Joe the Waiter
Joe the Waiter is an episodic radiocast produced by the Yiddish Book Center and read by Mikhl Yashinsky.
Our latest episodic radiocast, Joe the Waiter, by Israel Joseph Zevin (1872–1926) and translated by Dan Setzer, is a collection of humorous stories of Jewish life that give us a unique glimpse into the morals, society, and customs of turn-of-the-century New York, as well as insights into the ups and downs of everyday life. Each story is very short, only three or four pages, a format that was ideal for publication in a daily newspaper.
Zevin created characters from his observations of the people he met and knew (Joe the Waiter is a brash young man of the Lower East Side looking for adventure—and a wife). In these stories we get a privileged look into the daily life of the Jewish immigrant community in the early years of the twentieth century.
Scroll down the page to listen to each episode.
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Made possible by a gift from Dava Berkman.