It is tempting, when recording history, to speak of movements as though they belong neatly to the past—contained within a defined era and concluded by a decisive event. The Jewish Labour Bund is often treated in precisely this way: a vibrant force of Jewish socialist life in Eastern Europe, brought to an abrupt end by the devastation of the the Holocaust, or rendered obsolete by the establishment of the State of Israel. However, this framing is not only incomplete—it is misleading. For some,...

Fans of Yiddish poetry and music can rejoice in the release of The Bashevis Singers’ brand-new album, Moon’s Milk! This Yiddish indie-folk band is well known to the Bundist community, especially those of us living in Melbourne. The Bashevis Singers are a family trio made up of Husky Gawenda, Evie Gawenda and Gideon Preiss, who grew up in the Melbourne Bund community singing and performing in Yiddish. Each successful in their own right, the three joined forces to put their love of Yiddish on...