Music Treasures of the American Yiddish Theater: Interview with Matt Temkin
On Sunday, December 15, 2013 at 3:00 pm, YIVO will celebrate the work of the most popular composers from the golden age of Yiddish American theater, otherwise known as the “big four of Second Avenue”: Abraham Ellstein, Alexander Olshanetsky, Sholom Secunda, and Joseph Rumshinsky. Program consultant Matt Temkin was interviewed by Yedies Editor Roberta Newman on November 26. Read more…
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman: August 7, 1920 – November 28, 2013
YIVO mourns the loss of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, who died last week at the age of 93. Beyle, one of the greatest contemporary writers of Yiddish song and poetry was an inspiration to younger generations interested in Yiddish culture. Read more…
Jewish Literary Life in the Soviet Union: Interview with Gennady Estraikh
Gennady Estraikh is an expert on Yiddish literary and intellectual history, particularly of the Soviet era. For this year’s YIVO-Bard Winter Program on Ashkenazic Civilization, Estraikh will teach the class, Jewish Literary Life in the Soviet Union, focusing on the lives and work of Soviet Yiddish writers from 1917 through 1991. Read more…
YIVO in the News/YIVO Staff Notes – November 2013
On November 15, YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent appeared on the Chicago podcast, The Milt Rosenberg Show, where he spoke about Yiddish and the renewal of Ashkenazic civilization. On December 2, Jonathan appeared on the Chicago public radio show, Worldview, to discuss his participation in the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania. Read more…
From the Pages of Yedies
The YIVO Archives and Library contain many rare manuscripts and books. Some are from YIVO’s prewar collections, rescued from the Nazis by dedicated volunteers in Vilna (Wilno, Poland, present day Vilnius, Lithuania) or recovered with the help of the U.S. Army after the end of World War II. But many others were acquired from YIVO after its relocation to the U.S. in 1940. Read more…