DER SOYNE

Shmuel Charney, a renowned literary critic, spiritual Yiddishist and frequent contributor to the Yiddish newspaper Der Tog during the interwar period in the United States, looked towards the popular Yiddish press to engage in debates surrounding various conceptions of a Jewish future. Through looking at his debates with Communist, Anarchist, and Zionist newspapers from 1927-1937, I argue that Charney developed a “religious” component of his “secular” yidishkayt [Jewishness] for the wider Yiddish public. This openness to religiosity was integral in the development of a Yiddishist community which was rooted in artistic production, relationship with Yiddish tradition, and a socialist care for ending oppression around the world

Jason (Yosl) Rosenblum is a MA student in the Borns Jewish Studies program at IU-Bloomington, researching Yiddish education institutions and the world-spread secular-religious Yiddishist community in the inter-war period. He comes from a teaching background and is hoping to teach Yiddish/Jewish Studies and build a Yiddish community wherever he…