Season 3, Episode 1
In this episode, presented in collaboration with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, we investigate the life and work of the poet Chaya Rochel Andres, who emigrated as a young woman in 1921 from Poland to Dallas, Texas, where she spent most of her adult life. Her story serves as an entry point for us to explore some of the social, political, and cultural dynamics of Jewish life in the South.
Throughout the episode, a variety of poems from Chaya Rochel's body of work are intercut with information about the circumstances of her life, the time in which she lived, and the organization with which she was involved, the Arbeter Ring, which many people now know as the Workers Circle.
Scholarship from the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life includes expertise from Dr. Josh Parshall, Director of History, who discusses Chaya Rochel's work and its connections to the Yiddish speaking world, as well as Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the South, and Nora Katz, Director of Heritage and Interpretation, who speaks about how Chaya Rochel's story intersects with the Jewish history of migration to and within the Southern United States. Also featured in the episode is an interview with Chaya Rochel from 1981, courtesy of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society, in which she shared about her writing and her personal history.
This episode is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Read the transcription for "Years Have Sped By."
THE TEAM
Hosted by Aaron Henne
Scholarship provided by Josh Parshall, PhD and Nora Katz, MPhil
Featured interview with Chaya Rochel Andres from 1981, provided courtesy of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society
Edited by Mark McClain Wilson
Story editing by Clay Steakley and Julie A. Lockhart with Aaron Henne
Featuring the voice of Julie A. Lockhart, with Yiddish readings performed by Miri Koral, the CEO and Founding Director of the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language
Theme music composed by Michael Skloff and produced by Sam K.S.
Transcription by Dylan Southard
Most of the poems featured in the episode were translated by Yudel Cohen.
"The New Life" was translated by Dr. Josh Parshall, with assistance of the editors at In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies, who published it.
"Years Have Sped By" Learning Resources
Learn more about:
1992 interview with Chaya Rochel Andres
Referenced in the episode:
Watch with captions on YouTube:
ABOUT OUR EPISODE PARTNER
The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) supports, connects, and celebrates Jewish Life in the South. Throughout their thirteen-state region, the ISJL works with individuals, congregations, and organizations to preserve the storied past of southern Jewish life, while at the same time enriching the ongoing experience of Jews in the contemporary American South. The ISJL's public history programs and resources include the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities and the ISJL Virtual Vacation, a video series that shares stories of the Jewish South.