Mosholu’s Finest (Women’s History Day One)

In a new series on my akademishe blog: Women’s History Month, March MMXXI. After a year (plus a bisl mer) of Yiddish study, I want to introduce you to some of my favorite Yiddish women writers, poets, songwriters, activists…and hopefully meet a few new ones myself!

Now that we’re in between for the Jewish calendar (Purim fell in March last year, but February this year), I’d first like to feature the Bronx songstress & wordsmith Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. For the festive holiday last year, I spent a weekend with my cousin in the Bronx and attended a Purim Simkhe at the Sholem Aleykhem Cultural Center. This community and educational center was a mainstay for Beyle. Indeed, earlier that year her work and her life had been celebrated there. The old Jewish community in Mosholu Heights (which I always associate with A Chanukah Fable for Christmas) contains wisdom and lore from generations of Yiddish culture brought over by our immigrating ancestors.