As I mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, it is important—even in this time of war and national danger—not to lose sight of cultural and religious matters. And perhaps no body of literature has contended with unfolding tragedy and horrors as Yiddish literature has. This was the case when Sholem Aleichem wrote of his most famous fictional character—Tevye the Dairyman—being expelled from his village even as such expulsions were actually happening in Russia. And it was the case when the poet and novelist Chava Rosenfarb wrote down her verses on the ceiling above her concentration-camp bunk with a contraband pencil. In conversation with J.J. Kimche (whose searing condemnation of Harvard’s moral cowardice in response to evil I mentioned last week), Ruth R. Wisse provides a concise overview of the history of Yiddish literature. The two then delve into one of the most powerful theological reckonings with the Holocaust: Chaim Grade’s novella My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner—Wisse’s translation of which was first published in Mosaic. (Audio 58 minutes.)
Read more on Podcast of Jewish Ideas: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-yiddish-literature-dr-ruth-wisse/id1676948818?i=1000631065147