Yiddish in Israel: A History

Yiddish in Israel: A History

From New Books in Israel Studies by Marshall Poe

March 27, 2026 · 1h 11m

About this episode

The episode discusses the book 'Yiddish in Israel: A History' and its new interpretation of Yiddish's role in Israeli culture.

The new book Yiddish in Israel: A History (Indiana UP, 2020) challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offering instead a radical new interpretation of the interaction between Yiddish and Israeli Hebrew cultures. Following the Israeli Yiddish scene through the history of the Yiddish press, Yiddish theater, early Israeli Yiddish literature, and high Yiddish culture, author Rachel Rojanski tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew. Join us for a discussion of this book with Rachel Rojanski in conversation with Rachel Brenner, Shachar Pinsker, and Sunny Yudkoff. This book talk originally took place on May 27, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/israel-studies

People in this episode

Host: Marshall Poe

Guest: Rachel Rojanski

Topics covered

  • Yiddish culture
  • Israeli Hebrew
  • Jewish language
  • Zionism
  • Yiddish literature
  • Yiddish theater

Keywords

  • Yiddish
  • Israel
  • Hebrew
  • culture
  • literature
  • theater
  • Zionism
  • history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Indiana UP

Books & works: Yiddish in Israel: A History

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