Join us for a conversation about Yiddish culture, political imagination, and alternative visions of Jewish life in Israel/Palestine. Dr. Adi Mahalel will discuss Boom and Chains, Hanan Ayalti's Yiddish novel set in Mandatory Palestine, recently published in English translation with Mahalel's scholarly introduction. Moderated by Dr. Jonathan Boyarin, the discussion will examine questions of Zionism, socialism, Jewish-Arab relations, language politics, and the role of dissenting voices in Jewish history.
“Adi Mahalel recovers and translates a forgotten Yiddish novel that presciently foregrounds tensions over the land between Jews and Arabs in prestate Palestine and he traces the arc of the author in ways that help explain the fault lines of Jewish life today. The result is a bracing read, as well as an outstanding piece of literary and cultural historical exegesis.” – David Myers, Chair in Jewish History, University of California, Los Angeles
“The book is a unique—and rare—example of dissidence and is a singular literary contribution that exposes the injustices that the Zionist pioneers' movement caused the Palestinians living on the land they aimed to occupy. This book is an impressive achievement by Adi Mahalel, who also contributed an important and illuminating introduction.” – Hannan Hever, Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature, Yale University
Purchase a copy of Boom and Chains: A Yiddish Novel Set in Israel/Palestine here.
Use discount code RSC2026 for 35% off.
Dr. Adi Mahalel teaches Yiddish Studies at Harvard. He is the author of The Radical Isaac: I. L. Peretz and the Rise of Jewish Socialism (SUNY Press, 2023) and the translation and scholarly introduction of Hanan Ayalti’s Boom and Chains: A Yiddish Novel Set in Israel/Palestine (Wayne State University Press, 2025). Dr. Mahalel has published articles and translations in Yiddish, Hebrew, and English, and has taught at Columbia University, the University of Maryland, McGill University, and the YIVO Institute.
Dr. Jonathan Boyarin teaches at Cornell University. He is a veteran ethnographer of Ashkenazi Jewish communities and translator of works about that world. His most recent book, edited and translated together with Jonah Sampson Boyarin, is As the Story Goes: Funny, Strange, and Serious Stories of Yiddishland's Jews (Ben Yehuda Press).