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
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.
27 Jul 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 27th July, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and on the occasion of Tisha B’Av, the saddest day on the Jewish Calendar, we hear about some of the disasters that occurred on this day in Jewish history and an interesting short story, and we remember the popular Yiddish actor and singer Shmuel Rudenski, e”h, whose yortsayt/death anniversary falls tomorrow on the 28th July.
20 Jul 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 20th July, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the great Yiddish writer and Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature Isaac Bashevis Singer e”h, whose yortsayt-death anniversary falls on the 24th July.
13 Jul 2023, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 13th July, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember the Polish hero who tried to alert the world to the desperate plight of Jews during the Holocaust Jan Karski on this his yortsayt-death anniversary and hear an interview he recorded in Melbourne, in English a few years before his death.
6 Jul 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 6th July, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we remember two tragic anniversaries, which fell on the 4th July, that of the yortsayt of the National Poet Chaim Nakhman Bialik e”h and his epic poem of the Kishenev pogrom of 1903 and the yortsayt of the horrific Kielce pogrom on the 4th July 1946.
29 Jun 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 29th June, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and following the death this week at the age of 99 of Sheldon Harnick e”h, the lyricist of the hugely popular musical hit show and film: "Fiddler On The Roof”, based on the wonderful Yiddish stories about “Tevye the Dairyman” by Sholem Aleichem, we hear a little about him and some of his beloved songs from “Fiddler”, translated back into Yiddish.
22 Jun 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 22nd June, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and in honour of the 100th yortsayt – death anniversary of the beloved Yiddish poet Morris Rosenfeld e”h, we hear a little about him and some of his famous poems of toil and struggle as songs and a short story about toil and struggle by Avrom Reisen
15 Jun 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 15th June, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and in honour of the yortsayt – death anniversary of the founder of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bronislaw Huberman e”h, we hear a little about him and about this wonderful orchestra and some of the significant musicians and conductors associated with it over its 86 year history.
8 Jun 2023, 7pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 8th June, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lively Yiddish songs by Moishe Nadir e”h, whose 80th yortsayt – death anniversary falls on the 8th June and in honour of Nadir’s 80th yortsayt anniversary we hear a little about him and some of his creations sung and recited by some of the greatest Yiddish artists.
4 May 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, May 2023 Alex Dafner presents some lovely Yiddish songs by Australia’s best Yiddish singers and kapelyes-bands.
26 Apr 2023, 8pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 27th April, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we mark the important national dates, which fell this past week in Israel and Australia, Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Remembrance Day for those fallen in its wars and terrorist attacks, Yom Haatzmaut, Israel’s 75th Independence Day anniversary and we commemorate ANZAC Day, Australia’s National Day of Remembrance, which fell on the 25th April.
20 Apr 2023, 7pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 20th April, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia and we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the heroic Warsaw Ghetto uprising and the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime and their collaborators during WWII.
13 Apr 2023, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 13th April, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish Passover songs and we hear about Passover from Sholem Aleichem and other Yiddish writers and poets.
30 Mar 2023, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 30th March, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs and as we’re approaching the busy holiday of Passover – Pesach next Wednesday eve, we’ll hear a pre-Passover short story written by the so-called grandfather of the modern Yiddish and Hebrew literatures Mendele Moykher Sforim e”h.
23 Mar 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 23rd March, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs and readings from the great Yiddish satirist and fables writer Eliezer Shteynbarg, performed by the master reciter Hertz Grossbard e”h.
16 Mar 2023, 6pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 16th March, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs and readings performed by Leah Szlanger e”h, the Yiddish Israeli singer, actress and radio presenter who sadly passed away last week and whose talents we honour in our program today.
2 Mar 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 2nd March, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, a tribute to Danielle Charak e”h, and we hear all about the most joyous of Jewish festivals Purim, including some lovely Yiddish Purim songs.
23 Feb 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show 23rd February, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs and in honour of the yortsayt-death anniversary this Saturday of the wonderful Yiddish actor Yosef Buloff, e”h, we’ll hear a little about him and him reciting some of the wonderful creations of Yiddish literature.
16 Feb 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 16th February, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs composed from the poems of Itzik Manger e”h, whose upcoming yortsayt-death anniversary we honour and hear a little about him and some of his wonderful creations, as well as hearing Manger himself reading his own poetry.
9 Feb 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 9th February, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, Yiddish songs and in honour of the yortsayt – death anniversary tomorrow of the wonderful Yiddish novelist Y Y Singer e”h, we hear about his life and creations and an introduction to one of his famous novels.
27 Jan 2023, 9am Kadimah Yiddish Show, 27th January, 2023 The Kadimah Yiddish Show is on a summer break over January 2023, but we continue reporting on events that occurred in and around the Jewish communities in Australia over the past week or two. In this week’s report: Australian Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors were shocked by the revelation by the Premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet that he wore a Nazi costume to his 21st birthday party 20 years ago, but they accepted his deep regret and fulsome apology, especially to the Jewish community, pointing out his close relationship and cooperation with the community, including regarding education about the Holocaust in that state. A disturbing photo of a meeting of Australian neo-Nazis and white supremacists, posing with the Heil Hitler salute at Elwood’s Point Ormond in Melbourne, was strongly condemned by the local federal MP Josh Burns, himself the grandson of Holocaust survivors and other Jewish Victorian leaders. The Australian and Jewish community mourned the passing of Renee Geyer e”h, one of Australia’s best known, multi-award winning singers and daughter of Hungarian Holocaust survivors, at the age of 69.
19 Jan 2023, 5pm YIDDISH SEGMENT FOR 15th January, 2023 The Kadimah Yiddish Show is on a summer break over January 2023, but we'll continue reporting on events that occurred in and around the Jewish communities in Australia over the past week or two. In this week’s report: Australian Jewish philanthropists have funded the establishment of 2 fellowships for paediatric doctor specialist training for Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza, dedicated to the memory of Aiia Maasarwe, the Palestinian-Israeli visiting female student at Melbourne’s La Trobe Uni, who was brutally murdered in Melbourne in 2019. Australian Jewish leaders praised the Australian Government for Australia’s voting, together with 25 other members, against a UN General Assembly latest anti-Israel resolution. A number of disturbing neo-Nazi and antisemitic incidents occurred over recent weeks in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, provoking warnings about the unprecedented growth of such incidents and attitudes in Australia recently.
5 Jan 2023, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show 5th January, 2023 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs composed by Avrom Goldfaden e”h, and in honour of the yortsayt-death anniversary of the Master Yiddish Récitateur Hertz Grosbard e”h, we hear a little about him and his reading of two wonderful parodies.
29 Dec 2022, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 29th December, 2022 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs and on the yortsayt-death anniversary of the Polish-Australian-Israeli Yiddish poet and short story master Yosl Birshtein e”h, we hear a little about him, himself and two of his short stories.
22 Dec 2022, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 22nd December, 2022 Alex Dafner presents current events reports from Australia, a 60th yortsayt-death anniversary tribute to the great Yiddish poet H Leyvik and we celebrate the Chanukah, the festival of lights with a Sholem Aleichem story and some wonderful Chanukah songs.
15 Dec 2022, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 15th December, 2022 Alex Dafner presents Jewish current events from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs, a yortsayt – death anniversary tribute to the Yiddish linguist and left–wing Zionism founder Ber Borochov e”h, and we usher in the Chanukah festival with a song and a I L Perets short story.
15 Dec 2022, 5pm Kadimah Yiddish Show, 15th December, 2022 Alex Dafner presents Jewish current events from Australia, some lovely Yiddish songs, a yortsayt – death anniversary tribute to the Yiddish linguist and left–wing Zionism founder Ber Borochov e”h, and we usher in the Chanukah festival with a song and a I L Perets short story.