Udel Wins National Jewish Book Award

Emory University professor Miriam Udel has won the National Jewish Book Award for her volume, “Modern Jewish Worldmaking through Yiddish Children’s Literature,” published by the Princeton University Press. Udel, who is director of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies as well as a Yiddish language scholar at the university, won the prize for the best book on “Education and Jewish Identity.”

The work looks at how Yiddish children’s stories created in various political setting have shaped Jewish identity. The book explores how the development of individual attitudes in Yiddish literature toward such issues as wealth, gender and racial and ethnic differences can shape the contributions that children can make in creating a world that’s a better place to live.

Udel told the AJT last year in discussing the book that it examines Yiddish literature at a time when it was filled with exuberance and positive energy.

“This is really about pulling back the curtain to a time when Yiddish thought of itself as a youthful language that could successfully address the needs of our people. And it’s a really different moment before the Holocaust decimates the speakers of this language, and it’s important, I think, because it opens up an important wellspring to Jewish joy and to Yiddish joy, before all of the heaviness of that loss,” she said.

This year’s award is the second time in recent years she’s been recognized by the national awards, which are generally considered one of the highest accolades a writer can receive for a book with a Jewish theme. In 2017, Udel was recognized for, “Never Better -The Modern Jew Picaresque” about modern Yiddish fiction.

The Jewish Book Council, which administers the awards, will formally recognize Udel and the 20 other recipients in various categories on March 25 in New York City. It is the 75th anniversary for the National Jewish Book Awards.