The Felshtin Society is named after a Ukrainian shtetl called Felshtin, which today is the Ukrainian town of Hvardii’ske. The Felshtin Society began as a benevolent society organized in 1905 in New York City and it’s still active today. One of the most notable of its ongoing humanitarian efforts over the past 113 years is […]
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Ukrainian Jewish Heritage: Interview with Ruth Ellen Gruber Part 2
Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American journalist, author, editor and researcher. Her book, Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe, was first published twenty-five years ago and is still considered the most complete Jewish travel guide to the region. We first learned about Ruth and a bit about her work last year […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Interview with Ruth Ellen Gruber Part 1
-An interview with Pawlina, producer & host of Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio Ruth Ellen Gruber is an American journalist, author, editor and researcher. She has published and lectured widely and has won several awards for her work on Jewish heritage and contemporary Jewish issues in Europe. Her book, Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Lost Shtetls of Ukraine
The Jewish population of Ukraine before the Second World War was over 2.5 million. Now the current population is only around 100,000. A whole world with its very own culture, rules, and customs was decimated in the Holocaust. Decades later, descendants of survivors, along with friends and supporters, are working hard to piece together remnants […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Hava Nagila—the song, the story and the movie
Hava Nagila. The words are Hebrew for Let Us Rejoice. They also comprise the title of one of the most recognizable and well-known songs in the world. And little did I know just how appropriate a theme song it would turn out to be for a radio series called Ukrainian Jewish Heritage! This Jewish folk song […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Memoir by Holocaust survivor Jack Glotzer
Rohatyn is a city in western Ukraine with a centuries-old Jewish heritage that was almost completely destroyed by the Holocaust and its aftermath. Like many cities and towns across Ukraine, however, work is being done in Rohatyn to restore the historical memory of its once-vibrant Jewish community. Two people are central to this restoration effort. […]
Continue readingKnyzhka Corner Book Review: The Empress of the East
In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Leslie Peirce’s Empress of the East, the biography of Roxelana, a captive slave who became the wife of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Empress of the East is a profoundly insightful look at one of the most mysterious figures of the sixteenth century. Roxelana was a […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Dave Tarras, the Ukrainian-born man who became known as “the Benny Goodman of klezmer”
Dave Tarras: The King of Klezmer by Yale Strom chronicles the life and work of a Ukrainian-born man who became known as “The Benny Goodman of Klezmer.” He was the individual most responsible for the development of a uniquely American style of Jewish klezmer music. From 1925 until his death in 1989, Dave Tarras set […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage – Interview with Dave Bloom
Dave Bloom is a member of the board of an organization dedicated to preserving the story of two Jewish communities and surrounding areas in Ukraine. One of them is called Drohobycz and the other is called Boryslaw. Recently a synagogue was restored in this area and Dave has kindly agreed to join us by Skype […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Summer Reading Roundup Part 2 of 2
This week, part 2 of our 2018 Summer Reading List. This list is a compilation of books that have been reviewed on Ukrainian Jewish Heritage here on Nash Holos. Books can entertain, inform, edify. But they always enrich minds – those of the reader but also of the author – some of whom are […]
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