Why do I translate Yiddish?
Nearly 20 years ago I began translating and writing in Yiddish. Initially, I did this as a way of practicing my own Yiddish, which I had been studying for quite some time and which I had been raised speaking at home. But within no time, I found that I genuinely enjoyed this process, and began translating for a number of different contacts – usually excerpts from Yisker bikher (or memorial books of destroyed Jewish communities in eastern Europe). Over the years I have translated a wide variety of materials: books, journals, and newspaper articles; family letters, postcards, and other such keepsakes. Each time I translate these types of materials, I find myself being educated anew and journeying through history. In addition, it has brought me a great deal of inner satisfaction – nakhes – to be able to make these types of materials accessible to the family members who might otherwise never be able to learn about their own family histories. In many cases, the documents that I have translated pertain to the Holocaust period; hence making these final mementos all the more meaningful for surviving family members. |
Above right: Forverts article from 1946 about the child survivor Wacek Zalcberg (Walter Saltzberg) that I uncovered some 65 years after its publication for Walter and his son, George Saltzberg. Above left: personal correspondences I translated. Thanks to Sue Hills of England reprint permission.
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How I came to be a Yiddish translator
I was born into an extended family of native-Yiddish speakers. My grandparents and great aunt were Holocaust survivors from Poland who spoke to one another primarily in Yiddish. My mother, in turn, made a point of speaking Yiddish to my siblings and me. Hence, my first language was likewise, Yiddish. Although my formal schooling did not include Yiddish in its curriculum – rather, Modern Hebrew – my home environment was filled with Yiddish books and songs, and it was not long before I began to teach myself how to read the actual written word. Yet, even though I regularly heard and could speak the language, reading was another story entirely. Initially, it was not as easy for me as I had anticipated, for the sheer fact that I was accustomed to hearing a particular dialect [Polish] of Yiddish, which was not consistent with the usual orthography of Yiddish that I encountered. When I graduated from high school (a Jewish, Modern Orthodox co-educational institution that stressed love of Israel and Modern Hebrew), part of my graduation speech even included Yiddish – something that is still unheard of for that institution. The summer following high school was my first formal encounter learning the language – in Israel, at Bar-Ilan University. Then in college, I took whatever Yiddish courses were offered, and served as an intern one summer at the National Yiddish Book Center, which further immersed me in the literary riches of the language. In addition, I spent two summers studying Yiddish at the jointly sponsored YIVO Institute/Columbia University Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture. In the interim time I further studied Yiddish in Israel. And for the past couple of years I have worked as an archivist at the YIVO Institute in New York, where I have been able to incorporate my Yiddish translation skills and love of the language into my professional life. |