A Tale of Two Tales: Translating a Pair of Rich and Rare Yiddish Titles

Two heroes of Yiddish life and lore — one a detective, one an actress. Two gripping yarns about their adventures and misadventures.  And now, Detroit-born performer and scholar Mikhl Yashinsky has translated them, their first-ever English translations.  Join us for a powerful discussion with Yashinsky about Adventures of Max Spitzkopf: The Yiddish Sherlock Holmes and The Mother of Yiddish Theatre: Memoirs of Ester-Rokhl Kaminska. 

Born in Detroit, Mikhl Yashinsky is a Yiddish playwright, performer, translator, and teacher. He has appeared with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof directed by Joel Grey and in the title role of Goldfaden’s The Sorceress, in which he brought a “keen, if malevolent, psychology” to the title role of Bobe Yakhne (New York Times). His Gospel According to Chaim, the first new Yiddish drama professionally produced in the United States for several decades, “jolted the repertoire with a work that is both traditional and delightfully subversive” (Forward) and his recent musical, Feast of the Seven Sinners, was hailed as a “saucy spectacle which sprouts excitingly unorthodox fruit” (Forward). His publications include In the World of Chaos: Selected Early Works by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Academic Studies Press), In eynem: The New Yiddish Textbook (White Goat Press, 2020).  Recently, he was among the international Yiddish artists profiled in the Australian documentary, Welcome to Yiddishland. 

Click HERE to watch Yashinsky's street performance of Ezra Korman's "Frilling-dzhez" ("Springtime Jazz") for our "Jubilee at the Temple: A Centennial Celebration" in May of 2026.

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