I think about language a lot. Understanding and translating Hebrew is a core part of what keeps me busy and engaged, and in my study of Kabbalah I often confront the limits of what language can convey. But language isn't just a philosophical puzzle — in our broader culture it's being used and abused, deployed in culture wars, for political division and demagoguery. Language can also be a form of self-determination, of pushing back against oppression.

Think of how Jews in the late 19th century reclaimed Hebrew — turning it from a sacred religious tongue into a living secular language. In doing so, they largely turned away from Yiddish, the vernacular of diaspora Jewish life. Hebrew was the language of return; Yiddish was the language of exile.

But in recent decades, Yiddish itself has undergone its own reclamation — not as a language of exile, but of resistance. For many Jews outside or critical of the Zionist mainstream, Yiddish carries a different kind of Jewish identity: diasporic, radical, rooted in solidarity and working-class organizing. You may recall my conversation with Mark Rubin, who draws on some of that same tradition in his own protest music. Today's guests are very much in that spirit.

Maia Brown and Stefanie Brendler of Brivele are a Seattle-based Jewish duo making Yiddish music rooted in anti-fascist, anarchist, and labor organizing. Their latest album draws from the Proletpen — radical Yiddish writers working in New York between the 1920s and 1950s — and the music is as urgent as anything being made today.

We talk about what drew them to Yiddish, how punk shaped their sound, and what it means to perform this music in Jewish spaces right now, when the community is so fractured. It's a rich, sometimes challenging conversation. I'll say upfront: my guests hold strong views on what's happening in Gaza — views I don't entirely share, and said so during our conversation. I think that exchange is worth hearing, and I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Enjoy the episode.

The Art/Lab Podcast: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose

Notes

Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture: artlabpdx.org

https://www.brivele.com/

YIVO Encyclopedia entry on Yiddish: encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/235

Information on Dora Teitleboim: hcongressforjewishculture.org/people/4097/Taytlboym-Dora