Fun Yener Zayt Shvel / On the Other Side of the Threshold

This is a collection of articles by Sheva Zucker, well-known Yiddish scholar and editor of the Yiddish magazine Afn Shvel from 2005-2015. The majority of the articles were written during those years  and published in the magazine. The essays in this book are arranged into six sections: I. Personal Essays; II. From the Editor;  III. Regarding the Past and Present of Our Organization;  IV. From My Cultural World; V. Personalities; and VI. Interviews. The author writes with passion, insight and humor on a variety of topics  relating to Yiddish literature and culture. Highlights include articles on contemporary Yiddish writers such as Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, Yonia Fain and Yekhiel Shraibman, a description of a trip to Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Region in the Former Soviet Union, and a deeply personal essay on the history and heritage of the secular Yiddish school movement. Readers interested in the history of the League for Yiddish and its predecessor, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Colonization, as well as their organ Afn Shvel, will find a number of articles of particular interest. The book includes several portraits of Yiddish cultural figures such as Isaac-Nakhmen Steinberg and Mordkhe Schaechter as well as excellent interviews with several Yiddish translators and other cultural figures.  Yiddish literary scholar Kathryn Hellerstein wrote the introduction. The articles were reproduced from the magazine itself and feature the beautiful design of graphic artist Yankl Salant. All articles are in Yiddish with the author’s preface and Hellerstein’s introduction in both Yiddish and English.