Joe Szwarcberg; Pesach 2026; Rabbi Teitelbaum

We wish all our cohosts, sponsors and friends a Happy and Kosher Pesach.

מיר ווינטשן אַלע אונדזערע אונטערשטיצער, פֿרײַנד און באַטייליקטע אַ פֿריילעכן און כּשרן פּסח

HIGHLIGHTS:

• We welcome back Rabbi Yitzchok-Boruch Teitelbaum, known in his Monroe, NY, community as der Pshischer Rebbe, for Pesach greetings and words of wisdom. We reached Rabbi Teitelbaum by phone at his home in Monsey, NY, on Mar. 25, 2026.

• We hear Holocaust survivor Joe Szwarcberg (יוסף שװאַרצבערג) tell his story of survival in his own words. Joseph Szwarcberg was born in 1930 in Kozienice, Poland. He survived the Holocaust, including Buchenwald, where he was liberated by the US Army on April 11, 1945. At age 17, he emigrated to Australia, where he built a life and was active in the “Buchenwald Boys,” a group originally comprised of 45 young survivors liberated on that same day. Today, he is the only surviving member. We reached Joe via WhatsApp at his home in Melbourne, Australia, on Mar. 18, 2026. Special thanks to Jiri Kluc, Holocaust historian in the Czech Republic, for help producing this interview.

• Pesach greetings from many of our cohosts, friends and sponsors, as follows:

  • Israel Book Shop (Eli Dovek ז״ל recorded Mar 28 2007).
  • American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston (member and Holocaust survivor Tania Lefman, and member and Holocaust survivor Mary Erlich), co-sponsor of Boston's 2026 Commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Sunday, April 12 at 10:00 AM Eastern. We reached them at their homes in Greater Boston by phone on March 25, 2026.
  • League for Yiddish, New York, NY, (Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Chair of the Board). Recorded at her home in Teaneck, NJ, on March 25, 2026.
  • Leah Shporer-Leavitt, Newton, MA, co-host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול (recorded at her home in Greater Boston on March 24, 2026).
  • Dovid Braun, Leonia, NJ, co-host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול (recorded by phone at his office at YIVO on March 25, 2026).
  • Yankele Bodo, Tel Aviv, Israel, actor and singer (from 2016).
  • Eli Grodko, New Millford, NJ, friend of the show. Recorded at his home in Teaneck, NJ, on March 25, 2026.
  • Boston Workers Circle, Brookline, MA (Yiddish committee member Linda (Libe-Reyzl) Gritz), recorded at her home in Greater Boston on March 24, 2026.
  • Sholem Beinfeld, Cambridge, MA, co-host of The Yiddish Voice / דאָס ייִדישע קול, co-editor of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, emeritus, Washington Univ., St. Louis, with extended remarks on Pesach 5786. We recorded Sholem at his home in Cambridge, MA, by phone on March 25, 2026.
  • Hy Wolfe, Director of CYCO Yiddish Book Center, Long Island City, NY. We recorded Hy by phone at his home in Manhattan on March 25, 2026.

Music:

• Mark (מאָטל) Murstein: Mi Yodea (Recorded at his Brookline, MA, home for the Yiddish Voice, Pesach, 2019)
• Moishe Oysher: Kiddush for Pesach
• Lori Cahan and Meyshke Alpert: Zog, Maran
• Lori Cahan and Meyshke Alpert: In Dem Land Fun Piramidn
• Malavsky Family: Ho...