May 17, 2009

I wasn’t on the board of the Yiddish Writers’ Association last year or the year before because of Ezi’s illness, but today marked my comeback. There was an annual executive meeting this morning and i discovered that not much had changed. The financial crisis is far more serious because donations have greatly diminished, and the house itself is in danger. The old Yiddish writers who began their professional careers with government support of their journals and publications are now being left without any professional encouragement.
It would seem to me that there are people out there in webland who might be interested in adopting a yiddish writer, or even a writers’ organization, so that the race doesn’t disappear. Click here for the English Site. There’s no doubt that there’s a renewed interest in Yiddish all over the world, but i think this is probably the only working writers union in Yiddish.
I should have gone to Maghrar this afternoon for the opening ceremony of the poetry festival there, but Ezi’s sick, and has probably given me his cold so i decided to put my visit off until Tuesday. I really wish i was there. It is one of the craziest festivals I know – and i write about it every year (except last year when i think Ezi was in the hospital). So i’d better get there, even though we have a wedding to go to that night.
Please test me on this = i am pretty sure there is a difference in the accent of the birds up north and the birds of Tel Aviv. I mean they all chirp, and they have tunes, but the ones here sound more nervous, speeded up…. Could it be that city life affects them?