Elephants by Night: Sutzkever’s African Poetry

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

#Arts #YiddishBookCenter #Yiddish Book Centers

51:57

On the Season 2 debut of Lost Cultures: Living Legacies , we travel to Bermuda, an Atlantic island whose history spans centuries and continents. Once uninhabited, Bermuda became a vital stop in transatlantic trade, a maritime stronghold, and a cultural crossroads shaped by African, European, Caribbean, and Native American influences. Guests Dr. Kristy Warren and Dr. Edward Harris trace its transformation from an uninhabited island to a strategic outpost shaped by shipwrecks, colonization, the transatlantic slave trade, and the rise and fall of empires. Plus, former Director of Tourism Gary Phillips shares the story of the Gombey tradition, a vibrant performance art rooted in resistance, migration, and cultural fusion. Together, they reveal how Bermuda’s layered past continues to shape its people, culture, and identity today. You can also find us online at ⁠travelandleisure.com/lostcultures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices…

about a year ago 38:09

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Translator Mel Konner and Professor Justin Cammy sat down with "The Shmooze" to talk about the release of "Elephants by Night," a collection of newly translated poems by Abraham Sutzkever. The poems, a result of Sutzkever’s travels to South Africa, are meditations on place, memory, and renewal. Episode 387 January 16, 2025 Amherst, MA

392 episodes

Elephants by Night: Sutzkever’s African Poetry

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

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published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

392 episodes

#Arts #YiddishBookCenter #Yiddish Book Centers

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The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 392: The Shtetl Story behind The Light Keeper 17:34

27 days ago17:34

17:34

Co-authors Sheila Baslaw and Karen Levine joined "The Shmooze" to talk about "The Light Keeper," their illustrated children’s book that tells the story of ten-year-old Shmuel Saslovsky’s life in an early-twentieth-century shtetl. At 92, this is Sheila’s first published children’s book. In collaboration with Karen Levine, she worked to tell the story of how Sheila’s father Shmuel helped when electricity first came to his shtetl in Russia. Epsiode 392 May 18, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 391: Albert Chasan Paints His Parents’ Lives 36:14

6 weeks ago36:14

36:14

When Albert Chasan (1930–2024) retired from the marketing communications firm he founded, “It hit me: I had to do something with the stories my parents told.” He took up painting and commemorated the formative years of his parents’ lives through a series of expressionistic, boldly hued acrylics. A selection of color prints of many of these historically poignant works are on exhibit at the Yiddish Book Center. On the occasion of the exhibit opening, before a live audience at the Yiddish Book Center, Albert’s daughter Betty and his son Robert sat down with "The Shmooze" to talk about their father’s work as a painter and stories behind his narrative painting. Episode 391 May 5, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 390: Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt 27:09

7 weeks ago27:09

27:09

This week on "The Shmooze," writer, translator, and literary scholar David Stromberg. In a wide-ranging conversation, David talks about his recently released translation of "Isaac Bashevis Singer: Writings on Yiddish and Yiddishkayt: A Spiritual Reappraisal, 1946–1955" (White Goat Press) and sheds light on Bashevis’s lesser-known nonfiction, which he has translated and edited for this collection of Singer’s writings. Episode 390 April 23, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 389: Treasured Melodies—The Morris Hollender 100th Birthday Concert 23:55

8 weeks ago23:55

23:55

Hankus Netsky joined "The Shmooze" to talk about his upcoming Morris Hollender 100th birthday concert. In conversation we spoke about how interest in Eastern European Jewish musical traditions has experienced an unprecedented resurgence in recent years and how the melodies that Morris Hollender brought over from his birthplace in a small farming village in the Carpathian Mountains have become a major pillar of that resurgence. An Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, Hollender came to the Boston area from Czechoslovakia in 1967. The program will include little-known melodies that Hollender learned as a child in the Munkacs region of Eastern Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine) and shared generously with Temple Beth Israel members and others during his years in the United States. The concert will take at Temple Beth Israel located at 25 Harvard St, Waltham, MA 02453. Tickets and more information are available at https://tbiwaltham.org/concert/. Episode 389 April 14, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 388: Onscreen at the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival 18:54

11 weeks ago18:54

18:54

Deb Krivoy, director of the annual Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, joined "The Shmooze" to talk about this year’s lineup. Now in its nineteenth year, the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival continues its tradition of showcasing award-winning films from around the globe. This year’s festival kicks off at the Yiddish Book Center on April 3 with the screening of "Midas Man." Episode 388 March 26, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Elephants by Night: Sutzkever’s African Poetry 38:09

21 weeks ago38:09

38:09

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 386: THE ESSENCE: A YIDDISH THEATRE DIM SUM 22:06

23 weeks ago22:06

22:06

Allen Lewis Rickman and fellow actor Yelena Shmulenson, better known as the shtetl couple from the Coen brothers’ Oscar-nominated "A Serious Man," sat down with "The Shmooze" to chat about their work in Yiddish theater and their staging of their fast-paced comedy "THE ESSENCE: A YIDDISH THEATRE DIM SUM," which is onstage at the New York’s Theater 154 January 7 to 12, 2025. Episode 386 January 7, 2025 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 385: Bashevis’s Demons 26:04

26 weeks ago26:04

26:04

Direct from engagements in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, Shane Baker and Miryem-Khaye Seigel sat down with "The Shmooze" to talk about their latest collaboration, "BASHEVIS’S DEMONS." The performance includes three short stories by legendary Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer. It makes its official Off-Broadway bow at Theatre 154, 154 Christopher Street (between Greenwich and Washington Streets), with performances beginning December 18, 2024, through January 5, 2025. "BASHEVIS’S DEMONS" will be presented by the Congress for Jewish Culture in association with Out of the Box Theatrics and ChaShaMa. Tickets are available at https://congressforjewishculture.org/bashevisdemons. Episode 385 December 11, 2024 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 384: Frank London’s Latest Releases 32:39

27 weeks ago32:39

32:39

Frank London visited with "The Shmooze" to chat about his latest LP, "In the City of God," and other releases. In a far-flung conversation, Frank spoke about how he became a musician, his influences past and present, and the release of the new LP. Episode 384 December 5, 2024 Amherst, MA

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 383: Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook 21:32

28 weeks ago21:32

21:32

Ilan Stavans sits down with "The Shmooze" to talk about his recently released cookbook, "Sabor Judío." Co-authored with Margaret Boyle, the collection of over 100 recipes celebrates the fusion of two culinary traditions, Jewish and Mexican, and tells the story of how cooking and eating connects Jewish Mexicans across places and generations. Episode 383 November 30, 2024 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 382: Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah 17:57

29 weeks ago17:57

17:57

Ezra Glinter sat down with "The Shmooze" to talk about his recently released biography of Menachem Mendel Schneerson. This is the first biography of Schneerson to combine a nonpartisan view of his life, work, and impact with an insider’s understanding of the ideology that drove him and that continues to inspire the Chabad-Lubavitch movement today. Episode 382 November 21, 2024 Amherst, MA"…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 381: Harvey Wang’s New York 29:22

35 weeks ago29:22

29:22

In a live conversation at the Yiddish Book Center, award-winning photographer, filmmaker, and author Harvey Wang visits with "The Shmooze" to talk about his work and his recently opened exhibit, "Harvey Wang’s New York."In the early years of his career, in the 1980s, Harvey’s photographic beat was the New York City nightlife scene. Yet a very different facet of the downtown landscape fascinated him. Cycling through the Lower East Side, he’d notice old businesses clearly not long for this world—venerable holdouts from when the neighborhood was an epicenter of Jewish immigration. Episode 381 October 9, 2024 Amherst, MA"…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 380: Yiddish: A Global Culture live on Bloomberg Connects 23:53

37 weeks ago23:53

23:53

David Mazower, chief-curator and writer of "Yiddish: A Global Culture," and Caleb Sher, the Yiddish Book Center’s Richard S. Herman Endowed Senior Fellow, join "The Shmooze" to share the news that the Center’s groundbreaking exhibition, "Yiddish: A Global Culture," is now live on the Bloomberg Connects app. The free, downloadable app allows users to explore expert-curated guides from some 550 selected cultural institutions across the globe in the palm of their hand. David and Caleb share some of what can be found on the app—from featured artifacts, videos, and audio to how to plan your visit or learn about related exhibits and public programs. Episode 380 September 26, 2024 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 379: The Book of Izzy 24:49

41 weeks ago24:49

24:49

Novelist Ben Gonshor joins "The Shmooze" to talk about his debut novel, "The Book of Izzy." The book’s main character, Izzy, is a writer at wit’s end in life and on the verge of a complete breakdown with his career in wedding planning. Following an encounter with a mysterious bird seemingly visible only to him, he agrees to take on the leading role in an amateur production of the greatest play in all of the Yiddish theater: "The Dybbuk," a gothic tale of destiny, possession, and the triumph of love over all. In conversation with Ben we talk about the many layers of Izzy and the book’s underlying narrative. Episode 379 August 27, 2024 Amherst, MA…

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

1
Episode 378: Displaced Persons: A Multilayered Collection of Stories 23:53

42 weeks ago23:53