Bennett Muraskin

Author of four books on Jewish folklore, biography, Yiddish literature and Jews in the American labor movement. Columnist and contributor to Jewish magazines. NJ/NY based

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About

Author of four books on Jewish folklore, biography, Yiddish literature and Jews in the American labor movement. Contributor to Jewish magazines. Colorful and informative speaker on topics including: Yiddish words in English, origin of Jewish last names, role of Jews in labor movement, sports and rock and roll, roots of Jewish humor, Jewish heretics, Jewish perspectives on Jesus. NJ/NY based

Programs

The Life and Times of Sholem Aleichem

Learn about the life of the most famous of all Yiddish writers--his origins, literary influences, travels, success and failures and trips to America, where he died in 1916. Listen to a reading of one of his best short stories. Find out how his novel Tevye the Dairyman became the Broadway play Fiddler on the Roof.

You Know More Yiddish Than You Think

Think you don't know any Yiddish? Think again. From kvetch to kvell, mishpoke and mesugah and smutz to shmendrik, you too can learn to shmuz a bisl Yiddish. This interactive program introduces you to dozens of Yiddish words and expressions that are commonplace in our every day vocabulary. You too can become a maven. And to help you along, you will receive a glossary of 300 words. Takeh!

The Unknown Role of Jews in American Sports

From basketball to boxing and baseball, Jews have starred not only as athletes but as managers, journalists, sportscasters and union organizers. Learn how Jews fought to integrate baseball and free players from the control of owners. Outstanding personalities include Abe Saperstein and his Harlem Globetrotters, Moe Berg, the catcher who was a spy and Barney Ross, boxer and war hero.

Jews in Rock and Roll

Ever since DJ Alan Freed coined the term "rock and roll," Jews have been an integral part of the genre. Can you do any better than Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Carol King? Would there have been a Woodstock without Max Yasgtur? Decade by decade, this program introduces you to the key performers, songwriters, managers, promoters, DJs etc.---and explores their Jewish side as well.

Jews in the American Labor Movement

Maybe your bubbe was a garment worker in the ILGWU. But did you know that Samuel Gompers, a Jew, led the AFL for decades or that Martin Luther King considered the heavily Jewish 1199 drug and hospital workers his "favorite union?" Who do you think wrote the screen play for Norma Rae, if not a Jewish writer? This grand story of social justice needs to be told--and continues today.

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