronx Bohemians: About the Blog

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Bronx Bohemians

Miriam Karpilove, Photographic Retoucherin

Fabulous Fashions: Bronx Bohemian Style

Bertha Kling: Poems

Molodowsky’s Embrace

Revealed After 100 Years: Abel Pann’s Showpiece Portrait

Sunday in the Park with Bertha

Miriam Karpilove’s FOMO

Hinde Zaretsky

The Painter from Palestine and the Yiddish Poet

Bertha Kling and WWI Relief Aid

Melech Ravitch: My Friend Bertha Kling

A Yiddish Salon in the Bronx

Bronx Bohemians: About the Blog