UNews - Lodz

Morgentaler brings Rosenfarb's work to surface

trevor.kenney — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:01:43 +0000

After discovering unpublished poetry translations of her own poems by her late mother - internationally recognized Yiddish novelist and Holocaust survivor Chava Rosenfarb - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professor Dr. Goldie Morgentaler is sharing these poems, along with previously published poems, in a new book entitled Exile at Last.

In her lifetime, Chava Rosenfarb was recognized internationally for novels, poems and plays about the Holocaust, including The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto, one of the seminal works on the Holocaust. Her international awards include the Prize of the Congress for Jewish Culture, the Sholem Aleichem Prize, the Atran Prize, the John Glassco Prize for Literary Translation and the Manger Prize - Israel's highest award for Yiddish literature.

Included with the poems is an introduction Rosenfarb had written for a poetry collection she was planning to publish in the early 1970s. For unknown reasons this collection was never published.

"My mother began her writing career as a poet. She published three books of poetry in Yiddish during her lifetime. She had always wanted this poetry to be available to English readers as well, which is why she translated most of the poems into English," says Morgentaler. "It is not clear to me why she never published these translations, but now that she is gone, I feel it is important for me to complete the job for her."

Rosenfarb was 16 when she and her family were interned in the Lodz ghetto after the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. When the ghetto was liquidated, she was deported to Auschwitz and later Bergen Belsen, before being liberated by British forces in 1945. After spending many homeless years in Europe, she moved to Canada in 1950, settling in Montreal.

As a child, Rosenfarb's father encouraged her to write about her experiences. Considering the impact of the years she spent in occupied Poland and in concentration camps, these themes became central to her life's works.

Exile at Last contains poems from all three of Rosenfarb's poetry books, including Di balade fun nekhtikn vald (The Ballad of Yesterday's Forest), Rosenfarb's first published collection of poems, composed when Rosenfarb was incarcerated in the Lodz ghetto. The book also contains more personal poems from Rosenfarb's last collection of poetry, Aroys fun gan eydn (Out of Paradise]. The poems are arranged to follow the chronological order of the events of Rosenfarb's life.

"My mother and I were more than mother and daughter. We were a team, a translating team. She did the writing in Yiddish and then we worked closely together on the translations," says Morgentaler. "I feel that I owe her a debt and that debt can only be repaid by publishing her work in English – something she clearly wanted, despite her love of and fidelity to Yiddish, the language of her lost, annihilated home."

Morgentaler is a Professor of English at the U of L where she teaches 19th Century British and American literature, as well as Jewish literature. She is the translator of much of Rosenfarb's work including the play The Bird of the Ghetto, which was staged by the Threshold Theatre of Toronto in the fall of 2012. She was the translator in collaboration with the author of the three volumes of Rosenfarb's The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto. Her translation of Rosenfarb's book of short stories, Survivors: Seven Short Stories, won the Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish Book Award in 2005 and the Modern Language Association's Fenia and Yaakov Leviant Memorial Prize in Yiddish Studies in 2006.

The book, published by Guernica Editions, is now on sale at Chapters and at the U of L bookstore, and can be ordered from amazon and directly from the publisher at: michaelmirolla@guernicaeditions.com.

NOTE: Chava Rosenfarb was recognized by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2006 when she was presented with an honorary degree. Rosenfarb delivered an incredibly powerful address which can be viewed by following this link.

Rosenfarb life subject of CBC Radio One documentary

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:37:52 +0000

The inspiring life of the late Chava Rosenfarb (Honorary Degree '06) is featured in a radio documentary program on CBC Radio One this week.

The Late Show is an unconventional take on the art of the obituary, a moving, sometimes humorous, and always compelling national radio documentary series that explores the extraordinary life stories of deceivingly ordinary Canadians. Hosted by Gordon Pinsent, the show runs every Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m., and is rebroadcast Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m. The Rosenfarb documentary originally aired Tuesday, July 12 and will rebroadcast Friday, July 15. You can access the program online by clicking here.

A survivor of the Lodz ghetto, of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, Rosenfarb transmuted her experiences into fiction, specifically into her major novel, The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto. Her novels, Bociany, and, Of Lodz and Love, are also available in English, as is a collection of short stories called, Survivors.

She was the recipient of numerous literary awards, including Israel's Manger Prize and an honorary degree from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

Born in Lodz, Poland in 1923 she married Henry Morgentaler in 1949, shortly before their arrival in Canada. They divorced in 1975. Her second husband was Bono Wiener of Melbourne, Australia. She passed away Jan. 30, 2011 at the age of 88.

Rosenfarb received an Honorary Degree from the U of L in 2006, delivering one of the institution's most memorable convocation addresses. An excerpt follows.

"My university was the Second World War. My classroom was the Lodz Ghetto, my teachers were my fellow inmates there – and especially the poets, painters and intellectuals of the doomed writers' community, incarcerated between the barbed wire walls of the ghetto, who accepted me at a very early age as a member. So I am a graduate of the Holocaust, of the death camps of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. I have matriculated in one of the greatest tragedies known to man. I have a degree from no other university. At least, not until today."

To view the full address, follow this link. To read the full text of her convocation address, follow this link. To read more about Rosenfarb and her amazing life, visit her website by following this link.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ mourns loss of Rosenfarb

trevor.kenney — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:32:45 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge community offers its most sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the late Dr. Chava Rosenfarb, a U of L Honorary degree recipient (2006), noted Yiddish author, Holocaust survivor and mother and mother-in-law of Dr. Goldie Morgentaler (English) and Dr. Jonathan Seldin (mathematics and computer science).

The woman known by her family to have the warmest heart and the sharpest mind passed away in Lethbridge on Sunday, Jan. 30 at age 88.

A survivor of the Lodz ghetto, of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen, Rosenfarb transmuted her experiences into fiction, specifically into her major novel, The Tree of Life: A Trilogy of Life in the Lodz Ghetto.

Her novels, Bociany, and, Of Lodz and Love, are also available in English, as is a collection of short stories called, Survivors.

She was the recipient of numerous literary awards, including Israel's Manger Prize and an honorary degree from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Born in Lodz, Poland in 1923 she married Henry Morgentaler in 1949, shortly before their arrival in Canada. They divorced in 1975. Her second husband was Bono Wiener of Melbourne, Australia.

She is survived by her two children, Dr. Goldie Morgentaler of Lethbridge, Alta., and Abraham Morgentaler of Boston, Mass., as well as by her grandchildren, Maya and Hannah Morgentaler and by her sister Henia Reinhartz of Toronto, Ont., niece Adele Reinhartz and nephew Abraham Reinhartz and their families.

Rosenfarb received an Honorary Degree from the U of L in 2006, delivering one of the institution's most memorable convocation adresses. An excerpt follows.

"My university was the Second World War. My classroom was the Lodz Ghetto, my teachers were my fellow inmates there — and especially the poets, painters and intellectuals of the doomed writers' community, incarcerated between the barbed wire walls of the ghetto, who accepted me at a very early age as a member. So I am a graduate of the Holocaust, of the death camps of Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. I have matriculated in one of the greatest tragedies known to man. I have a degree from no other university. At least, not until today."

To view the full address, follow this link. To read the full text of her convocation address, follow this link. To read more about Rosenfarb and her amazing life, visit her website by following this link.

There will be a gathering in Montréal, Que. to remember her on Thursday, Feb. 3, at noon at Paperman's Chapel, 3888 Jean Talon West, Montréal, Québec H3R 2G8.

Condolence messages may be sent to Dr. Morgentaler via e-mail at goldie.morgentaler@uleth.ca

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