Jewish Studies

Jewish Studies

episodes

Interviews with scholars of Judaism about their new books.

Yiddish Ethnography and An-ski

May 29, 2026

Yiddish Ethnography and An-ski

Hosted by YIVO Institute

Sh. An-ski (Shloyme-Zanvl Rappoport, 1863-1920) was a writer in Russian and Yiddish, a revolutionary, a wartime relief worker, and an ethnographer who…

Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

May 24, 2026

Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

Sandra Fox and Philissa Cramer
Hosted by YIVO Institute

In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders debated how to preserve and produce Jewish culture, fearful that growing affl…

Ellen Levitt, "Former Synagogues of the United States: Looking at Buildings That Once Housed Synagogues, Schools, and Other Jewish Institutions" (Resource Publications, 2026)

May 22, 2026

Former Synagogues of the United States

Ellen Levitt
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

Throughout the United States there are buildings that had been home to Jewish houses of worship, schools, and other institutions. What has happened to…

Ruth Balint, "Destination Elsewhere: Displaced Persons and Their Quest to Leave Postwar Europe" (Cornell UP, 2021)

May 22, 2026

Destination Elsewhere

Ruth Balint

In this unique “history from below," Destination Elsewhere: Displaced Persons and Their Quest to Leave Postwar Europe (Cornell University Press, 2021)…

Rachel Deblinger, "Saving Our Survivors: How American Jews Learned about the Holocaust" (Indiana UP, 2025)

May 20, 2026

Saving Our Survivors

Rachel Deblinger
Hosted by Ran Zwigenberg

How did American Jews come to learn about the Holocaust in the immediate aftermath of the war? What kinds of images and representations of Holocaust s…

"My Heart is in the East": How Yiddish Speakers Moved to the East

May 19, 2026

"My Heart is in the East"

Shaul Stampfer
Hosted by YIVO Institute

The question of origins is often difficult to study because originators do not always leave a paper trail. Therefore, uncovering origins can be challe…

In the Midst of Civilized Europe: The Pogroms of 1918-1921 and the Onset of the Holocaust

May 18, 2026

In the Midst of Civilized Europe

Jeffrey Veidlinger in conversation with Steven Zipperstein
Hosted by YIVO Institute

Between 1918 and 1921, over a hundred thousand Jews were murdered in Ukraine by peasants, townsmen, and soldiers who blamed the Jews for the turmoil o…

Under the Tenement Rooftops: Immigrant and Migrant Families in New York

May 16, 2026

Under the Tenement Rooftops

Annie Polland
Hosted by YIVO Institute

The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orch…

The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos

May 13, 2026

The Light of Days

Judy Batalion
Hosted by YIVO Institute

Witnesses to the brutal murder of their families and neighbors and the violent destruction of their communities, a cadre of Jewish women in Poland—som…

Ishay Rosen-Zvi, "How to Read Mishnah and Midrash: An Introduction to Early Rabbinic Literature" (U California Press, 2026)

May 11, 2026

How to Read Mishnah and Midrash

Ishay Rosen-Zvi translated by Daniel Tabak
Hosted by Michael Motia

The early rabbinic period produced two major literary formations—the Mishnah and Midrash—which have since remained central pillars of Jewish textual t…

The YIVO Sound Archive at 40: A Celebration

May 11, 2026

The YIVO Sound Archive at 40

Hankus Netsky, Henry Sapoznik, Lorin Sklamberg, Eléonore Biezunski, and Jenny Romaine
Hosted by YIVO Institute

The YIVO Sound Archive houses over 20,000 recordings (including 78, 45, and 33rpm discs, open-reel and cassette tapes, piano rolls, and compact discs …

Nazi-Looted Art and Archives: Recovering and Preserving Jewish Culture

May 10, 2026

Nazi-Looted Art and Archives

Jonathan Brent and Howard Spiegler
Hosted by YIVO Institute

The ravages of the Holocaust and post-World War II led to the theft and disappearance of art, archives, and personal assets. Join Jonathan Brent and H…

Justin Michael Reed, "The Injustice of Noah's Curse" (Oxford UP, 2025)

May 10, 2026

The Injustice of Noah's Curse

Justin Michael Reed
Hosted by Michael Morales

In Genesis 9, Noah plants a vineyard, and eventually becomes drunk and uncovered in his tent. Then we are told that Ham sees the nakedness of his fath…

Gideon Reuveni, "The Great Repair: Emotions, Memory, and the German–Jewish Settlement after the Holocaust" (Cornell UP, 2026)

May 9, 2026

The Great Repair

Gideon Reuveni
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

The Great Repair: Emotions, Memory, and the German–Jewish Settlement after the Holocaust (Cornell UP, 2026) explores how Jews and Germans began repara…

Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950: The Politics of Sexuality

May 8, 2026

Jewish Anarchist Women 1920–1950

Hosted by YIVO Institute

Anarchist theory includes the belief in freedom for all - that no one person, nor group of people, should have power over any others; that individuals…

Antisemitism: What Everyone Needs To Know

May 8, 2026

Antisemitism

David Harris
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

History teaches that antisemitism is a disease which begins with the Jews but does not end with them. Once antisemitism is unleashed, it knows no boun…

Yiddish: Biography of a Language

May 6, 2026

Yiddish: Biography of a Language

Jeffrey Shandler
Hosted by YIVO Institute

Jeffrey Shandler’s new book, Yiddish: Biography of a Language (Oxford UP, 2020), presents the story of Yiddish, the defining vernacular of Ashkenazi J…

Aya Elyada, "A Lingering Legacy: The Afterlife of Yiddish in German-Jewish Culture, 1818–1938" (Stanford UP, 2026)

May 5, 2026

A Lingering Legacy

Aya Elyada
Hosted by Amir Engel

Aya Elyada is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on German and German-Jew…

Eric McDonnell, "The Formation of Psalms 1–3 and the Arrangement of the Hebrew Psalter" (Mohr Siebeck, 2026)

May 3, 2026

The Formation of Psalms 1–3 and the Arrangement of the Hebrew Psalter

Eric McDonnell
Hosted by Michael Morales

The shape and shaping of the Psalter continues to be one of the more fascinating areas of biblical research. In his recent monograph on Psalm 1-3, Eri…

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, "Rambam Mishne Torah, Volume 1" (Koren Publishers, 2026)

May 3, 2026

Rambam Mishne Torah, Volume 1

Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz
Hosted by Michael Morales

The Rambam, Maimonides, was one of the intellectual giants of world history. His greatest and most ambitious work was the Mishne Torah. And now the St…