Down with the Butchers! The Radical Symbolism of Kosher Meat in the Works of Morris Winchevsky, Y.L Gordon, and Mendele Moykher-Sforim

Max Weinreich Center Fellowship Lecture in Eastern European Jewish Literature The Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz Memorial Fellowship and the Vivian Lefsky Hort Memorial Fellowship Admission: Free

When, in early May 1902, the price of kosher meat in New York City was raised from twelve cents to eighteen cents per pound, 20,000 Jewish women initiated huge public protests against the butchers of the Lower East Side. In addition to boycotting kosher butcher shops, Jewish women organized massive rallies which were sometimes accompanied by violent outbreaks and during which butcher shops were broken into and looted. The protestors also set piles of meat aflame in the streets. This women's revolt ended after three weeks when the price per pound reduced to fourteen cents – a compromise and also a success. 

This talk will focus on the literary intersection between kashrut, social injustice and the concept of the modern Jewish protest. Works by canonical Maskilic writers such as Mendele Moykher-Sforim, and Y.L Gordon will be discussed, as will a little-known Yiddish play by Morris Winchevsky, the father of Yiddish proletarian literature. These works are part of a long and complex history that connects Jewish tradition and literary narratives of resistance and shows, in certain instances, how political radicalism is engaged to observe, rather than to reject tradition. 

About the Speaker

Julia Fermentto-Tzaisler is a Ph.D candidate at UC San Diego working on early 20th century Jewish-American literature in Yiddish and English. Her research focuses on literary interpretations of public riots and protests in the Jewish world. Julia received her undergraduate and master's degrees in comparative literature at Tel Aviv University. Also a Hebrew fiction writer, Julia won the Israeli ministry of culture award for young authors in 2016. She is also the 2018-2019 recipient of the The Vladimir and Pearl Heifetz Memorial Fellowship and the Vivian Lefsky Hort Memorial Fellowship in Jewish Literature at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.