The Bizarre Tales of Yiddishland: What the Yiddish Press Reveals about the Jews

REGISTRATION CLOSED, WALK UPS ARE WELCOME. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: An underground history of downwardly mobile Jews, Eddy Portnoy’s new book Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press mines century-old Yiddish newspapers to expose the seamy underbelly of pre-WWII New York and Warsaw, the two major centers of Yiddish culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One part Isaac Bashevis Singer, one part Jerry Springer, this irreverent, unvarnished, and frequently hilarious compendium of stories provides a window into an unknown Yiddish world that was.

ABOUT THIS SPEAKER: Eddy Portnoy received his Ph.D. from the Jewish Theological Seminary. A specialist in Jewish popular culture, he has taught at Rutgers University and currently serves as academic adviser for the Max Weinreich Center and exhibition curator at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

LM