About this book
“Sure to stimulate additional reading.”
Barnett Zumoff, president of the Congress of Jewish Culture and translator of 16 books of Yiddish literature.
“An excellent resource for teachers, program directors, and students of Yiddish literature.”
Philip Kutner, past vice president, International Association of Yiddish Clubs.
For hundreds of years, Yiddish was the spoken language of the Jewish people. Beginning in the 19th century, its literature described the lives of Jews at the crux of tradition and modernity.
The Guide to Yiddish Short Stories is a gateway into this world.
It provides an annotated summary of more than 130 stories available in English translation, from the classics of Sholem Aleichem and Mendele Moycher Sforim to those written by Holocaust survivors in post-war America.
For each story there is a bibliographical listing of where it can be found, both in English and the original Yiddish.
Arranged topically, the Guide can help readers or educators select stories centered around themes including: Jewish holidays, questioning God’s justice, the struggle of workers, ethics and piety, life in the shtetl, the curse of poverty, moral choices, anti-Semitism, parents and children, marriage, and spirituality.
The Guide further provides biographical sketches of the 43 authors whose works are featured in this volume.
About the Author
About the Author
Bennett Muraskin is the adult education director of the Jewish Cultural School and Society in West Orange, NJ. He is the author of Let Justice Well Up Like Water: Progressive Jews from Hillel to Helen Suzman (2004), Humanist Readings in Jewish Folklore (2001), a co-author of Celebrating Jewish Holidays: An Introduction for Secular Jewish Families and Their Communities (2002) along with Lawrence Schofer and Judith Seid. He contributed a chapter on “Jewish Secularism” toPeace, Justice and Jews: Reclaiming Our Tradition, edited by Murray Polner and Stefan Merken (2007). He is a columnist for Jewish Currents and Outlook (Canada) and a regular contributor to Humanistic Judaism. His articles have also appeared in Israel Horizons.
Muraskin is employed as a union staff representative for state college professors in New Jersey.
About the Association of Jewish Libraries
About the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Association of Jewish Libraries promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship.
The Association fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research relating to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish experience and Israel.
AJL was established in January 1966 with the merging of the Jewish Librarians Association and the Jewish Library Association.
More information is available at JewishLibraries.org.
Reviewsb
“Readers of Yiddish literature in English translation are exposed to a wide range of poetry and novels, but a relative paucity of short stories. Bennett Muraskin’s concise sourcebook for Yiddish short stories in translation remedies this deficiency in a way both scholarly and entertaining. He has listed not only the well known sources but also the obscure ones, and his brief but brilliant summaries of many of the stories give the reader a tantalizing sample of their flavor, which is sure to stimulate additional reading.”
Barnett Zumoff, president of the Congress of Jewish Culture and translator of 16 books of Yiddish literature
“Bennett Muraskin has done a wonderful thing! He has created a resource that will be an invaluable guide to the perplexed. He has made Yiddish short stories (in translation) accessible to a broad audience. While such a work, by definition, cannot include every possible story, the categories are well thought out. Thee authors represented are both well-known and more obscure and the range of materials is impressive. More impressive, Muraskin actually has read all these stories and correctly summarizes the contents. Any institution with any interest in Jewish culture, from synagogue to JCC to Jewish schools and adult education programs, ought to find this book very helpful.”
Dr. Sheva Zucker, author, Yiddish an Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture Volumes I and II and editor of Afn Shvel magazine
“Bennett Muraskin’s book fills a niche that has been missing in the Yiddish community. An excellent resource for teachers, program directors and students of Yiddish literature.”
Philip “Fishl” Kutner, past vice president, International Association of Yiddish Clubs and editor of its newsletter, Der Bay
