Page i Yiddish Language & Culture Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Symposium of the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization October 27 & 28, 1996 Page iii Yiddish Language & Culture Then & Now Studies in Jewish Civilization — 9 Leonard Jay Greenspoon Editor Center for the Study of Religion and Society The Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization Creighton University Press Omaha, Nebraska Page iv Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics. When the characters can be represented using the ISO 8859­1 character set (http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif), netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly. In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 8859­1 list will be represented without their diacritical marks. ©1998 by Creighton University Press All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. ISBN: 1­881871­25­8 ISSN: 1070­8510 Editorial Marketing and Distribution Creighton University Press Fordham University Press 2500 California Plaza University Box L Omaha, Nebraska 68178 Bronx, New York 10458 Printed in the United States of America Page v To Steve Riekes a true friend a loyal supporter a mentsh Page vii Contents Acknowledgments ix Editor's Introduction xi List of Contributors xv Yiddish in the Twentieth Century: A Literature of Anger and Homecoming David G. Roskies 1 Language, Art and Identity: Yiddish in Art from Chagall to Shalom of Safed Ori Z. Soltes 17 Organizing Yiddish­Speaking Workers in Pre­World War I Galicia: The Jewish Social Democratic Party 37 Rick Kuhn On the Jewish Street: Yiddish Culture and Urban Landscape in Interwar Vilna Cecile E. Kuznitz 65 Equation of GOSET: History of Yiddish Theater in the USSR Vassili Schedrin 93 Radical Politics, Radical Art: The Case of the Artef Edna Nahshon 109 The Yiddish Theater in Omaha, 1919­1969 Oliver Pollak and Leo Greenbaum 127 Yiddish "Then and Now" Creativity in Comtemporary Hasidic Yiddish Miriam Isaacs 165 Page viii Longings and Belongings: Yiddish Identity and Consumer Culture Marilyn Halter 189 The Metamorphosis of the Matriarchs in Modern Yiddish Poetry Kathryn Hellerstein 201 Yiddish Literature As Secular Jewish Scripture: The World of Irving Howe Theodore Weinberger 233 Reflections of Yiddish Archetypes in Jewish American Literature: Fiction by 247 Saul Bellow and Bernard Malamud S. Lillian Kremer A Theology of Yiddish Prayer: Yiddish as a Creative Lashon HaQodesh (Holy Language) 265 Richard A. Freund Bringing Home the Gospel: Yiddish Bibles, Bible Societies, and the Jews Leonard J. Greenspoon 291 Food in Yiddish and Slavic Folk Culture: A Comparative/Contrastive View Halina Rothstein and Robert A. Rothstein 305 Page ix Acknowledgments The fifteen papers in this collection were among those delivered at the Ninth Annual Symposium of the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University on October 27 and 28, 1996. Although by now many aspects of planning and running a symposium are well established, each year's event presents unique challenges and possibilities. It is only through the dedication, hard work, and good nature of a number of people that we manage to overcome obstacles, turn last­minute crises into rewarding circumstances, and leave everyone — audience and participants alike — with the distinct feeling that it really was worth it. Special thanks go to Gloriann Levy, director of the Jewish Cultural Arts Council and frequent liaison between Omaha's Jewish community and Creighton University, and Maryellen Read, assistant to the Klutznick Chair and accomplished organizer of all things great and small. We did not know it at the time, but the Ninth Symposium was to be Maryellen's last. She will be missed by many! Kay Reploge, who joined the Klutznick office last summer, took over where Maryellen had left off. Kay has put her distinctive mark on this volume, earning heartfelt thanks from all. My comrade­in ­arms, Bryan LeBeau (Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society) is deserving of an enormous debt of gratitude. His reassuring words kept me and this project on track, avoiding most time­consuming detours and potentially ruinous delays or wrecks! Two of the Symposium participants, Bob Rothstein and Cecile Kuznitz, made special efforts to insure the success of this volume. To them and to all contributors, go our sincere thanks and hope that they will not be disappointed with this volume and its contents. We dedicate this volume to Steve Riekes, Phil Klutznick's nephew, who more than any other single individual has been responsible for the growth and continuance of these symposia. Steve has never failed in his enthusiastic encouragement of the Chair and its activities, and his support — in so many ways — has been crucial. Thank you, Steve! Page x We wish to thank the following for the financial contributions which funded this symposium: Dorothy and Henry Riekes Creighton College of Arts and Sciences The Jewish Cultural Arts Council The Henry Monsky Lodge of B'nai B'rith The Ike and Roz Friedman Foundation LEONARD J. GREENSPOON, CHAIRHOLDER THE KLUTZNICK CHAIR IN JEWISH CIVILIZATION CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY MAY, 1998 Page xi Editor's Introduction One of the distinctive features of the Klutznick Symposium is that each year we select an entirely new topic with the aim of presenting a synthesis of the finest scholarship to the broadest possible audience. When we annually issue a Call for Papers, announcing the subject matter of the next Symposium and inviting potential presenters to submit a proposal, we never know for sure what the response will be. And yet experience has taught us one thing — we will not be disappointed. So it was that we were not entirely surprised, but very pleased nonetheless, with the large number of high quality proposals we received in response to our Call for Papers for the Ninth Annual Symposium, held on Sunday, October 27, and Monday, October 28, 1996. From that number we selected twenty individuals, who over the course of two days presented nineteen well­received papers. The presenters range from internationally­known scholars to graduate students, and their topics span the centuries and the continents. In this volume we publish fifteen of these papers, written accessibly for the educated general public, accompanied by sufficient documentation to please even the most exacting scholar. I would like to offer one further general characterization, which also serves to distinguish the Klutznick Symposium from others that have dealt with Yiddish language and culture. Our Call for Papers was widely disseminated, with the result that we attracted scholars not typically associated with Yiddish studies, as well as seasoned Yiddishists. This provided additional approaches and subjects that are not usually discussed in such settings. Moreover, we had no agenda — ideological, hidden, or otherwise — that motivated our choices of presenters or presentations. Rather, as is always the case with a Klutznick Symposium, speakers were given the chance to interact with each other and with eager audience members, and all had the opportunity to enjoy what Omaha and its truly remarkable Jewish community has to offer. The first two papers in this collection are the keynote addresses, which provide masterful overviews in the areas of literature (Roskies) and art (Soltes). But these are more than surveys, since both presentations serve to correct previous, widespread misunderstandings and to enhance our Page xii appreciation of some of the central figures in Jewish/Yiddish arts and letters. Suffice it to say that few, if any, of those who savor these articles will ever read Yiddish literature (in the original or in translation) or look at a piece by Chagall (or another artist discussed by Soltes) in exactly the same way. And what a marvelous introduction for those who are as of yet unfamiliar with this material! The next three articles deal with interconnections linking Yiddish with certain institutions in eastern Europe in the realm of politics (Kuhn), urban life (Kuznitz), and theater (Schedrin). Although on the surface it may appear that these contributions appeal only to specialists, this is not the case. The often stormy relationship (or better, set of relationships) between the use or non­use of a specific language and political organizations, day­to­day life on the streets, in the schools, at the marketplace, and as a carrier of culture are issues as alive today as ever. Thanks to these three authors, the material is accessible to thoughtful readers at many levels. Yiddish theater has not, of course, been restricted to its eastern European origins. Nor has it always been judged on purely aesthetic grounds. A case study from New York City (Nahshon) well illustrates the latter point; a detailed chronicle of Yiddish Theater in Omaha (Pollak and Greenbaum) highlights its ability to entertain and draw crowds for decades far away from the so­called centers of American Jewish life. The Holocaust wiped out the indigenous centers of Yiddish speakers throughout Europe, but it did not succeed in crushing interest in the Yiddish language or more broadly in a Judaism that identifies in one way or another with Yiddish culture. Two papers deal specifically with the ''Now'' of Yiddish life: in contemporary Hasidic communities (Isaacs), which lie somewhat at the periphery, and in mass marketing aimed at a consumption­oriented public (Halter), which some would argue lies at the heart of capitalism. Not surprisingly, the issues addressed in these chapters are among the most widely controversial in this volume.