Moskovich discussed multi-ethnic Chernivtsi and Bukovyna in Stockholm lecture
Dr. Wolf Moskovich, Board Member, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.
Bukovyna inspires the imagination. Sitting at the crossroads of great empires, this Ukrainian region was home to a myriad of writers, artists, musicians and ethnic groups, each who forever left their imprint.
Wolf Moskovich, Board Member of the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter and Professor Emeritus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was born in Bukovyna’s capital, Chernivtsi, and experienced this mythical world firsthand. In a sweeping evening lecture held in Stockholm recently, Moskovich explored the region’s many cross-cultural influences and the political and literary figures who shaped its identity and ensured it was a place of multi-ethnic tolerance. Attendees numbering some 80 individuals learned about the development of Bukovyna’s Jewish community over the centuries; the role German culture and language played in shaping the region’s Jews; and the huge influence of Yiddish on Jewish society, whether it be politics, culture, or daily life.
Existing since the twelfth century as an offshoot of German, Yiddish was for centuries the dominant language of Central and Eastern European Jewry.
As part of the evening, attendees were treated to two musical interludes that highlighted Bukovyna’s unique cultural heritage. Classical pianist Nataliya Pasichnyk, who heads the Ukrainska Institutet i Sverge, and classical singer Olha Pasichnyk performed three songs in Yiddish: Ich bin a balagole, Die Alte Kashe, and Fraitik far nacht from Szymon Laks’ 8 Popular Jewish Songs. They then performed two songs in the Ukrainian language by Dezydorij Zador from his Ukrainian Folksongs: Oy, Horamy volonky and Hey, Ivane.
They also watched a short video introduction to the Yiddish-language film Glimpses of Yiddish Czernowitz.
Attendees were presented with copies of the books The Ukrainian Jewish-Encounter: Cultural Dimensions, a collection of essays edited by Moskovich and Alti Rodal, UJE Co-Director, and The Ukrainian Jewish Encounter: From Antiquity to 1914, written by Rodal.
The event was held in cooperation with the Ukrainska Institutet i Sverge; Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden; Judiska Forsamlingen i Stockholm; and Bajit Huset for Judisk Utbildning & Kultur.
Moskovich’s appearance marks the second time board members from the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter have given talks in cooperation with these organizations. In May 2018, Paul Robert Magocsi appeared in Stockholm to speak about Ukrainian-Jewish relations in a conversation with Swedish journalist Peter Johnson.
Yiddish and Bukovyna: A Lecture by Dr. Wolf Moskovich, Stockholm, 3 September 2019.
00:00-01:52
Ivana Koutníková, Project Coordinator, Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden.
01:53-04:15
Natalia A. Feduschak, Director of Communications, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.
04:16-10:48
Nataliya Pasichnyk, Director, Ukrainska Institutet i Sverge. Greeting, plus musical presentation with classical singer Olha Pasichnyk. Songs performed were Szymon Laks from 8 Popular Jewish Songs: Ich bin a balagole, Die Alte Kashe, and Fraitik far nacht.
10:49-1:06:00
Dr. Wolf Moskovich, Board Member, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter.
1:06:01-1:33:55
Question and answer with audience.
1:33:56 to end
Musical presentation, pianist Nataliya Pasichnyk with classical singer Olha Pasichnyk.
Dezydorij Zador from Ukrainian Folksongs: Hey, Ivane.
