The Murdered Jewess

Episode four, presented in collaboration with The Contemporary Jewish Museum, explores two murder pamphlets, "The Murdered Jewess Sara Alexander: Life, Trial and Conviction of Rubenstein the Polish Jew" and "Rubenstein, or The Murdered Jewess: Being a Full and Reliable History of This Terrible Mystery of Blood.” Published in 1876, both pamphlets tell the tale of Pesach Rubenstein, a Jewish immigrant who was convicted of killing his cousin, Sara Alexander, and disposing of her body in a cornfield. The case was a sensation in the press and took hold of the popular imagination.Dr. Eddy Portnoy, Academic Advisor and Director of Exhibitions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and author of Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press (Stanford University Press 2017), discusses the story behind the pamphlets as the first significant intersection of Jews, the local and national press, and the American judicial system.

Om Podcasten

The Dybbukast from theatre dybbuk examines and contextualizes poems, plays, and other creative texts from Jewish communities throughout history. Using performed readings and interviews with artists and scholars, The Dybbukast explores these texts and what they reveal about the forces still at play in our contemporary world. The Dybbukast will return for a third season beginning on Friday, November 11, 2022. New episodes are released on the second Friday of each month.