David G. Roskies
Encyclopedia
David G. Roskies is an internationally recognized literary scholar, cultural historian and author in the field of Yiddish literature
and the culture of Eastern European Jewry
. He is the Sol and Evelyn Henkind Chair in Yiddish Literature
and Culture and Professor of Jewish
Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
.
.
His grandmother, Fradl Matz, ran the famous Matz Press in Vilnius, a publishing house that produced prayer books, bibles and popular Yiddish literature. His mother Masha (born in 1906 in Vilnius) and her family were forced to flee Europe for Montreal, via Lisbon
and New York
in 1940. Her Montreal home became a salon for Yiddish writers, actors, and artists such as Isaac B. Singer, Melech Ravitch, Itsik Manger, Avrom Sutzkever and Rachel Korn
.
He is the brother Ruth Wisse
, professor of Yiddish at Harvard University.
After learning in Yiddish secular schools in Montreal, Roskies was educated at Brandeis University, where he received his doctorate in 1975.
In the 1970s Roskies was a member of the Havurat Shalom
, a small egalitarian chavurah
in Somerville, Massachusetts
, best known as the first such lay-led Jewish community in the United States.
A prolific author, editor, and scholar, he has published numerous books and received awards. Roskies now resides in New York City
.
In 1984, Harvard University Press published Against the Apocalypse: Responses to Catastrophe in Modern Jewish Culture, which won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize from Phi Beta Kappa and has since been translated into Russian and Hebrew. A companion volume, The Literature of Destruction, was published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1989.
In 2007, Dr. Roskies served as the J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is currently under contract with University Press of New England to produce Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide.
A second focus of his work, since 1975, has been the folklore of Ashkenazic Jewry
. He coauthored The Shtetl Book: An Introduction to East European Jewish Life and Lore. Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985, Dr. Roskies began studying the modern Jewish return to folklore and fantasy. The fruits of his labor are the edition of The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky (Yale, 1992) and the book A Bridge of Longing: The Lost Art of Yiddish Storytelling (Harvard, 1995). A thirtieth-anniversary edition of The Shtetl Book, meanwhile, was put out by Ktav in 2005.
A third focus of Dr. Roskies' work is The Jewish Search for a Usable Past, the title of a book of related essays published in 1999. Then, in 2008, he finally tried his hand at writing a memoir. Yiddishlands: A Memoir (Wayne State University Press) is the story of modern Yiddish culture as told through the lens of family history and the medium of Yiddish song. A CD of his mother singing accompanies the volume.
In 1981 (with Dr. Alan Mintz), Dr. Roskies cofounded Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History
He has served since 1998 as editor in chief of the New Yiddish Library, published by Yale University Press.
A member of the editorial board of the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, he is hard at work on Volume IX, encompassing the years 1939 through 1973.
Yiddish literature
Yiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.It is generally described...
and the culture of Eastern European Jewry
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
. He is the Sol and Evelyn Henkind Chair in Yiddish Literature
Yiddish literature
Yiddish literature encompasses all belles lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Europe, is evident in its literature.It is generally described...
and Culture and Professor of Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
Literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
.
Biography
Roskies was born in 1948 in Montreal, where his family emigrated in 1940 from VilniusVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
.
His grandmother, Fradl Matz, ran the famous Matz Press in Vilnius, a publishing house that produced prayer books, bibles and popular Yiddish literature. His mother Masha (born in 1906 in Vilnius) and her family were forced to flee Europe for Montreal, via Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1940. Her Montreal home became a salon for Yiddish writers, actors, and artists such as Isaac B. Singer, Melech Ravitch, Itsik Manger, Avrom Sutzkever and Rachel Korn
Rachel Korn
Rachel Häring Korn was a Yiddish poet and author. In total, she published eight collections of poetry and two of prose.-Biography:...
.
He is the brother Ruth Wisse
Ruth Wisse
Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.She is the sister of David Roskies, professor of Yiddish and Jewish literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary.-Career:...
, professor of Yiddish at Harvard University.
After learning in Yiddish secular schools in Montreal, Roskies was educated at Brandeis University, where he received his doctorate in 1975.
In the 1970s Roskies was a member of the Havurat Shalom
Havurat Shalom
Havurat Shalom is a small egalitarian chavurah in Somerville, Massachusetts that has 30 members in a large yellow house. Founded in 1968, it is not affiliated with the major Jewish denominations.- Further reading :Havurat Shalom Siddur...
, a small egalitarian chavurah
Chavurah
A chavurah or havurah is a small group of like-minded Jews who assemble for the purposes of facilitating Shabbat and holiday prayer services, sharing communal experiences such as lifecycle events, and Jewish learning...
in Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
, best known as the first such lay-led Jewish community in the United States.
A prolific author, editor, and scholar, he has published numerous books and received awards. Roskies now resides in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Research areas
One major focus of his work is the Holocaust. On this topic he published 1971 Night Words: A Midrash on the Holocaust, one of the first liturgies on the subject ever to appear. Night Words has entered its fifth edition, was adapted into Hebrew, and was recently reissued by CLAL as an audiocassette.In 1984, Harvard University Press published Against the Apocalypse: Responses to Catastrophe in Modern Jewish Culture, which won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize from Phi Beta Kappa and has since been translated into Russian and Hebrew. A companion volume, The Literature of Destruction, was published by the Jewish Publication Society in 1989.
In 2007, Dr. Roskies served as the J. B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is currently under contract with University Press of New England to produce Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide.
A second focus of his work, since 1975, has been the folklore of Ashkenazic Jewry
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
. He coauthored The Shtetl Book: An Introduction to East European Jewish Life and Lore. Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985, Dr. Roskies began studying the modern Jewish return to folklore and fantasy. The fruits of his labor are the edition of The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky (Yale, 1992) and the book A Bridge of Longing: The Lost Art of Yiddish Storytelling (Harvard, 1995). A thirtieth-anniversary edition of The Shtetl Book, meanwhile, was put out by Ktav in 2005.
A third focus of Dr. Roskies' work is The Jewish Search for a Usable Past, the title of a book of related essays published in 1999. Then, in 2008, he finally tried his hand at writing a memoir. Yiddishlands: A Memoir (Wayne State University Press) is the story of modern Yiddish culture as told through the lens of family history and the medium of Yiddish song. A CD of his mother singing accompanies the volume.
In 1981 (with Dr. Alan Mintz), Dr. Roskies cofounded Prooftexts: A Journal of Jewish Literary History
He has served since 1998 as editor in chief of the New Yiddish Library, published by Yale University Press.
A member of the editorial board of the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, he is hard at work on Volume IX, encompassing the years 1939 through 1973.
Works
- David G. Roskies: Night Words: A Midrasch about the Holocaust. Clal, 1971. Free download and text on the history of Night Words from D.G. Roskies here
- Diane K. Roskies, David G. Roskies: The Shtetl Book: An Introduction To East European Jewish Life And Lore. Ktav Publishing House, New York, 1975
- David G. Roskies: Against the Apocalypse: Responses to Catastrophe in Modern Jewish Culture. Harvard University Press, 1984
- David G. Roskies (Hg.): The Literature of Destruction: Jewish Responses to Catastrophe. Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1989
- David G. Roskies (Hg.): The Dybbuk and Other Writings by S. Ansky. Yale, 1992
- David G. Roskies: A Bridge of Longing: The Lost Art of Yiddish Storytelling. Harvard, 1995
- David G. Roskies: The Jewish Search for a Usable Past (Helen and Martin Schwartz Lectures in Jewish Studies). Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1999
- David Roskies (Hg.), Leonard Wolf (Hg.,Übers.): Introduction to Itzik Manger, The World According to Itzik: Selected Poetry and Prose. New Haven, Yale University Press, 2002.
- Melvin Jules Bukiet (Hg.), David G. Roskies (Hg.) : Scribblers on the Roof: Contemporary Jewish Fiction. Persea, New York, 2006.
- David G. Roskies: Yiddishlands: A Memoir. Wayne State University Press, 2008
- David G. Roskies: Holocaust Literature: A History and Guide. University Press of New England (in progress)
External links
- Dr. David G. Roskies's official biography on the JTS website
- Daughter of Vilna Video material about Roskies' mother from the Wayne State University from 2002 shows David G. Roskies, his mother Masha Roskies and his sister Ruth R. Wisse singing Yiddish songs (5 videos from wsupress auf youtube), seen at 18.01.2010