Yiddish Writers Do the Holy Land: Yehoash, Tsivyon and Opatoshu's Travels to Palestine

Max Weinreich Fellowship Lecture The Dina Abramowicz Emerging Scholar Fellowship Admission: Free

Many Yiddish writers traveled to Palestine in the first half of the 20th century and published their impression in newspaper articles or books. The encounters of Yiddish writers with the Holy Land and the Zionist Yishuv opens the door to fascinating contemplations on the nature of modern Jewish identity. The lecture will focus on three such writers who left to Palestine from New York City: Yehoash, a Poaley Tsionist and the story of his failed immigration in 1914; Tsivyon, a Bundist who criticized the Zionist project in his 1921 visit; and Yosef Opatoshu, a socialist writer who turned his experience in 1934 into a novella, offering an unusual understanding of old and new Palestine.

About the Speaker

Yaad Biran is a Ph.D. candidate in the Yiddish program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a research proposal entitled “Travel Narratives in Yiddish to Palestine 1907-1947."  He has an M.A. in the Cultural Studies Program of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where his thesis was entitled “History Studies Programs in the Tsisho School System in Interwar Poland." Biran is the creator and leader of "The Yiddish Walk" tours project in Israel.