Miriam Udel

First known order! I hope you have it in time to savor in your sukkah, Haim.

Are you perchance reading Moyshe Shifris’s story about the alef-beyz attacking poor Mikhele?

Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children's Literature How modern Yiddish children’s literature gave expression to emerging forms of Jewish identity

“Yiddish children’s literature seems fun, but why does it actually matter?” Now there’s a book you can pre-order to find out: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... @princetonupress.bsky.social

If I “heart” this, does it convey that “I too am appalled”?

Yes, I caught up on shabes and was just not expecting the emotional wallop. Yoo-hoo, indeed, is anyone?

Emotionally ambushed by reading @emilynussbaum.bsky.social’s profile of Gertrude Berg In These Times. The Labzik stories’ materfamilias is also a Molly, and illustrator Lou Bunin also lost his career due to McCarthyism.

@rcolesworthy.bsky.social can hopefully confirm we are still on for publication of the full translation August 2026 or thereabouts!

Hard to imagine a lovelier shelfie. I’m not quite rubbing shoulders with Glikl, but we’re def in whispering distance in the ezras noshim.

That is a real dream collaboration right there. I’m excited to say I snuck a mention of CLAP HANDS! Into my forthcoming book on Yiddish children’s lit and Jewish worldmaking.

אלונה כן! )even narrower)

When I was a little kid, I never understood why kosher specialty stores stocked soap of all things, but the earlier prevalence of lye soap meant a kosher alternative was needed.

If you say “robotsay” 3x fast, @lavietidhar.bsky.social appears to bless the enterprise.

As Yom Hashoah descends, I’m thinking about M.A. (Yuri) Suhl’s story “The Little Sholem Aleichem”—about how when we save books and stories, they save us. Image from my forthcoming book, Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature.

www.instagram.com/p/DILRw-gIqe...

Children taking part in a Seder while hiding from the Nazis Many Yiddish children’s stories about the Holocaust are set during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and depict children in heroic, albeit non-combatant roles. But most children who survived the Holocaust di...

Complicated story for a fraught year. Don’t stop picturing the miracles we need. forward.com/yiddish-worl...

The Purim play was usually for both child and adult audiences This excerpt of Alef Kats’s ‘Purim shpil,’ presented in English, focused on King Ahasuerush as a drunken fool

Fail to get anything like a passing grade?

Soothe yourself by learning some Purim history to help with next year’s test: The legacy of the Purim 'shpil,' a Yiddish tradition of retelling the story of the megillah — often with outrageously funny distortions.

I liked bees better, but R is his own master. I won’t be sending him any tiny roach figures this August though!

Film screening - “Labzik: Tales of a Clever Pup” with Yankl (Jake) Krakovsky and Miriam Udel Part of “Yiddish Children’s Literature: Political, Playful, Aspirational,” February 24-25. A film, lecture, and workshop addressing the u...

Chicago radicals might enjoy this screening and talkback Tuesday evening. events.uchicago.edu/event/244010...

YouTube video by Michael Robin Molly Picon Abi Gezunt 'Mamele', 1938

youtu.be/hNC_2IJGI4w?...

I’ll extend the traditional Yiddish greeting on the purchase of new clothes: tserayst gezunterheyt—tear it in good health (i.e. may you outlive your fancy new duds).

If you’re in JS and don’t think of yourself primarily as “doing gender studies,” the HBI can be a rich and hospitable place to explore the gendered dimension of your project!

Welcome.

This is wisdom. The gift was the clarity of a do-over, with some understanding of the medium.

How did Yiddish culture speak to its young about antisemitism? If in NY 2/4, you can have lunch and find out!

Haim, I always think about how your family read selections from 🍯📖 throughout the omer. Now you’ll have a springtime, “almost Shvues” poem translated in the conclusion!

No cover yet, but we have a final title, a price, a page count, and jacket copy, so it’s feeling real! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Follow em all, follow em all, follow em all! <to the tune of something distinctly non-rabbinical)

@lizshayne.bsky.social @marjorieingall.bsky.social @theradr.bsky.social @sarahseltzer.bsky.social @miriamanzovin.bsky.social @temim.bsky.social

Labzik (who lives eternally now) is happy to hear it!