June 2022: Handpicked
Each month, the Yiddish Book Center asks a member of our staff or a special friend to select favorite stories, books, interviews, or articles from our online collections. This month, we’re excited to share with you picks by Sarah Biskowitz
Sarah Biskowitz is the 2021–22 Richard Herman Fellow at the Yiddish Book Center. Her Yiddish journey began at the Yiddish Book Center’s Great Jewish Books Summer Program for high school students, and she later returned to the Center to learn Yiddish at the Steiner Summer Yiddish Program. While studying abroad in Paris, she volunteered at the Paris Yiddish Center–Medem Library, which inspired her undergraduate translation thesis of Parisian Yiddish literature. She is a leader of the Rad Yiddish reading group and contributor to In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies. Sarah aspires to draw from the Jewish tradition to build a more inclusive and vibrant Jewish community and a more equitable world.
A mayse mit a ketsl (A Story with a Kitten) by Samuil Marshak (1953)
The other fellows and I read this story about a girl and her cat in our weekly leyenkrayz (reading circle). The author, Samuil Marshak, has been called the founder of Soviet children’s literature. This book contains beautiful illustrations, and Yiddish simple enough for beginners.
Mizreḥ un mayrev (East and West) by Wolf Wieivorka (1936)
In this collection of Yiddish short stories, Wieviorka describes the struggles of working-class Jews in interwar Paris. I first read from this book at the Paris Yiddish Center–Medem Library and translated a few stories for my undergraduate thesis. From social inequality to cultural assimilation to gender roles, the topics resonate as strongly as ever.
These translated excerpts of Bilder un geshṭalṭn fun monparnas by Chil Aronson (1963) provide a window into the glamorous and tragic world of Yiddish-speaking artists in 20th century Paris. My favorite part is the tribute to Bella Chagall.
Rokhl Kafrissen Visits with The Shmooze (2019)
Journalist Rokhl Kafrissen has long been an inspiration to me for her accessible, vibrant writing about Yiddish culture. Here she discusses a play she wrote about Yiddish women and folk traditions, and her coverage of the contemporary Yiddishist scene.
In this virtual program, three scholars of Yiddish literature and race discuss Yiddish theater, poetry, and prose about the oppression of Black people in the United States. The call for justice expressed in these Yiddish works sounds as loudly today as ever.
Who Is Irena Klepfisz?: Mentor, Lesbian Yiddish Poetess
In this Wexler Oral History clip, Zohar Weiman-Kelman describes discovering Irena Klepfisz’s work. I love this example of queer transmission of Yiddish culture featuring two trail-blazing, feminist Yiddishists.
Q&A
Tell us about your selections and what they say about your relationship with Yiddish language and culture.
Thanks to some great teachers and peers, I’ve learned how Yiddish is a fascinating language with a dynamic culture. Through Yiddish, I have enjoyed an array of literature, politics, art, music, and more from around the world. I was sure to select a variety of mediums to show the breadth of Yiddish culture. Even though I’ve studied Yiddish my entire adult life, I have much more to learn and read, but I am happy to share some of my favorite pieces so far.
Yiddish language and culture provides tools for young people today to better understand and improve our current world, as well as make new art and build networks. I am passionate about making Yiddish more accessible and creating and promoting resources for Yiddish education. I picked an adorable picture book to show that even with a little Yiddish, a beginning student can do a lot! And hopefully the short story collection I selected shows that continuing to study Yiddish enables one to tackle some excellent pieces of modern literature.
The Yiddish tradition is a rich source for inspiration. It has provided me with access to identity, community, and meaning. I hope to share Yiddish and those kinds of opportunities with other people on their own journeys. With deep roots, one can grow in any direction, and blossom!
What are you working on next?
My fellowship in bibliography and exhibitions at the Yiddish Book Center finishes at the end of July. In August, I will be a student and program assistant at the Summer Program for Yiddish Language and Literature in Berlin, organized by the Paris Yiddish Center–Medem Library. Starting in September, I will study Jewish texts as a Bloom Scholar at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
My translation of a short story by Wolf Wieviorka will be published by the Yiddish Book Center’s Pakn Treger Digital Issue on the topic of women’s experience. My translation of another of his stories was just published in Jewish Currents. I also have forthcoming projects with In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies, Vaybertaytsh: A Feminist Podcast, in Yiddish, and more. Follow my Twitter @sarahbiskowitz to hear about it all!