In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies

10/15/2025

NEW translation up on the site: "In Ford's Factory" by Joseph Opatoshu, translated by Nadav Pais-Greenapple.

"Opatoshu made his own pere­gri­na­tion to Detroit in the spring of 1929 and penned “In Ford’s Fac­to­ry” (Bay Fordn in fab­rik) which appeared in Der Tog and, with minor changes, in Warsaw’s Naye folk­st­say­tung, on May 17, 1929.

Immune to the “vast mechan­i­cal appa­ra­tus of enchant­ment” that was Fordist man­u­fac­tur­ing, Opatoshu’s account of his guid­ed tour at the Riv­er Rouge com­plex – an expe­ri­ence Ford still offers to vis­i­tors today – pre­sent­ed a human-cen­tered alter­na­tive to the alien­at­ed, hyper-mechan­i­cal images of the fac­to­ry which pre­vailed in pop­u­lar reporting. Where the main­stream Anglo­phone press tend­ed to por­tray the plant as “bereft of almost any human beings,” as “tem­ple machin­ery inno­cent of toil, impreg­nable by injus­tice, [and] unsul­lied by lust for pow­er or prof­it,” Opatoshu did near­ly the oppo­site, mak­ing the read­er con­stant­ly aware of the human pres­ence – and human suf­fer­ing – of the workers."

Opatoshu reports on working conditions in a Ford factory in Detroit.

10/14/2025

Ready to show your love for In geveb as we cruise into our second decade? NEW tsen yor designs are available via our Redbubble shop--linked below! 🦚

https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/174859274

10/09/2025

Our first book review of the year is now LIVE!

Daniel Soyer reviews "East End Jews," a new anthology in translation from editors Vivi Lachs and Barry Smerin via @ waynestateuniversitypress.

"East End Jews, as the subtitle indicates, is an anthology of brief articles from Yiddish newspapers and magazines published in Britain....The translated pieces are accompanied by a helpful introduction by Lachs, notes on the authors, and a list of titles and dates of the publications from which the sketches were drawn. The well-translated articles make for entertaining, and often moving, reading. But they also serve as an introduction to the social and cultural history of life in the Jewish East End."

https://ingeveb.org/articles/east-end-jews

10/08/2025

Calling all In geveb enthusiasts!

In geveb is seeking contributions for a special issue of our blog celebrating our 10th anniversary. We are looking for writing from anyone who has been moved by In geveb’s work, whether you’ve written for us, or are/have been a reader, or supporter. We are eager to consider the following (and more!):

-Reflections about a particular piece (or trend in scholarship, etc) that you read in In geveb and how it has impacted you or your work
-Descriptions of how you have used something from In geveb in your teaching or learning
-Reflections about your experiences contributing to In geveb (What led you to contribute? What was the editing process like? etc)
-Discussions of your time working with us as an editor, intern, volunteer, etc.
-Creative pieces inspired by something you read in In geveb

Please send your pieces to [email protected] by November 25. If you’d like to run an idea by us before you start writing, please let us know - we’re eager to talk through it with you!

Do you have something to say about your experience with In geveb? Now's your chance to share.

10/07/2025

We are thrilled to share this welcome-back update from our Editor-in-Chief, Jessica Kirzane.

https://ingeveb.org/blog/welcome-back-something-to-celebrate

10/06/2025

a note from editor-in-chief Jessica Kirzane at the commencement of our publishing year—read the full message at the link below. 🦚

“Tayere leyeners,

In geveb reached its tenth birthday in August and I’m thrilled to celebrate with you! It’s hard to overstate how proud I am of the wealth of scholarship, essays and reflections, the treasures of translations, the gems of teaching resources that we have gathered, polished, and presented to our readership over these past ten years. Most of all I am proud of the community that has flourished by reading and writing, supporting, sharing and valuing this work together.

It’s not an easy time to celebrate, to be sure. But it feels appropriate to be writing this message ahead of sukes, which is zman simkheseynu: the season of our joy. In his iconic Yiddish poem about sukes, Avrom Reysn describes a couple sitting in a suke as the cold wind howls and threatens to blow over the precarious shelter. “Hob nisht keyn tsar,” (don’t be sad) says the man to his wife, reassuring her that the suke can withstand the onslaught that threatens to overwhelm it.

The Jewish calendar reminds us that we can and should cultivate a posture of joy, even in the worst of times, and we can be grateful for the things we have, while we have them, and trust that they will continue despite adversity I am grateful for all of you, our In geveb community of these past ten years. May In geveb celebrate 120 birthdays, and then some!”

https://ingeveb.org/blog/welcome-back-something-to-celebrate

08/12/2025

Reminder: Applications are due on August 19! Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have questions about this position.

Come work with us!

In geveb is seeking a new member of our editorial staff for the 2025-2026 publishing year. We seek a highly organized editor to support our editor-in-chief in overseeing and coordinating the submissions, editing, and publishing processes of In geveb. The managing editor will also participate in editing contributions to the blog and pedagogy sections of In geveb.

To apply: please submit a cover letter and resume by August 19, 2025 to [email protected]. Subject line: “managing editor”.

See the link for further details about the position!

https://ingeveb.org/blog/in-geveb-is-seeking-a-managing-editor

07/30/2025

Come work with us!

In geveb is seeking a new member of our editorial staff for the 2025-2026 publishing year. We seek a highly organized editor to support our editor-in-chief in overseeing and coordinating the submissions, editing, and publishing processes of In geveb. The managing editor will also participate in editing contributions to the blog and pedagogy sections of In geveb.

To apply: please submit a cover letter and resume by August 19, 2025 to [email protected]. Subject line: “managing editor”.

See the link for further details about the position!

https://ingeveb.org/blog/in-geveb-is-seeking-a-managing-editor

07/01/2025

In geveb is on a summer publishing break! You can read here about our year in review and learn how you can engage with us over the break. We look forward to returning with more great Yiddish Studies writing in the fall.

https://ingeveb.org/blog/in-geveb-is-on-summer-break

06/30/2025

Zehavit Stern reviews Alyssa Quint and Aman­da Miryem-Khaye Siegel, eds. Women on the Yid­dish Stage:

"Yiddish culture is often perceived as marginal—at least from outside the shifting borders of “Yiddishland.” Within this already marginal field, Yiddish theatre occupies an even more peripheral space: the margins of the marginal. What happens, then, when we introduce a gendered lens, and examine women’s roles—and their historical silencing—within the Yiddish theatre?... As Women on the Yiddish Stage makes clear, women were not peripheral figures but central players in the making of Yiddish cultural life. Their stories, whether told through archival fragments, recovered memoirs, or close readings of performance, call for a more inclusive and accurate understanding—one in which actresses are not merely remembered for their presence onstage, but recognized for their lasting cultural impact."

https://ingeveb.org/articles/women-on-the-yiddish-stage

06/30/2025

Ben Kline translates a 1936 essay by Yid­dish nov­el­ist, poet, and crit­ic Yis­roel Rabon describing the ide­o­log­i­cal infight­ing between Yid­dish cul­tur­al work­ers in Poland in the 1930s.

"The pillars of the Yiddishist movement in Poland have crushed Yiddish literature—the very essence of the Yiddish cultural movement—in the eyes of the greater Jewish masses, and all because of some tall tale about proletarian literature."

https://ingeveb.org/texts-and-translations/edgewise

Image: From Yis­roel Rabon in War­saw to Sholem Asch in New York, 23 July 1938, belat­ed­ly thank­ing him for his dona­tion of 100 dol­lars, which is help­ing to enable the con­tin­ued exis­tence of Os, “the only lit­er­ary-art jour­nal around which young Jew­ish writ­ers in Poland are con­gre­gat­ing.” (courtesy of YIVO)

06/27/2025

Shachar Pinsker offers reflections following Gali Drucker Bar-Am, I Am Your Dust: Representations of the Israeli Experience in Yiddish Prose, 1948-1967, translated by Natalie Melzer, asking "What would it mean to think about the Yiddish-speaking refugees in Palestine/Israel as “the vanguard of their peoples” in today’s atmosphere of revenge, violence, and utter disregard for human life?"

https://ingeveb.org/articles/reflections-following-gali-drucker-bar-am-i-am-your-dust