Naomi Seidman: Judaism Unbound Episode 204 - Confronting Yiddish Shame
Naomi Seidman, the Chancellor Jackman Professor of the Arts at the University of Toronto’s Department for the Study of Religion, joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg for a conversation looking at Yiddish’s intersections with politics, translation, gender, and shame. [1] This episode is the second in a series of episodes produced in collaboration with the Yiddish Book Center, as part of its Decade of Discovery initiative, in honor of 40 years since the Yiddish Book Center’s founding. [2]
Image Credit: Oxford University Press
(0:01 - 15:27): To begin the episode, Dan shouts-out to JudaismUnbound.com/book, where listeners can support our crowdfunding effort to publish Judaism Unbound: Bound, our first book project. Seidman kicks off our conversation with her by looking back at her upbringing in a Yiddish-speaking home. She reflects on her realization that her knowledge of Yiddish was a marketable skill, and how it led her to become one of the first interns at the Yiddish Book Center. [3] She looks back on her wild time working there, in a warehouse so large that they needed a bicycle to travel from one end to the other. She then opens up a thread about Yiddish’s historical associations with women. Seidman asserts that are elements of this association that are based on real historical facts, while there are others that are built largely on cultural myth.
(15:28 - 29:22): Seidman explores the historical relationships between Yiddish, gender, and shame. In particular, she cites the example of men who were frequently embarrassed in many contexts, due to the fact that they did not know Hebrew. She speaks to men’s interest in Yiddish literature, along with the corresponding desire to hide their interest from others who saw that entire realm as feminine. Shifting gears, she looks at questions of translation between languages — both general questions from the field of translation studies and issues specifically related to translations from Yiddish into other languages. In doing so, she questions the idea that a translator’s goal is to find “equivalences” across languages, and she considers ways in which translation can be a deeply political process. [4] With respect to Yiddish in particular, she speaks to issues that writers have been willing to explore in Yiddish (with an audience of Jews) which they are not willing to translate into other languages (with an audience of both Jews and non-Jews). As case studies, she cites Elie Wiesel (who refused to translate some pieces of Night from Yiddish into French) and the set of issues that arises when we examine the word “goy.”
(29:23 - 46:08): Seidman takes a look at ideas of “Jewish languages,” “non-Jewish languages,” and whether the line between the two could be a bit blurry. She also poses big-picture questions about what languages are, forgetting for a second their Jewishness or lack thereof. She cites Lenny Bruce as a famous figure who in certain senses may have been attempting to render some classic Yiddish styles, and even specific words, into 20th century English. [5] Looking at translation of the bible in particular, Seidman explores the evolution of the Hebrew aishes chayil, which was rendered “woman of virtue” in the King James Bible, but “woman of valor” in the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation. [6] She considers what that shift can teach us, along with its impact on society through “woman of valor” awards in a wide variety of contexts. To close the episode, Seidman turns to Sholem Asch’s early 20th-century play God of Vengeance, examining how it illuminates issues from earlier in the conversation, including Yiddish’s interactions with both translation and politics. [7] [8]
[1] Learn more about Naomi Seidman by clicking here.
[2] Listen in to the first episode in the series here - Episode 203: Yiddish in America - Aaron Lansky.
[3] For an oral history that features Seidman, produced by the Yiddish Book Center, click here.
[4] For a fuller examination from Seidman into the politics of translation, see her book Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation.
[5] The text of Lenny Bruce’s famous “Jewish and Goyish” comedy routine, which Seidman cites, can be accessed at this link.
[6] Check out Seidman’s essay “‘A New Garb for the Jewish Soul’: The JPS Bible in Light of the King James” for more on the evolution of “woman of virtue” into “woman of valor.”
[7] Lex refers to a 2018 production of God of Vengeance, directed by Rebecca Maxfield in Providence, Rhode Island. For an interview with Maxfield about that production, which touches on many questions of translation and politics that arose in this episode, click here.
[8] Naomi Seidman recently published a book entitled Sarah Schenirer and the Bais Yaakov Movement: A Revolution in the Name of Tradition. It tells the story of Bais Yaakov, a revolutionary movement of schools designed for Orthodox women, founded in the early 20th century, which continue to exist today. Seidman spoke a little bit with us about this fascinating story, which we are including via the audio-link below.