jewish

The name Woody Guthrie conjures images of Dust Bowl families from the 1930s fleeing their wind-ravaged farms, along with those famous lyrics 'This land is your land, this land is my land / From California to the New York Island.' Woody’s horizons extended far beyond the dusty Oklahoma hills of his youth. When his wanderings and ramblings brought him to New York City, in the 1940s, he was introduced—both personally and professionally—into a vibrant Jewish culture that he wholeheartedly embraced. That culture in turn deeply influenced his life and his music. The film, 'Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls,' presents a whole new side of Woody Guthrie.The film will be screened at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA on Sunday. Following the screening, award-winning director and producer Steven Pressman will join us for a live Q&A to discuss the film, Guthrie's enduring legacy, and the remarkable Jewish influences that shaped his work.

Biographer Ruth Franklin joins us to tell us about her new biography ‘The Many Lives of Anne Frank.’ Franklin explores the transformation of Anne Frank from ordinary teenager to icon shedding new light on the young woman whose diary of her years in hiding is now translated into more than 70 languages and is the most widely read work of literature to arise from the Holocaust.Franklin’s book comprehensively researched but experimental in spirit chronicles and interprets Anne’s life as a Jew in Amsterdam during World War II, while also telling the story of the diary, its multiple drafts, its discovery, its reception, and its message for today’s world.

Allegra Goodman has long been a novelist of conscience and close observation, attentive to the ways ordinary lives are shaped by faith, class, intellect, and love. Her latest novel, 'This Is Not About Us,' turns her gaze toward a group bound by shared beginnings and tested by adulthood.

Allegra Goodman has long been a novelist of conscience and close observation, attentive to the ways ordinary lives are shaped by faith, class, intellect, and love. Her latest novel, 'This Is Not About Us,' turns her gaze toward a group bound by shared beginnings and tested by adulthood.

“Yiddish: A Global Culture” at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts is the first ever museum exhibition to showcase the extraordinary vibrancy and breadth of modern Yiddish culture - its literature, theater, art, music, journalism, politics - from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.David Mazower, Chief Curator and writer of the exhibition and catalog, joins us along with the center’s Director of Publishing and Public Programs, Lisa Newman. They will be at The Bookstore in Lenox December 14 at 4 p.m. to present a conversation and book signing.

Jonathan Brent, executive director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, reflects on the powerful experience of working with original archival materials. While YIVO makes millions of its 24 million items accessible online, Brent recalls the visceral impact of holding Lenin’s party card — a reminder that scholarship is both intellectual and deeply personal.

This morning we get a preview of the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project’s Catskills Film Premiere & Historic Marker Dedication on Saturday, May 25th in South Fallsburg, NY and other events coming up this summer.

President and CEO of American Jewish World Service Robert Bank esteems the International Declaration of Human Rights as a blueprint for humane, egalitarian, democratic societies, and for this: “Article 24 is the right to a vacation. There are some amazing things in here.”

The mission of The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project is to interpret and designate places important to the Borscht Belt’s vibrant history. The first historic marker dedication takes place May 25.

Taking to the Main Stage at Williamstown Theater Festival, Alex Edelman's "Just For Us," takes the audience through hilarious anecdotes from Alex Edelman’s life. After a string of anti-Semitic abuse is directed at Edelman online, he decides to covertly attend a gathering of White Nationalists in New York City and comes face to face with the people behind the keyboards. The result is a hair-raising encounter that gives "Just For Us" its title and final, jaw-dropping twist.