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 of this once vibrant world. In western Ukraine and other parts of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, many restoration and educational projects are underway. But in eastern Ukraine, not so much. One man however, has taken on the gargantuan task of cataloguing Jewish shtetls in eastern Ukraine. Vitali Buryak recently discovered his Jewish roots. In the process, he created a website called History of Jewish Communities in Ukraine. I came across his website while doing research on shtetls. Vitali, also known as Chaim (his Jewish name), kindly agreed to tell me his story so I could share it with you. Here is part of that conversation. Pawlina: So first of all, could you tell me about yourself? Vitali Buryak: My name is Chaim Buryak, I am living in Kyiv. I am 32 years old. My father is Ukrainian and my mother is Jewish. So according to […]
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Ukrainian 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 with the catchy melody is known and sung in countless countries around the world. It has been adapted to just about every imaginable music genre. Some have a love-hate relationship with the song, but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who has never heard of it. What is not so well-known is that this catchy melody actually originated in Ukraine. And that the catchy melody is actually a nigun, a wordless prayer melody sung by Hassidic Jews since the mid 1800s. Equally unknown is the amazing journey of this song from a shtetl in Ukraine into the world of pop culture. I don’t actually recall when I first heard it. Probably on Ed Sullivan or other variety TV show popular in the 1960s & 70s when I was growing up. I do recall getting the lyrics and guitar chords from a friend in high […]
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. One a Ukrainian resident of Rohatyn, Mykhailo Vorobets, now in his 80s, who lived through the Holocaust. The other, an American woman, Marla Raucher Osborn, who came to Rohatyn to reconnect with her Jewish roots in her family’s ancestral home. Back in 2014 we were first introduced to Rohatyn, these two remarkable individuals, and their collaborative efforts to restore the memory of, and commemorate, the town’s now-lost Jewish heritage. Those initial collaborative efforts inspired Marla and her husband Jay to establish a non-profit organization, Rohatyn Jewish Heritage. Big-hearted and hard-working volunteers from nearby communities and around the world come to help with various restoration projects. These include Jewish headstone recovery, mass grave memorials, synagogue documentation, Jewish cemetery restoration and maintenance, educational resources and other projects. You can find details at their website (here). Most recently their focus has been on recovery of Jewish headstone fragments. […]
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 slave captured in Ukraine. At the time, Ukraine was known as Ruthenia. She was sold to the Ottoman harem, but later became the wife of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. She ruled with her husband and had a lasting impact on the country known as Turkey today. The subtitle of the book sums up Roxelana’s importance, “How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire.” Leslie Peirce skillfully describes the perilous journey that led Roxelana from “obscurity to the sultan’s bed.” (p. 3) Roxelana was captured at age 13 in her homeland known at that time as Ruthenia. Today, she would have lived in Ukraine. She became a royal concubine, and quickly became a favourite of the Sultan. After bearing him a son named Mehmed, Roxelana retained favour with Suleyman I for fifteen years before marrying him in 1536. In a revolutionary break with tradition, she […]
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 the standard. Well-known jazz legends such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis studied his technique. Yale Strom is himself an accomplished klezmer musician and historian. He is credited as a pioneer in the revival of klezmer. Strom had already published several books on the genre when by happenstance he ran into a great-grandson of Dave Tarras in New York. That encounter inspired Strom to write a biography of the iconic musician. The book contains many touching anecdotes by family members, musical colleagues and proteges. There is newly discovered biographical material, rare photos, the musical scores of 28 of Tarras’ original klezmer tunes arranged for violin and clarinet, a glossary of Yiddish terms, a bibliography, detailed footnotes and discography. Plus a copy of a handwritten note by Tarras a few years before he passed away. Dave Tarras was born Dave Tarasyuk in 1897 in Ternivka, a […]
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 from his home in Israel to tell us about himself and about the project. Pawlina: So welcome Dave. Thank you for joining us. Dave Bloom: Thank you for having me on your show. Pawlina: Now you live in Israel. Tell us a little bit about your background…how you ended up on this project and in Israel. Because you speak (almost) unaccented English! Dave: Well my personal story is that I was born in what is now Zimbabwe, previously Rhodesia. I came to live in Israel in 1973 and I’ve been here since then. I’m married with two children and I’ve been aways interested—fascinated—in researching my roots. It’s actually my mother’s side—my maternal grandparents—who were born in Boryslaw, which is one of the towns that we’ve mentioned. My mother was born there as well. They came here to Israel, actually, in 1920. So my mother grew up […]
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 inspired by the writing a book to write more on a topic that intrigues them. That includes a few of the authors in this list. So here are seven more books recommended by Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio and the sponsor of this series, the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, for your summer reading pleasure, and edification. East-West Street tells the story of two jurists from Lviv who were instrumental in shaping the precedent setting Nuremberg trial. Most people the world over still really have no idea of the origins of the term genocide, which like the Holocaust, is in danger of becoming an empty cliché instead of a powerful metaphor for the capacity of man’s inhumanity to man. East-West Street is a gripping account of the origins—in effect, the invention—of the terms “genocide” and also “crimes against humanity.” These two concepts became the centerpiece for the […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Summer Reading Roundup Part 1 of 2
What is summer without reading? I can imagine no greater pleasure than sitting down with a good book—or two—on a lazy summer afternoon at the beach or by the pool, on a shady deck, or sprawled out on a lush green lawn. Here on Nash Holos Ukrainian Roots Radio, we have been fortunate to learn of and review many excellent books on our series Ukrainian Jewish Heritage. The books cover a wide range of topics involving Jews, Ukrainians, and their interactions over the years. These interactions have not always been amicable, and it is a testament to the authors for broaching controversial topics and examining them with sensitivity, empathy, and a sense of fairness. These books cover a myriad of topics over a broad time frame. Most are available at public libraries, from booksellers, or both. So I’ve compiled a two-part list of 14 books for your summer reading pleasure. Here is Part 1. Stories of Khmelnytsky Stories of Khmelnytsky features provocative essays by distinguished scholars from throughout North America, Europe, and Israel. It takes an honest look at one of the most contentious historical figures plaguing Ukrainian Jewish dialogue. This book carefully addresses, without attempting to resolve, the fundamental […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: A chat with Julia Korsunsky of RememberUs.org
-An interview with Pawlina Today we’ll be speaking with Julia Korsunsky, whose story we first heard on Nash Holos last year. Julia is the Executive Director of RememberUs.org, a non-profit organization based in Massachusetts. Her organization is involved in commemorating mass grave sites of Holocaust victims, which include her great grandparents and many other relatives. Last year we learned about a project her organization is involved in, which is planting trees at killing sites in order to commemorate victims of genocide. These trees by their nature are appropriately symbolic for this purpose. The trees have been planted at several sites now and the project continues. However it is just part of a larger endeavor, and Julia Korsunsky, Executive Director of RememberUs. Org has kindly agreed to tell us more about it. Pawlina: Welcome, Julia, to Nash Holos! Julia: Hello, glad to be here. Pawlina: It’s great to connect, and it was wonderful to hear you story. We heard your voice a bit; Peter shared some of his recordings of your conversation but it’s nice to see your face—well I can see your face, our listeners can’t, but it’s wonderful to connect with you on Skype and thank you again for joining […]
Continue readingUkrainian Jewish Heritage: Interview with Alti Rodal, Co-Director of UJE. Part 2 of 2
-An interview with Pawlina Regular listeners to Nash Holos will be familiar with the name Ukrainian Jewish Encounter. This Toronto-based privately organized multinational initiative sponsors the long running series on the show, Ukrainian Jewish Heritage. This series of vignettes, cultural capsules and interviews has opened a window on this hitherto little known aspect of the Ukrainian experience. Alti Rodal is Co-Director of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Initiative. She is a historian, writer, former professor of Jewish history, and official and advisor to the Government of Canada. She was educated at McGill, Oxford, and Hebrew Universities in history and literature. Her research and writing has focused on aspects of identity, Jewish history and culture, and inter-communal relations. Alti has been instrumental in a project which began as an exhibition entitled A Journey Through the Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter: From Antiquity to 1914. It premiered in Toronto in 2015 and also travelled to Winnipeg, Edmonton and Montreal. In a recent skype interview, Alti updated us on this project and other exciting initiatives. In Part 1 of our interview, we discussed a soon-to-be-published illustrated catalog of the 2015 exhibit and plans for an expanded exhibit in 2020 at the Royal Ontario Museum. In Part 2 […]
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