Jordan Kutzik is the deputy editor of the Yiddish Forward. Contact him at kutzik@forward.com.
Jordan Kutzik
By Jordan Kutzik
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Yiddish World WATCH: Abraham Sutzkever’s paean to nature sung in Yiddish and English
Read this article in Yiddish. Adah Hetko has earned a reputation in the world of Yiddish and klezmer music for her fresh approach to Yiddish songs, combining influences from popular American folk singers of the 1960s with her own English translations to create a musical experience that bridges Eastern Europe and American folk music. In…
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News Canadians, like New Yorkers, sue their government to force change in yeshivas
Read in Yiddish. For the first time, the Canadian government is getting a taste of what New York City and state have been dealing with for years — a trial over a lawsuit accusing it of failing to provide adequate secular education to Hasidic children. Yohanan Lowen, and his wife Shifra, claim in the lawsuit…
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Culture Mazel tov: First edition of Yiddish ‘Harry Potter’ sells out in less than 48 hours
Less than 48 hours after the Yiddish edition of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” translated by Arun Viswanath, became available for pre-order, the book sold out its first print run of 1,000 copies. (Viswanath is Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter’s nephew.) For a Yiddish publisher in 2020, that’s a sales number that’s almost magical. A…
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Yiddish World Watch Kirk Douglas sing in Yiddish
Read in Yiddish When news spread that legendary American actor Kirk Douglas, né Issur Danielovitch, had passed away at the age of 103, the Folksbiene dug into its archives and posted this touching moment from their 2002 gala, when the star was presented with a lifetime achievement award. Douglas was raised in poverty alongside his…
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Culture The monumental effort of translating ‘Harry Potter’ into Yiddish
Read in Yiddish. When Arun Viswanath, the Yiddish translator of J. K. Rowling’s worldwide bestseller “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was 12 years old, he suddenly had a revelation that made him feel dejected. Although he’s a grandson of the venerable Yiddish linguist Mordkhe Schaechter, the son of the Yiddish poet Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, and…
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Yiddish World Book discussion on Chava Rosenfarb’s essay collection in Manhattan
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The publication of Chava Rosenfarb’s essay collection Confessions of a Yiddish Writer and Other Essays will be celebrated at a book talk in Manhattan at the YIVO Institute on Tuesday, February 18th. Confessions of a Yiddish Writer recently received a Canadian Jewish Literary Award. Dr. Goldie Morgantaler,…
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Yiddish World So Where Does Hanukkah Gelt Come From Anyway?
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Like playing dreidel, the tradition of giving children money (Yiddish: gelt) on Hanukkah is not as old as you think. As Miriam Borden, a Yiddish instructor at Toronto University, wrote last year in the Forward, the tradition is at most several hundred years old. In fact, like…
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Yiddish World New Opera About Theodor Herzl Explores His Complex Nature
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The first step in successfully writing a historical opera is picking a historical figure who can hold the audience’s attention. The opera’s hero needs to have experienced a lot of drama that he can sing about with gusto and pathos; someone who’s played a pivotal role in…
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