Vox Tablet

Behind the Music

Janice Erlbaum tells the story of an old Yiddish song and modern-day sex workers

July 13, 2009
Janice Erlbaum(Richard Kern)
Janice Erlbaum(Richard Kern)

When memoirist Janice Erlbaum mentioned to an elderly neighbor that she’d been teaching a writing workshop for girls who are trying to get out of the sex trade, the neighbor surprised her with a reference to “Di Grine Kusine,” a Yiddish song from the 1920s. Erlbaum shares this story.

Janice Erlbaum is the author Girl Bomb and Have You Found Her. For more of her stories on our site, click here, here, here and here.

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