Both during and after the Holocaust, Yiddish poets turned to writing in order to respond to their grief and anger. In this talk, we'll read and discuss work by some of the Yiddish language's greatest poets, and explore the ways they tried to express the inexpressible, using art as a means of reckoning with the destruction of European Jewish civilization. We'll look together at Yiddish poets in English translation, considering both their particular Jewish contexts and the broader questions they raise about how art can respond to catastrophe.

Danny Kraft is a poet, educator, and Yiddish translator. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in numerous publications, and been featured by the Academy of American Poets. His debut poetry collection is forthcoming from Slant Books. Danny holds a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School, where he was a Harry Austryn Wolfson Fellow in Jewish Studies, and has taught at many institutions, including the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University, the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education, and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków. He is currently the program manager for the literary nonprofit organization Yetzirah: a hearth for Jewish poetry, and his work has been supported by a translation fellowship from Yiddish Book Center.

 

LOCATION:

Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center

564 S. Stone Ave.

Tucson, AZ 85701