Thursdays, 4pm
Kadimah Yiddish Show, presented by Alex Dafner, consists Jewish and Yiddish-related current events from Australia and the world, Yiddish songs, cultural, literary, theatrical and comedy segments and events related to the Jewish calendar, such as holidays, celebrations, commemorations and anniversaries. Occasionally, the program features interviews with local and overseas Yiddishists and, of course announcements, of Kadimah and Yiddish-related events.
Alex was born in Lodz, Poland, to a Yiddish-speaking family and attended the local I. L. Perets Jewish school, before migrating to Australia in 1959 at the age of 10. He has presented the Kadimah Yiddish Show and co-presented Shlepping and Shmoozing, with Leon Gettler on J-AIR, almost from its inception. He joined J-AIR after a 33-year career as executive producer and presenter of the Yiddish-language radio program and trainer of journalists at SBS Radio Melbourne.
He was also the instigator, curriculum writer and teacher of VCE Yiddish in Victoria at Mount Scopus College and the King David School and was a long-serving president of the Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library Kadimah.
Listen On Demand
12 Sep 2024, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 12 September, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we recall the Yiddish writer, satirist A Lutzky, e”h on the occasion of his death anniversary and hear a few of his popular sketches performed by Hertz Grosbard.
5 Sep 2024, 7pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 5th September, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, we mark the 80th anniversary of the tragic end of the Lodz Ghetto and recall the the historic inaugural Czernovits conference on Yiddish language and culture.
11 Jul 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 11th July, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great and at times controversial Yiddish writer Sholem Asch, e”h. And we'll be on a break until September 2024.
4 Jul 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 4th July, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great Yiddish and Hebrew National Poet Chaim Nahman Bialik, e”h on the occasion of his 90th death anniversary.
27 Jun 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 27th June 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great Yiddish poet and writer Chaim Grade e”h on the occasion of his death anniversary and we chat in English with the muso and teacher Adam Starr about his new Klezmer school and the concert to mark its opening at the Kadimah.
20 Jun 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 20th June, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we recall the poet and writer Kalman Segal e”h and hear three of his evocative short stories.
13 Jun 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 13th June, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we celebrate the second day of the Shavuot festival and we recall the great musician and founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Bronislaw Huberman e”h.
6 Jun 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 6th June, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we commemorate two combat dates, the 5th of June, start of the 6 Day war of 1967 and the 6th June, 80th anniversary of D-day, the opening of the second front by the Allies against Nazi Germany in WWII
30 May 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 30th May, 2024 In this different Kadimah Yiddish Show Alex Dafner and Leon Gettler present a new Podcast related to Jewish History about the great classicist writer and inspirational figure I L Perets and we hear about his life, activism, creativity and some excerpts of his famous stories.
23 May 2024, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 23rd May, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great actress Ida Kaminska and master comedian Yisroel Shumacher.
16 May 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 16th May, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we mark the anniversaries of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s Remembrance Day and Independence Day, as well as the yortzayt-death anniversary of the great Yiddish classisist and humourist Sholem Aleichem, e”h.
9 May 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 9th May, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we recall the Bundist martyr Shmuel Zygelbojm and the anniversary of V-E Day, victory over Nazi Germany.
2 May 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 2nd May, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, we reflect on Jews involvement in the 1st of May and we remember Itzhak Katzenelson e”h, known as the Yiddish and Hebrew poet of the Shoah, whose 80th yortzayt death anniversary fell on the 1st of May.
25 Apr 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 25th April, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and as we’re in the middle days of the Passover festival and ANZAC Day, the day of remembrance of Australian combatants in the many wars and conflicts of the C20th and C21st centuries, we reflect on these important dates in today’s program.
19 Apr 2024, 6am Kadimah Yiddish Show, 18th April, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we commemorate the anniversary of the heroic Warsaw Ghetto uprising and celebrate the start of the Passover festival.
11 Apr 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 11th April, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great Yiddish comedian Shimon Dzigan e”h and his comedic partner Yisroel Shumacher e”h and hear about them and one of their popular sketches that is still so very relevant today.
4 Apr 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 4th April, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the so called Father of Yiddish Literature, the great Yitskhok Leybush Peretz e”h, on the occasion of his yortzayt-death anniversary and hear some of his wonderful literary creations.
28 Mar 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 28th March, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we honour two great Yiddishists, the world renown painter Mark Chagal and the poet and writer Avrom Reisen e”h and hear a little about them and about their marvellous creativity.
28 Mar 2024, 11am And the Rest Is Jewish History 26.03.2024 Alex Dafner and Leon Gettler present the first Podcast related to Jewish History, beginning with the festival of Purim and the history around its origin in ancient Persia and subsequent historical developments in Persia and later Iran.
21 Mar 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 21st March, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we usher-in the coming joyous Purim festival and hear about it’s fascinating history and the Sholem Aleichem Purim Story “Esther”.
14 Mar 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 14th March, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we entertain ourselves with the lively sounds of Yiddish Klezmer music composed and played by contemporary Australian and international klezmorim and musicians.
29 Feb 2024, 9pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 29th February, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember and hear the much loved and respected Melbourne Yiddishist and community cultural activist Danielle Charak OAM e”h, on the occasion of her first yortzayt-death anniversary, which fell this week.
22 Feb 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 22nd February, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the Yiddish poet, writer and journalist Zusman Segalovitch e”h. on the occasion of his yortzayt-death anniversary.
15 Feb 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 15th February, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember and hear the prince of the Yiddish poets Itzik Manger e”h. on the occasion of his upcoming 55th yortzayt-death anniversary.
8 Feb 2024, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 8th February, 2024 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we honour the memory of one of the greatest Yiddish novelists Y Y Singer e”h. on the occasion of his upcoming 80th yortzayt-death anniversary.
21 Dec 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 21st December, 2023 Alex Dafner presents reports from Australia and a tribute to the great Yiddish poet and playwright H Leyvik and his evocative Yiddish poetry and songs. A Happy New Year and we’ll be back with the Kadimah Yiddish Show on the 1st February 2024.
14 Dec 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show. 14th December. 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we hear more about the history of the origins of the Jewish Festival of Lights, Chanukah and a Sholem Aleichem story about children at this joyous Chanukah festival.
7 Dec 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 7th December, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we hear about the history of the origins of the Jewish Festival of Lights Chanukah and play some well know Yiddish Chanukah songs.
30 Nov 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 30th November, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we pay tribute to the great Jewish leader and founding Premier Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion e”h, on the occasion of his upcoming 50th yortsayt-death anniversary on the 1st December and we hear him speak about his beliefs and his historical role in the foundation of Israel, in his native Yiddish.
23 Nov 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 23rd November, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the wonderful singer, cantor and actor Moishe Oysher e”h, on the occasion of his upcoming yortsayt-death anniversary this week and hear his mighty and beautiful voice sing Yiddish and Cantorial songs.
16 Nov 2023, 11pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 16th November, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the American Yiddish polemicist, writer, and poet Jacob Glatstein e”h and hear some of his poems, which still resonate in this day and age.
9 Nov 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 9th November, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we commemorate Kristalnacht the shocking pogrom against Jews, synagogues and Jewish property, perpertrated on the 9th November 1938 in Nazi Germany and Austria and we remember the polemicist, writer, poet and ethnograph Sh Ansky on this his yortsayt – death anniversary.
2 Nov 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 2nd November, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the assassinated Israeli PM Itzhak Rabin e”h and the Melbourne Holocaust survivor, poet and writer Jacob Rosenberg e”h on their respective yortzaytn – death anniversaries.
26 Oct 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 26th October, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we hear some of today’s Yiddish poets (see: https://bitly.ws/YfuI ) and their reaction to the horrific pogrom in Israel through their poetry.
19 Oct 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 19th October, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the the Polish-Canadian Yiddish writer Yehuda Elberg e”h, whose 20th yortsayt-death anniversary fell on the 18th October and hear two of his short stories.
12 Oct 2023, 7pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 12th October, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, Israel's tragedy and pain and Penny Wong's speech, and we remember and hear the writer and Nobel Prize Laureate for Peace Ellie Wiesel, e”h, whose Nobel award anniversary falls on the 14th October.