“Л love in Moldova”

In the European countries where Yiddish was the language of daily life, there were traditions of extravagantly emotional songs of love, suffering, courtship and marriage. People sang violent ballads and graphic depictions of hard lives; songs of war, poverty, danger and natural disasters. Folksongs were like broadsides — carrying the news of the day, declaring the troubles in society. These songs were created and sung largely by women. Women working alongside other women in fields, markets, factories and homes shared songs reflecting their lives, their experiences, thoughts, dreams, imaginings.

In 1917 the majority of Russia’s Jews lived in the cities and shtetlach (small Jewish towns or villages) of the former Pale of Settlement, and over 90 percent spoke Yiddish on a daily basis. In 1918, soon after the Bolsheviks came to power, organizations designed to “Sovietize” the Jews economically and culturally were established. These were the Jewish sections (Evsektsii) of the Communist Party, which functioned until 1930, and the more short-lived Jewish Commissariat (Evkom), which operated until 1924. Their leaders saw the Yiddish language as the only medium with which to reach out to the Jewish masses and encouraged Jewish intellectuals to compose popular works in Yiddish. The Yiddish language itself was reformed several times during the Soviet period, initially with the goal of systematizing the spelling, including phonetic spelling of words of Hebrew origin, and later of purging the language of Hebraic elements that were seen as “bourgeois and clerical.” Yiddish popular culture was used as a tool to manipulate Jewish public opinion. The values of Soviet ideology filled short stories, theatrical performances, Yiddish songs, and even new holidays. These cultural products were designed to speed up the modernization and Sovietization of the Jewish population.

Anna Shternshis, Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939

Footnote: Recent scholarship, namely, works by Jeffrey Veidlinger, Gennady Estraikh, Katerina Clark, and David Shneer, argues that these Jewish activists, including some members of the Evsektsii, took advantage of Soviet opportunities and intended to build a secular Yiddish culture with a distinct, albeit non-religious Jewish content. For example, Veidlinger argues that producers, actors, and directors of the Moscow State Yiddish Theater were able to incorporate hidden Zionist and religious messages into their plays.

Ekh Lyuli Lyuli #5: Catching Up
Air date: August 30, 2011 - 4pm EST

A show catching up on a bunch of different things: reflecting on a couple summer Russian-Jewish weddings; ranting about feeling insecure and inauthentic about language in Russian circles; and kvetching about how often Russian-Jewish projects and initiatives, particularly for youth, are reduced to Israel advocacy. Oh, and an introduction to RussianGirlProblems (check out their facebook page, too!).

Those in/around Toronto, check out The Koffler @ IFOA (International Festival of Authors) on October 23, 2011, exploring Russian-Jewish narratives and featuring events with Gal Beckerman, David Bezmozgis, Gary Shteyngart, and others.

Music:
“Memory Song” by Psoy Korolenko, Frank London, & others
“Disko Partizani” (Shantel cover) by Filipp Kirkorov
“Hava Nagila” by Filipp Kirkorov
“To Life” from Fiddler on the Roof
“Ich Hob Dich Zifeel Lieb” (I Love You Much Too Much) by The Barry Sisters
“Chiribim Chiribom” by The Barry Sisters 

Download the podcast.

“Л love in Moldova”

More stills from the movie adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Everything Is Illuminated.

When I was growing up, I was very – I just wanted to fit in. I had an American nickname. Everyone called me Ally. I didn’t want to speak Russian at home. We had huge fights about it. I was very sensitive about my Russian heritage. I didn’t think it was cool. I didn’t want to chat about it. I just wanted to be like all the other kids. It was only really after college that I really started to realize — first of all, I was completely losing my Russian — if I don’t do something I’m not going to remember the language at all. Then when the wall came down and there was actually an opportunity to go back and visit. And I really I have all this family there. And I know nothing about this country that shaped my parents and my grandparents and these people who raised me.

∞  April 25, 2011 at 12:42am via

3 notes

Russian for Lovers was originally only about love; it was supposed to be about a long-distance relationship and a communication divide. Soon enough I started thinking about larger ideas like the fact that we speak Russian in my house, my family’s journey to the States, my own relationship with my place of birth.

Interestingly, I’d never written poems about these questions before. And then “Love in Moldova” came out of me, and it sounded angry and hurt and I figured there was an emotional core to this project that extended beyond a personal relationship to a loved one and into more political and cultural concerns.

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Russian For Lovers by Marina Blitshteyn
$10 chapbook available here (I just ordered mine!) 

“Russian for Lovers came about as an attempt to teach my beloved the basics of my native language. By a methodical working through of each letter and its comparable sound in English, a problematic relationship emerges between the speaker and her homeland, revealing the barriers inherent in trying to translate a culture and linguistic system, and the ultimate transcendent nature of two lovers trying to be together.”

Marina Blitshteyn was born in the USSR and immigrated to the US in 1991. She learned English from cartoons and hip-hop and was able to attain a Jewish education with the support of her parents and the Jewish community of Greater Buffalo. She went on to perform in local and international poetry slams, edit her university’s weekly publication and annual poetry journal, and sing in a short-lived local trip-hop duo. She completed her BA in English at the University at Buffalo and is currently pursuing an MFA in poetry at Columbia University.

Um, this woman sounds awesome.