When Uriel Weinreich's Dictionary Was New (1968)

When Uriel Weinreich’s English-Yiddish, Yiddish-English Dictionary first appeared in 1968, it marked the debut of an indispensable tool  for scholars and students of Yiddish, as well as for ordinary speakers of Yiddish living in English-speaking environments. It was a milestone in the history of the Yiddish language. The publication of the dictionary coincided with the first year of YIVO’s intensive summer Yiddish-language program, now in its 50th year and the oldest such program in the world. (The 2017 session begins this week at YIVO in New York.)

In this episode of YIVO’s radio program, originally broadcast on June 30, 1968,  the scholar Joshua Fishman speaks about the dictionary and its author, Uriel Weinreich, who had died tragically young the year before, not living to see publication of his magnus opus.

From 1963-1976, YIVO had its own program on WEVD, the radio station established by the Socialist Party of America in 1927 (its call letters stand for the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs), which was purchased by the Jewish Daily Forward in 1932 and became a major venue from Yiddish programming. 

YIVO used its spot on WEVD for Yiddish-language interviews and discussions with leading New York Yiddish cultural figures, as well as for reporting on its own scholarly and cultural work.

A new podcast of this program in the order in which it was originally broadcast will be posted here every two weeks.

Series curated by Matt Temkin, YIVO Sound Archives.

Listen to the program

[This program is in Yiddish.]