Knosh and Knowledge
Yiddish Futures: Translation in the New Yiddish Moment
In 2023, the New York Times boldly declared: “Yiddish Is Having a Moment.” On the eve of World War II, Yiddish was the language of 10 million people. In America today, Yiddish survives and thrives in far different forms—most often mediated through translation.
In this presentation and moderated conversation, acclaimed scholars and translators of Yiddish Jordan Finkin, Ph.D. (HUC-JIR) and Madeleine (Mindl) Cohen, Ph.D. (Yiddish Book Center) will discuss: What challenges and responsibilities does the Yiddish translator have in America today? How are audiences for Yiddish translations created and what do they expect? How do translations reshape our understanding of the nature of Yiddish literature and culture? This presentation will pursue these and other questions in a wide-ranging discussion of the importance and implications of translating Yiddish literature in 2024—one year into its officially declared “moment.”
This program is in collaboration with the HUC in the Berkshires' weekend of Jewish Ideas.
Federation Knosh and Knowledge programs are held monthly and take place at Hevreh of Southern Berkshires
Jordan Finkin, Ph.D. is Deputy Director of Libraries and Rare Book Manuscript Librarian at the Klau Library, Cincinnati.
Madeleine (Mindl) Cohen, Ph.D. is academic director of the Yiddish Book Center and director of the Center’s fellowship program for Yiddish literary translators.
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