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Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children's Literature
An unprecedented treasury of Yiddish children's stories and poems enhanced with original illustrations
While there has been a recent boom in Jewish literacy and learning within the US, few resources exist to enable American Jews to experience the rich primary sources of Yiddish culture. Stepping into this void, Miriam Udel has crafted an exquisite collection: Honey on the Page offers a feast of beguiling original translations of stories and poems for children.
Arranged thematically--from school days to the holidays--the book takes readers from Jewish holidays and history to folktales and fables, from stories of humanistic ethics to multi-generational family sagas. Featuring many works that are appearing in English for the first time, and written by both prominent and lesser-known authors, this anthology spans the Yiddish-speaking globe--drawing from materials published in Eastern Europe, New York, and Latin America from the 1910s, during the interwar period, and up through the 1970s. With its vast scope, Honey on the Page offers a cornucopia of delights to families, individuals and educators seeking literature that speaks to Jewish children about their religious, cultural, and ethical heritage.
Complemented by whimsical, humorous illustrations by Paula Cohen, an acclaimed children's book illustrator, Udel's evocative translations of Yiddish stories and poetry will delight young and older readers alike.
While there has been a recent boom in Jewish literacy and learning within the US, few resources exist to enable American Jews to experience the rich primary sources of Yiddish culture. Stepping into this void, Miriam Udel has crafted an exquisite collection: Honey on the Page offers a feast of beguiling original translations of stories and poems for children.
Arranged thematically--from school days to the holidays--the book takes readers from Jewish holidays and history to folktales and fables, from stories of humanistic ethics to multi-generational family sagas. Featuring many works that are appearing in English for the first time, and written by both prominent and lesser-known authors, this anthology spans the Yiddish-speaking globe--drawing from materials published in Eastern Europe, New York, and Latin America from the 1910s, during the interwar period, and up through the 1970s. With its vast scope, Honey on the Page offers a cornucopia of delights to families, individuals and educators seeking literature that speaks to Jewish children about their religious, cultural, and ethical heritage.
Complemented by whimsical, humorous illustrations by Paula Cohen, an acclaimed children's book illustrator, Udel's evocative translations of Yiddish stories and poetry will delight young and older readers alike.
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About the author
Miriam Udel
3 books8 followersMiriam Udel is associate professor of German Studies and Jewish Studies at Emory University, where her teaching focuses on Yiddish language, literature, and culture. She holds an AB in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, as well as a PhD in Comparative Literature from the same institution. She was ordained in 2019 as part of the first cohort of the Executive Ordination Track at Yeshivat Maharat, a program designed to bring qualified mid-career women into the Orthodox rabbinate.
Udel’s academic research interests include 20th-century Yiddish literature and culture, Jewish children’s literature, and American-Jewish literature. She is the author of Never Better!: The Modern Jewish Picaresque (University of Michigan Press), winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature will appear from New York University Press in October, 2020.
Udel’s academic research interests include 20th-century Yiddish literature and culture, Jewish children’s literature, and American-Jewish literature. She is the author of Never Better!: The Modern Jewish Picaresque (University of Michigan Press), winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature will appear from New York University Press in October, 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 11, 2020
A fascinating collection with some truly magical entries. In her translation, Udel does a fine job of maintaining the distinct voices of the different authors.
While the work is highly informative, all of the contextual information, both at the beginning of the book and in the introductions to each selection, makes it feel more like a study piece than a collection that targets children and their families.
The audience and purpose of the work seem somewhat muddled; nevertheless, there is much of worth here for scholars, teachers, parents, and children. This is a volume that will be returned to again and again.
Thank you to New York University Press and NetGalley for an Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.
While the work is highly informative, all of the contextual information, both at the beginning of the book and in the introductions to each selection, makes it feel more like a study piece than a collection that targets children and their families.
The audience and purpose of the work seem somewhat muddled; nevertheless, there is much of worth here for scholars, teachers, parents, and children. This is a volume that will be returned to again and again.
Thank you to New York University Press and NetGalley for an Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 30, 2020
Brimming with magic and wisdom, HONEY ON THE PAGE is brilliant not only for its lyrical translations but also for its broad collection of tales. Discreet sections guide the reader back in time through myriad aspects of Jewish life, from glittering holidays and heroes to secular and observant experiences. The twists and turns of morality and history are revealed not only in these incandescent stories but also through Udel’s meticulous research. The biographies of each author are gems in their own right that shine as bright as her translations.
October 13, 2020
Yiddish literature is a remarkable thing. Given the relatively late arrival of secularism & Modernism to “Yiddish-land”, Modern Yiddish literature represents a remarkably explosive, rich, and (stylistically, thematically, ideologically) diverse body of work, despite being confined to a relatively narrow set of times and places. All the more notable, then, that such a huge percentage of the novelists, poets, playwrights and storytellers of Modern Yiddish chose to give of their talents to its youngest readers. Until now, this treasure trove of Yiddish stories for children has been largely inaccessible to the English-speaking world.
Enter Miriam Udel’s “Honey on the Page” — an absolute gift to the entire ייִדישע וועלט (Yiddish world)! Whether you are parent or child, religious or secular, Jew or gentile, ardent Yiddishist or just Yid-curious, this tremendous new collection is a rich, delightful, fascinating dive into the diverse people and places of Yiddishland as seen by its children and those who wrote for them.
Through years of research and workshopping, Udel has selected and translated fifty stories from the vast (and largely untouched) stores of modern Yiddish kid-lit. You’ll find stories from NYC, Warsaw, Havana, Vilna, Montreal, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and elsewhere. You’ll find stories from some of Yiddish’s best-read authors (Sholem Asch, Kadya Molodowsky) and many lesser-known writers as well, with insightful short biographies for each. The editor/translator’s brilliant introduction is worth the price of admission alone.
Many of the stories are appearing for the first time ever in English — and Udel’s translations, across a variety of genres and tones, are fantastic. The stories are accompanied by wonderful new illustrations from Paula Cohen Martin, as well as many original illustrations from earlier printings of these stories, all of which were published between 1914-1970.
From the perspective of Yiddish language, children’s literature, 19th/20th century Ashkenazi history, or countless other lenses, so much is revealed spending time with these stories. “Honey on the Page” has a great deal to teach us, and I know I will be returning to it many times.
Enter Miriam Udel’s “Honey on the Page” — an absolute gift to the entire ייִדישע וועלט (Yiddish world)! Whether you are parent or child, religious or secular, Jew or gentile, ardent Yiddishist or just Yid-curious, this tremendous new collection is a rich, delightful, fascinating dive into the diverse people and places of Yiddishland as seen by its children and those who wrote for them.
Through years of research and workshopping, Udel has selected and translated fifty stories from the vast (and largely untouched) stores of modern Yiddish kid-lit. You’ll find stories from NYC, Warsaw, Havana, Vilna, Montreal, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, and elsewhere. You’ll find stories from some of Yiddish’s best-read authors (Sholem Asch, Kadya Molodowsky) and many lesser-known writers as well, with insightful short biographies for each. The editor/translator’s brilliant introduction is worth the price of admission alone.
Many of the stories are appearing for the first time ever in English — and Udel’s translations, across a variety of genres and tones, are fantastic. The stories are accompanied by wonderful new illustrations from Paula Cohen Martin, as well as many original illustrations from earlier printings of these stories, all of which were published between 1914-1970.
From the perspective of Yiddish language, children’s literature, 19th/20th century Ashkenazi history, or countless other lenses, so much is revealed spending time with these stories. “Honey on the Page” has a great deal to teach us, and I know I will be returning to it many times.
Want to read
July 9, 2020Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.
December 16, 2020
Miriam Udel describes fondly of starting Hebrew school; when the students received their first booklet, her teacher “walked around the room majestically, tumbling a little cascade of chocolate candies onto the open booklet on each desk.” (3). Chocolate was a twist on the Jewish tradition of placing honey on children’s first books so that their relationship with books is always sweet. Honey on the Page is a collection of Yiddish children’s stories and poems by different authors translated into English.
The book is much more than children’s stories one after another. The author/translator, Miriam Udel, provides an introduction and also includes a foreword by Jack Zipes, which together provide a useful historical and cultural background. To provide even more context, Udel includes short biographies of the individual story’s authors before each story in the collection. Udel starts with sections on Jewish Holidays and Jewish History and Heros. In her introductions, she references an “affirmative vision carved out a place for Jewish holidays, an awareness of tragic, hopeful and resilient dimensions of Jewish history, an appreciation for Jewish folklore and the voice of the people, and a distinctive brand of insouciant humor. At the same time, it held space for stories that had little to no explicit Jewish content, in which characters were only incidentally Jewish or might not be Jewish at all.” (4). Her stories become more secular in later parts.
For example, the Baker and the Beggar is a classic story by Kadya Molodowsky about a generous Jewish baker who gives away bread to any poor that comes to the bakery on Fridays, including a particular beggar. But when the Baker’s store and everything he owns is burned to the ground, the Baker thinks he is lost.
I laughed at the stories in Part VI School Days. Udel translates an imaginative piece by Moyshe Shifrit, a teacher after migrating as an orphan from the Ukraine. In the Alphabet Gets Angry, Shifris describes Hebrew letters tormenting a school boy before he returns to school after a long summer. We can all relate to the boy having failed to even start the required reading. The letter Nun chants: “You ran in grasses free of cares And chased all the mountain hares . . . Sailing swimming all day long But not one Yiddish letter . . .” The letter Aleph angrily jumps in saying “And to think he finds it a surprise When we letters spin before his eyes?” (243) The imagery of the letters tormenting the boy is poignant, and it is hard for high school seniors at this point to not think of the college essays we should have completed this summer!
With plans to read Jewish children’s stories over Zoom to family, I initially selected this book as a means to connect with my young cousins five and under. Instead, it helped connect me to my Jewish heritage. This book is targeted at older teens through grandparents, instead of young children. So instead of sending my young cousins the book, I will hold it in my collection and possibly send it to their mom when her children are older.
The book is much more than children’s stories one after another. The author/translator, Miriam Udel, provides an introduction and also includes a foreword by Jack Zipes, which together provide a useful historical and cultural background. To provide even more context, Udel includes short biographies of the individual story’s authors before each story in the collection. Udel starts with sections on Jewish Holidays and Jewish History and Heros. In her introductions, she references an “affirmative vision carved out a place for Jewish holidays, an awareness of tragic, hopeful and resilient dimensions of Jewish history, an appreciation for Jewish folklore and the voice of the people, and a distinctive brand of insouciant humor. At the same time, it held space for stories that had little to no explicit Jewish content, in which characters were only incidentally Jewish or might not be Jewish at all.” (4). Her stories become more secular in later parts.
For example, the Baker and the Beggar is a classic story by Kadya Molodowsky about a generous Jewish baker who gives away bread to any poor that comes to the bakery on Fridays, including a particular beggar. But when the Baker’s store and everything he owns is burned to the ground, the Baker thinks he is lost.
I laughed at the stories in Part VI School Days. Udel translates an imaginative piece by Moyshe Shifrit, a teacher after migrating as an orphan from the Ukraine. In the Alphabet Gets Angry, Shifris describes Hebrew letters tormenting a school boy before he returns to school after a long summer. We can all relate to the boy having failed to even start the required reading. The letter Nun chants: “You ran in grasses free of cares And chased all the mountain hares . . . Sailing swimming all day long But not one Yiddish letter . . .” The letter Aleph angrily jumps in saying “And to think he finds it a surprise When we letters spin before his eyes?” (243) The imagery of the letters tormenting the boy is poignant, and it is hard for high school seniors at this point to not think of the college essays we should have completed this summer!
With plans to read Jewish children’s stories over Zoom to family, I initially selected this book as a means to connect with my young cousins five and under. Instead, it helped connect me to my Jewish heritage. This book is targeted at older teens through grandparents, instead of young children. So instead of sending my young cousins the book, I will hold it in my collection and possibly send it to their mom when her children are older.
June 30, 2021
In HONEY ON THE PAGE: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature, Miriam Udel has compiled an exemplary collection of Yiddish children’s literature. Drawing on works from Europe as well as North and South America, she has edited and translated poems and stories from the original Yiddish that offer readers not only the pleasure of the storytelling, but also a glimpse into Jewish history and culture. Udel is clearly a scholar, providing a depth of understanding in her Introduction, Notes to Young Readers and the succinct biographies that precede each author’s story. But don’t imagine for a moment that there is anything dry or stiff in this notable assembly of work. The stories and poems are charming and engaging and beautifully complimented by imaginative illustrations. The tone is delightfully conversational.
The book is divided into eight thematic areas:
Jewish Holidays
History and Heroes
Folktales, Fairy Tales, Wonder Tales
Wise Fools
Allegories, Parables, and Fables
School Days
In Life’s Classroom
Jewish Families, Here and There
In her note TO THE YOUNG READER, Udel explains that her goal was to share stories that were appealing, but also teach readers about different cultures, places, and times. Her work takes the stories a step farther by also identifying shared ideas and experiences that readers would find relatable.
A comprehensive Introduction provides a thoughtful discussion of Udel’s inspiration and methodology in selecting materials. She also takes care to ground the reader in the historic tradition of Jewish storytelling.
HONEY ON THE PAGE is an excellent resource for family reading because it will appeal to a broad audience from preschool to teenager to adult. Young readers will find enjoyable stories read by grownups. Independent readers will find an immediate connection to some stories and, as they grow, have the opportunity to develop appreciation for others. Parents and librarians will discover a charming collection of new stories to share. Adults looking to widen their cultural experience or seeking to deepen their understanding of the rich tradition of Yiddish literature will find a well-researched resource here.
The book is divided into eight thematic areas:
Jewish Holidays
History and Heroes
Folktales, Fairy Tales, Wonder Tales
Wise Fools
Allegories, Parables, and Fables
School Days
In Life’s Classroom
Jewish Families, Here and There
In her note TO THE YOUNG READER, Udel explains that her goal was to share stories that were appealing, but also teach readers about different cultures, places, and times. Her work takes the stories a step farther by also identifying shared ideas and experiences that readers would find relatable.
A comprehensive Introduction provides a thoughtful discussion of Udel’s inspiration and methodology in selecting materials. She also takes care to ground the reader in the historic tradition of Jewish storytelling.
HONEY ON THE PAGE is an excellent resource for family reading because it will appeal to a broad audience from preschool to teenager to adult. Young readers will find enjoyable stories read by grownups. Independent readers will find an immediate connection to some stories and, as they grow, have the opportunity to develop appreciation for others. Parents and librarians will discover a charming collection of new stories to share. Adults looking to widen their cultural experience or seeking to deepen their understanding of the rich tradition of Yiddish literature will find a well-researched resource here.
July 28, 2022
This book of stories was edited and translated by Miriam Udel, with a few pictures by Paula Cohen (NYU Press, 2020). Udel, a professor of German and Jewish Studies at Emory University, has a PhD in comparative literature from Harvard as well as ordination from Yeshivat Maharat (she prefers to be called Darshanit Dr.). In the intro, she explains that the interwar years were the heyday of Yidkidlit (yes, that's a thing). Though some writers would later continue writing Yiddish stories in America, what Hillel Halkin calls the great Jewish language war between Yiddish and Hebrew ended abruptly with the Holocaust.
Udel has selected and skillfully translated over forty stories and poems, ranging from the realistic to the fantastical. Most are not religious per se, though some include references to traditional Jewish rituals. I especially liked Levin Kipnis's story "Children of the Field", which is a retelling of the midrash about the Jewish babies in Egypt who were miraculously saved under the apple trees, and also Zina Rabinowitz's "The Story of a Stick," which is about four generations of a German Jewish family (from the 1860s to the late 1940s). I wasn't blown away by any of the stories, but I did appreciate the glimpse into a literary world that is inaccessible to most of us.
Udel has selected and skillfully translated over forty stories and poems, ranging from the realistic to the fantastical. Most are not religious per se, though some include references to traditional Jewish rituals. I especially liked Levin Kipnis's story "Children of the Field", which is a retelling of the midrash about the Jewish babies in Egypt who were miraculously saved under the apple trees, and also Zina Rabinowitz's "The Story of a Stick," which is about four generations of a German Jewish family (from the 1860s to the late 1940s). I wasn't blown away by any of the stories, but I did appreciate the glimpse into a literary world that is inaccessible to most of us.
February 20, 2021
I picked this volume out of curiosity. I love fairytales, being a graduate in cultural studies/anthropology, their symbolism and reflection of a time and society is not lost on me. I think they are a wonderful reflection of humanity and its moral codes. And knowing nothing about Yiddish tales I obviously wanted to dig. I have no religion but love philosophy and reflections on human desires and happiness. As my children are growing and understanding more and more at 2 and 5, I make it a point to read them stories from everywhere. This volume is a remarkable work of historical research and I greatly appreciated it. There was a lot more to reflect on than I thought and it was made for a fascinating read even for an adult.
March 16, 2021
I love this book. It is not one you read from beginning to end but rather a book into which you delve. Although I do not speak Yiddish yet it is a language to which I am bound and I am excited to see that someone has taken the trouble to translate and bring back to life the wonderful children's stories, fairy tales, poetry and folklore within Yiddish literature. " A language is also a way of carrying a culture with you" says the author. I couldn't agree more.
December 3, 2020
Honey on the Page is a fascinating treasury of Yiddish literature. Each translated story begins with a biography of the author and some historical background. The stories encompass Jewish history, holidays, and Jewish life in both Europe and America. This book is for the scholar, the educator, and the whole family. Entertaining and informative.
October 26, 2020
My copy arrived last week. It’s gorgeous! A beautiful, important compendium of Yiddish children’s stories. A wonderful addition for all libraries. Brilliantly edited and translated by Miriam Udel, with classic illustrations by Paula Cohen, I’m so glad to own this! Highly recommended.
November 29, 2020
Beautifully translated, brings Yiddish wisdom and silliness to our modern world (and it turns out being a kid isn’t so different... itself a helpful lesson during these challenging times). Gorgeous and smart.
January 4, 2025
Like with any anthology, not every story lives up to a 5 star rating. But for what this is - a collection and history with included author biographies and occasional context notes - this collection meets and surpasses all expectations.
October 10, 2020
A collection of inspiring stories for children and adults to read.
December 4, 2020
I read a few of out of the handful of these stories and I enjoyed reading them. I enjoyed the holiday stories and they were very sweet and informational.
February 24, 2022
It's ridiculous to read Yiddish stories in 2022 and complain that they're dated, but here we are.
July 31, 2020
An important, lovely, and very readable book that would make a nice holiday gift for a Jewish family.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews