Rachel Rojanski: Yiddish in Israel (Part 2); and Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary

Most of this week's show was taken up with the second part of
our interview with Rachel Rojanski,
discussing her book Yiddish in Israel: A History, published
in English by Indiana University Press in 2020. The
discussion is in Yiddish. Last week's show (May 26 2021)
presented the first part of the discussion. The second part
aired this week on Wednesday, June 2, 2021. Rachel Rojanski
is Associate Professor of Judaic Studies at Brown University.
She is author of Conflicting Identities: Labor Zionism in
North America 1905-1931 (in Hebrew) as well as many articles
on political and cultural history of East European Jewish
immigrants in the U.S. and Israel. About the book (blurb):


Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held
view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli
authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a
radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish
and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Author Rachel Rojanski tells the
compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most
widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared
in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. (Additional publisher
info here:
https://iupress.org/9780253045140/yiddish-in-israel/)




The interview was led by Sholem Beinfeld,
professor of history emeritus at Washington University, St.
Louis, and co-chief editor of the Comprehensive
Yiddish-English Dictionary.




Also, from our archive we heard an excerpt of our 2016
interview with Gitl Shaechter-Viswanath and
Hershl Glasser, editors of Comprehensive
English-Yiddish Dictionary. (Interviewed by Dovid
Braun and Iosif Lakhman ז״ל)
Additional info here: https://englishyiddishdictionary.com




To close, we aired a series of songs with words by the late
poet Itzik Manger, whose 120th birthday was observed by
lovers of Yiddish literature the world over this past Sunday,
performed by various singers and musicians.




Music:


Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an
instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing
Waltz

Molly Picon and Simche Fostel: Yidl Mitn Fidl

Gadi Yagil: Di Elegye fun Fastrigose

Rosalie Gerut and Betty Silberman: Sarah's Lullabye and
Hagar's Lament (Sores Viglid Hogers Kloglid)

Chava Alberstein: Dona Dona

Moyshe Oisher: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym

Itzhak Perlman, Dov Seltzer, Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra: Afn Veg Shteyt A Boym (instrumental)





Air Date: June 3, 2021