An evening of Yiddish poetry and song

The life and work of Yiddish poet Avrom Sutzkever will be the focus of an evening of Yiddish poetry and music at the Lamm Jewish Library of Australia on October 20th. The event will be presented by Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (ACJC) lecturer Dr Nathan Wolski and will feature a musical performance from local Yiddish band The Bashevis Singers.

Sutzkever’s work spans prewar lyric poetry, Holocaust testimony and postwar Yiddish cultural renewal. Born in Smorgon, in present-day Belarus, in 1913 and raised near Vilna, he became associated with the “Young Vilna” literary group and gained recognition for his nature-inspired poetry.

During the Holocaust, he was imprisoned in the Vilna Ghetto, where he continued to write, joined the resistance and helped rescue Jewish cultural treasures.

After the war, he testified at the Nuremberg Trials and later settled in Israel, where he became a central figure in Yiddish literary life and edited the journal Di goldene keyt.

Wolski is a scholar of the Jewish mystical tradition, with a focus on the Zohar, the 13th-century classic of medieval Kabbalah.

His recent research examines the intersection of kabbalistic thought and modern Yiddish literature, on which he’s published two books. Wolski will guide the audience through Sitzkever’s life and poetry, offering insight into his unique voice and vision.

The Bashevis Singers, the children of generations of people who lived their lives in Yiddish, have released five albums to date drawing on several centuries of Yiddish. Their recordings include classic 20th-century Yiddish folk songs, new compositions based on mystical poetry by major Jewish figures, and original songs written with journalist and author Michael Gawenda, father of Evie and Husky and uncle of Preiss.

The evening will feature live music from the band, who will perform selections from their new album Moon’s Milk.

Book tickets here