The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast

Jan 15 2025 387 ep. 23 mins 961

The Shmooze, The Yiddish Book Center's Podcast artwork

The Yiddish Book Center's podcast includes conversations with Jewish culture makers, plus news and stories related to Yiddish literature, language, and culture.

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Elephants by Night: Sutzkever’s African Poetry

Jan 15 2025 38 mins

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

Episode 386: THE ESSENCE: A YIDDISH THEATRE DIM SUM

Jan 05 2025 22 mins

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. Epi

Episode 385: Bashevis’s Demons

Dec 09 2024 26 mins

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 Greenwic

Episode 384: Frank London’s Latest Releases

Dec 04 2024 32 mins

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

Episode 383: Sabor Judío: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook

Nov 25 2024 21 mins

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,

Episode 382: Menachem Mendel Schneerson: Becoming the Messiah

Nov 19 2024 17 mins

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 A

Episode 381: Harvey Wang’s New York

Oct 09 2024 29 mins

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 lan

Episode 380: Yiddish: A Global Culture live on Bloomberg Connects

Sep 25 2024 23 mins

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 guide

Episode 379: The Book of Izzy

Aug 26 2024 24 mins

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 t

Episode 378: Displaced Persons: A Multilayered Collection of Stories

Aug 21 2024 23 mins

Writer Joan Leegant joined "The Shmooze" to talk about her latest book, "Displaced Persons," a collection of rich, multilayered short stories, half set in Israel, half among Jewish families in the States. The fictional stories explore exile, belonging, and what it means to call a place home. Episode 378 August 22, 2024 Amherst, MA