JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

A Jewish festival where there are no Jews

By Uriel Heilman · October 16, 2008

From “Studio 360:” For 18 years, the historic Jewish quarter of Krakow, Poland has been home to a Jewish cultural festival – nine days of dancing, lectures, and concerts. 25,000 people attend, most of them Poles with no Jewish family. Stephanie Rowden wondered what Jewish culture can mean in a place where it has been absent for 60 years.

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The Jackie Robinson of Yiddish

By Ami Eden · June 26, 2008

The New Standard, which bills itself as “Central Ohio’s Largest Circulation Jewish Newspaper,” has a profile on Colleen McCallum-Bonar, a graduate student at Ohio State who is poised to be the first African-American ever to receive a Ph.D. in Yiddish literature (at least she thinks she will be).

“I can count on one hand the other African-Americans doing Yiddish: none,” McCallum-Bonar said. “Maybe there are some others out there and maybe we just haven’t crossed paths, but I don’t know any.”

But the story fails to address the key question: How do you say “Buckeyes” in Yiddish?

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