YIVO in the News/Staff Notes

On April 29, Tablet Magazine published an interview with Ukrainian dissident Josef Zissels, “The Head of the Jewish Community of Ukraine Speaks Out Against Putin,” by David Mikics. Zissels was interviewed at YIVO after his appearance in the April 24 YIVO program, “What Now? Jews and the Ukrainian Revolution 2014.” The event was reported on in Newsday by Cathy Young.

Cecile Kuznitz, Director of Jewish Studies at Bard College and the author of the new book, YIVO and the Making of Modern Jewish Culture (Cambridge University Press) visited Vilnius, where she gave a series of lectures and was interviewed for Lithuanian radio. An article about Professor Kuznitz and the book also appeared in the local English newspaper: “New Book Celebrates Vilnius Litvak Legacy.”

The Jewish Link of Bergen County published a story about Leonard Grunstein, YIVO, and the new YIVO Digital Archives on Jewish Life in Poland website polishjews.yivoarchives.org on May 1.

YIVO Director of Digital Initiatives Roberta Newman and her co-author Alice Nakhimovsky (Colgate University) were interviewed on Vox Tablet about their new book, Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl: Yiddish Letter Manuals from Russia and America (Indiana University Press). They also gave a book talk at the Magnes Museum at the University of California, Berkeley on April 23.

Dr. David Fishman, professor of Jewish History, at JTS and longtime YIVO associate, has been selected as a member of the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. The committee is a core group of the world’s leading scholars on the Holocaust, and makes recommendations on the publications and programming of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

YIVO Academic Advisor Edward Portnoy moderated a panel discussion, “From the Borsht Belt to Seinfeld: The Evolution of Jewish American Comedy” at The Society of Illustrators on April 24.

YIVO Executive Director Jonathan Brent received top billing on a list of attendees at a presentation on the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews at the Polish Consulate in New York on April 9.

YIVO and other Jewish libraries and cultural institutions are mentioned in “Culturocide: The Murder of Jewish Culture” (Jerusalem Post, April 24), a call for the preservation of Yiddish and Ladino culture.

A long article on the website of the Israel Genealogy Research Association, “The Domiciles of my Direct Forebears” mentions the extensive research help by provided by YIVO Archivist Leo Greenbaum.