Happy Hanukkah ! אַ פֿרײלעכן חנוכּה

Our normally happy Hanukkah programming was overshaddowed by the horrific massacre of Jews at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia's Bondi Beach. We spoke with Alex Dafner, Australia's main Yiddish radio presenter the past 40 years and a leading Yiddish and Jewish cultural activist and teacher based in Melbourne, about the horrible massacre and about the situation of Australian Jewry in general. Also heard are short excerpts from the funeral of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, who was murdered in the massacre. Alex Dafner is host of the Kadimah Yiddish Show, a radio show and podcast produced by Melbourne's J-Air Jewish radio station. To listen to the live show and podcasts, go to their website: https://www.j-air.com.au/kadimah-yiddish-show-2/ Follow Alex on social media at Twitter/X: @AlexDafner or Facebook: facebook.com/YiddishRadio. We reached Alex Dafner via Zoom at his home in Melbourne, Australia, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, in the evening, Boston time, and Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the morning, Melbourne time.

Music for Hanukkah:

• Cantor Pierre Pinchik (פּינחס פּינטשיק): Maoz Tsur (מעוז צור)
• Cantor Sidor Belarsky: Haneros Halolu

Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: December 17, 2025

Happy Hanukkah ! אַ פֿרײלעכן חנוכּה

Highlights:

• Sender Botwinik (סענדער באָטװיניק), music and Yiddish teacher, chorus director and Yiddishist, discusses the new CD he produced and publishedZumer iz Shoyn Vider Do – זומער איז שוין ווידער דאָ featuring the music of his late father Dovid Botwinik, the Vilna-born music composer, music teacher, songwriter, chorus director and Holocaust survivor. Info here: https://botwinikmusic.com/new-album/ We reached Sender Botwinik in Philadelphia via Zoom on Dec. 8, 2025.

Music from CD Zumer iz Shoyn Vider Do – זומער איז שוין ווידער דאָ:

• Anna Reisner, Tessa Pearlstein:Vider brent dos alte lempl
• Mackenzie Sherman and Chorus (Anna Reisner, Joelle Pearlstein, Kendall Gold-Rappe, Laney Gold-Rappe, Skylar Zachian, Tessa Pearlstein): Shtoltse likhtelekh
• Chorus: Nem in hant dos kleyne dreydl
• Chorus: Dreydele
• Skylar Zachian, Tessa Pearlstein and Chorus: A khanike-nes
• Dina-Malka Botwinik: Dreydele

Other Music for Hanukkah:

• Avram, Elisha and Sarah Mlotek: Lesht nit di likhtlekh oys
• Yossi Desser: Dreidelech
• Jordan Wax: Khanike iz Freylekh / Spin Around Like a Dreydl
• Moishe Oysher: Blessing of the Candles
  • Klezmer Conservatory Band (soloist: Judy Bressler): Chanuka, Oy Chanuka
  • Lori Cahan-Simon: Kinder haynt iz khanike
  • Arbeter-Ring Kinder Khor: Hanukkah song medley

Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: December 10, 2025

Highlights:

• Mikhl Yashinsky (מיכל יאַשינסקי), a multifaceted actor, playwright, director, lyricist, translator and Yiddishist, discusses his translation of the new bookAdventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes by Jonas Kreppel, originally written by Jonas Kreppel in Yiddish and recently published in English translation (October, 2025) by White Goat Press. Publisher's page: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/about/white-goat-press-0/jonas-kreppel For more info on Mikhl Yashinsky visit: https://yashinsky.com

• The interviewer, Lillian ("Leah") Shporer-Leavitt, is a frequent cohost of The Yiddish Voice and an experienced Yiddish translator and teacher. She has taught Yiddish for many years at various institutions in the Boston area, including Workers Circle and Gann Academy.

• Music:

  • Moishe Oysher: Blessing the Chanukah Candles
  • Ikh Bin a Kleyner Dreydl
  • Pripetshik Singers: Kh'Bin a Dreydl
  • Marthe Schlamme: Chanuke o Chanuke
  • Pripetshik Singers: Akht Likhtelekh
  • Sidor Belarsky: O, Ir Kleyne Lichtelech
  • Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: November 19, 2025

Highlights:

• Rabbi Zach Golden (זכריה גאָלדן) was ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles in 2020. He is the co-founder of Der Nister Downtown Jewish Center and previously served as Deputy Editor at the Forverts Yiddish newspaper. He is the co-founder of Los Angeles Yiddish Day 2025, which takes place Sunday, November 23, 2025, on the campus of Hebrew Union College near Downtown Los Angeles. For information and registration, visit: LAYiddish.org We interviewed Zach in person at a meeting of the West Hollywood Yiddish Shmues-Krayz in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 9, 2025.

• From our archive: Rukhl Schaechter (שׂרה-רחל שעכטער), editor of Forverts (a/k/a the Yiddish Forward, פֿאָרווערטס), online at forward.com/yiddish, reflects on 25 years with this Yiddish institution, originally as a writer and now as its editor. She spoke with us on Zoom from her home in Yonkers on Nov. 24, 2024. The Forward celebrated her anniversary with a Celebrate Our Rukhl event in New York, NY, on Weds., Dec. 4, 2024. Info: https://www.pages.forward.com/rukhl-celebration (A longer version of this interview originally aired Nov. 27, 2024.)

• Music:

  • Sidi Tal:Nokhemke Mayn Zun
  • Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS from Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: November 12, 2025

As our show aired Erev Yom Kippur, we again presented excerpts of our past interviews on The Yiddish Voice/דאָס ייִדישע קול with Holocaust survivors who died during the past year. Since our previous episode, we've lost Ben Lesser, who died the first day of Rosh Hashona, so we were unable to include this in our previous week's show. The remainder of the show is a repeat of the previous week's show.

• Ben Lesser (died September 23, 2025, age 96) - Ben was a Holocaust Survivor, Author, Lecturer, and visionary founder of The ZACHOR Holocaust Remembrance Foundation. He was known around the world for his courageous testimony, tireless advocacy and unwavering commitment to education and remembrance. Born in Krakow, Poland in 1928 to Shari Segal and Lazar Leser. Ben was the second youngest of five children, Moshe Leser, Lola Lieber-Schwartz, Goldie Leser and baby brother Naphtali Leser. At age ten his life as a boy was forever changed. He endured four concentration camps, a seven-week death march, and two death trains, one of which was the notorious ill-fated death train from Buchenwald to Dachau where of the 6,000 inmates that walked on, only 18 walked off. Ben was the last living survivor from that train. We reached him by Zoom on Apr. 17, 2023. Originally aired April 19, 2023.
  • NOTE: MEMORIAL SERVICE OCT 19 2025: https://templebethsholomlv.shulcloud.com/form/ben-lesser-memorial
• (for additional show notes, see show notes for last week's episode: https://podcast.yv.org/episodes/remembering-aron-bell-bielski-natan-gipsman-judy-altmann-zoli-langer)

Air date: October 1, 2025

We are again airing excerpts of interviews with Holocaust survivors, past guests of The Yiddish Voice/דאָס ייִדישע קול who died during the past year. Since our previous episode, we've lost Ben Lesser, who died the first day of Rosh Hashona, so we were unable to include this in our previous week's show. The remainder of the show is a repeat of the previous week's show.

• Aron Bell (Bielski) (died September 22, 2025, age 98) - born in the village Stankiewicze, near Navaredok (now in Belarus), he was the last of the famed Bielski brothers, who led the Bielski Partisans, which collectively saved more than 1,200 Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. We reached him by phone at his home in Palm Beach, FL, on Jan. 12, 2009. Originally aired Jan. 14, 2009.
• Natan Gipsman (died the night of September 10th, 2025, age 100) - born in Hindenburg (Upper Silesia, Prussia), Germany (now Zabrze, Poland), he was confined in the Będzin (Yiddish: בענדין) Ghetto and survived six concentration camps, including Buchenwald. We interviewed him at his home in Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2024. Originally aired Feb 15, 2024.
• Judy Altmann (died April 30, 2025, age 100) - born in Jasina, Czechoslovakia (Körösmezö, Hungary during WWII; now Yasinya, Ukraine), she survived Auschwitz and death marches. We reached her by phone at her home in Stamford, CT, on Aug. 18, 2018. Originally aired Apr. 25, 2019.
• Zoli Langer (died February 28, 2025, age 98) - born in the village Minai, near Uzhgorod, Czechoslovakia (Ungvar, Hungary during WWII, now Uzhhorod, Ukraine), he survived Auschwitz and death marches. We interviewed at his home in Los Angeles on Oct. 31, 2019. Originally aired Apr. 22, 2020.

‫אַ גמר חתימה טובֿה!

Featured Announcements for Rosh Hashona/Yom Kippur:

• Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Tania Lefman (Treasurer), Mary Ehrlich and Rosalie Reszelbach. Recorded Sept. 9 and 10, 2025.
• Hy Wolfe, manager of CYCO Books, Hebrew Actors Foundation and the Yiddish National Theatre. Recorded Sept. 21, 2025.
• Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Recorded Sept. 9, 2025.
• Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Recorded in 2009.
• Greetings on behalf of the Boston Workers Circle / דער באָסטאָנער אַרבעטער-רינג by Libe Gritz. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.
• Greetings by The Yiddish Voice co-hosts Leye Schporer-Leavitt, Sholem Beinfeld and Dovid Braun. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.

Music:

• Sholom Katz: Zochreinu L'Chayim
• Sholom Katz: Kol Nidre
• Jan Peerce: Ovinu Malkeinu
• Shalom Katz: El Moleh Rachamim
• Leibele Waldman: Der Nayer Yor
• Goldie Malavsky: Zochreinu L'Chayim
• Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: September 24, 2025

• Shmuel Bak (Samuel Bak), the internationally renowned artist and Holocaust survivor, presented in a lengthy conversation with his friend, The Yiddish Voice co-host Sholem Beinfeld. Excerpts from Pucker Gallery's page about Bak:
  • *Samuel Bak was born in Vilna, Poland in 1933, at a crucial moment in modern history. From 1940 to 1944, Vilna was under Soviet, then German occupation. Bak’s artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Ghetto of Vilna when he was nine years old. While he and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. At the end of the war, he fled with his mother to the Landsberg Displaced Persons Camp, where he enrolled in painting lessons at the Blocherer School in Munich. In 1948, they immigrated to the newly established state of Israel. He studied at the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem and completed his mandatory service in the Israeli army. In 1956, he went to Paris to continue his education at the École des Beaux Arts.... Bak has exhibited extensively in major museums, galleries, and universities throughout Europe, Israel, and the United States. He lived and worked in Tel Aviv, Paris, Rome, New York, and Lausanne before settling in Massachusetts in 1993 and becoming an American citizen. Bak has been the subject of articles, scholarly works, and over twenty books, most notably a 400-page monograph entitled Between Worlds. In 2001, he published his touching memoir, Painted in Words, which has been translated into four languages, and a biography entitled Art & Life: The Story of Samuel Bak was published in 2023. Related links:
    • Wikipedia page for Samuel Bak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bak
    • Pucker Gallery page for Samuel Bak: https://www.puckergallery.com/samuel-bak
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center (Omaha, NE): https://www.unomaha.edu/samuel-bak-museum-the-learning-center/
• Sholem Beinfeld is co-editor-in-chief of the Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary and Professor of History, Emeritus, Washington University, St. Louis. He translated The Rudashevsky Diary, which was published as the November, 2024, issue of The Jewish Quarterly.

אַ כּ‫תיבֿה וחתימה טובֿה!

Featured Announcements for Rosh Hashona:

• Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Recorded Sept. 9, 2025.
• Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Mary Ehrlich, Rosalie Reszelbach and Tania Lefman (Treasurer). Recorded Sept. 9 and 10, 2025.
• Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Recorded in 2009.
• Greetings on behalf of the Boston Workers Circle / דער באָסטאָנער אַרבעטער-רינג by Libe Gritz. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.
• Greetings by The Yiddish Voice co-hosts Leye Schporer-Leavitt, Sholem Beinfeld and Dovid Braun. Recorded Sept. 17, 2025.<...

• Matty Mendlowitz runs the YouTube channel Multisingual, featuring Yiddish-language vlogs of her travels, deep dives into world languages (especially Yiddish and its history and grammar, with a focus on contemporary Chassidic Yiddish), Disney clips dubbed into Yiddish, and much more engaging content. In this interview Matty talks about her background, including growing up speaking Yiddish, and what caused her to embrace Yiddish and learn many other languages and about her travels and other content she presents on her YouTube channel. Several excerpts of her YouTube content are presented during the show. We reached Matty via Zoom in Helsinki, Finland, on September 5, 2025. Related links
  • Matty Mendlowitz's Multisingual YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@multisingual1241
  • Featured Multisingual videos
    • Disney Frozen’s Let it Go sung in Yiddish: https://youtu.be/QnIYfnHmyfc?si=BVakMguPCV5od7Mj
    • Hannukah Story in Yiddish: The Festival of Lights Explained: https://youtu.be/brF2Xqmx4Ng?si=J_Y-4XRLtm4cWkZ-
    • Synonyms in Yiddish: Expanding your Yiddish Vocabulary with Like Words: https://youtu.be/TKp5QRcrSC8?si=4WRPgGbtkp1K3ip8
  • Frieda Vizel's recent (Aug., 2025) interview with Matty (in English): https://youtu.be/OhEuezMqyaE?si=5jq1vfGjAjPL_COs

אַ כּ‫תיבֿה וחתימה טובֿה!

Featured Announcements for Rosh Hashona:

• Greetings on behalf of the League for Yiddish / די ייִדיש-ליגע by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Board Chair. Recorded Sept. 9, 2025.
• Greetings on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants of Greater Boston, featuring members Mary Ehrlich, Rosalie Reszelbach and Tania Lefman (Treasurer). Recorded Sept. 9 and 10, 2025.
• Greetings from Eli Dovek ז״ל, late proprietor of our sponsor Israel Bookshop, Brookline, MA. Recorded in 2009.

Music: (Partial List)

• Sholom Katz: Zochreinu L'Chayim
• Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz

Air date: September 10, 2025