1. LIFE IN THE BIG CITY AND GENDER ROLES IN YIDDISH LITERATURE

2. “Holiday Dainties” by Sholem Aleichem  Who is the narrator?  What topics does she touch upon?  What are the living conditions like?  What does she say about gender roles?  How does her language characterize her?  What are her “others,” her “us” and “them”?

3. Dvora (Devorah) Baron (1887-1956)  Born in a shtetl in Belorussia.  Daughter of a rabbi.  Under her father’s guidance, studied the same things as boys; received secular education as well.  Started writing in Yiddish as a young teen.  In 1910, moved to Palestine.  Switched to writing in Hebrew.  Was rebellious against traditional gender roles.

4. Heder (in Belorussia, early XXth cent.)

5. “Kaddish” by Dvora Baron  What happens to the culturally prescribed gender roles in the story?  Who and why allows/promotes female religious education?  How can the ending be interpreted?

6. “Bubbe Henya” by Dvora Baron  What qualities is the old woman ascribed in the story?  What traditional aspects of women’s life are depicted?  What functions unusual for her gender does the protagonist perform?  How and why is she described as a mysterious figure?

7. David Bergelson (1884 –1952)  Born in a shtetl in Ukraine.  Lived in Germany before the rise of Nazis.  Died (executed) in the Stalinist Soviet Union.  Social activist, proponent of Yiddish culture.  Wrote essays, novels, and short stories in Hebrew, Russian, and Yiddish.  Avant-gard, impressionist prose.

8. “In the Boardinghouse” by David Bergelson  What’s “suspicious” about the boardinghouse? To whom?  What are the girls’ most striking characteristics?  How is their social status described?  Who and why gossips about the girls?